Deutschland Class Battleship - Design

Design

The five Deutschland-class battleships were the last pre-dreadnoughts built by the German Navy. They were similar to the preceding Braunschweig-class ships—Deutschland was nearly identical, though the design was modified slightly after the lead ship was laid down. The four subsequent ships had a somewhat different boiler arrangement and slightly thicker armor compared to the Braunschweig-class ships. All five vessels of the Deutschland class dispensed with the turret mountings for the secondary 17 centimeters (6.7 in) guns; all of these guns were mounted in casemates in the hull. The ships were built despite rumors of the capabilities of the revolutionary HMS Dreadnought then under construction. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz insisted on their construction, since larger ships would have necessitated widening the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal. This would have put a prohibitive strain on the naval budget for the year.