Sachsen Class Armored Frigate - Service History

Service History

Though Sachsen entered service in 1878, she only participated in one annual fleet exercise, in 1880, before all four ships were assigned to the 1884 maneuvers. This was due to the poor performance of Sachsen in the 1880 maneuvers and the negative reputation of the class. Among the problems associated with the Sachsen-class ships was a tendency to roll dangerously due to their flat bottoms, which greatly reduced the accuracy of their guns. The ships were also poorly armored, compared to their contemporaries. In addition, they were slow and suffered from poor maneuverability. The four ships served rotations with the fleet for the next two years, though in 1886, all four were demobilized as the Reserve Division in the Baltic. Aside from the Sachsen's half-sister Oldenburg, the German Navy took a hiatus on capital ship building until the late 1880s when the first of the Siegfried-class coastal defense ships were laid down. The poor performance of the sortie corvettes, coupled with the rise of the Jeune École, led Leo von Caprivi to abandon capital ship construction in favor of torpedo boats.

The ships were reactivated for a number of ceremonial duties in the late 1880s, including for the dedication of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal in June 1887 and a tour of the Baltic by the recently crowned Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1888. In the 1890s, all four ships returned to active service with the fleet, serving in the I Division until the middle of the decade, when the new Brandenburg-class battleships began entering service. The four Sachsens were then displaced to the II Division. In the late 1890s, all four of the ships were extensively reconstructed; their secondary armament was modernized and their propulsion systems were rebuilt with new machinery, which increased their speed.

The four ships remained with the fleet until shortly after the turn of the century. Sachsen was removed from duty in 1902 and used as a target ship from 1911 to 1919. Bayern was stricken from the naval register in February 1910 and similarly used as a target vessel until 1919. Württemberg was converted into a torpedo training ship in 1906, equipped with seven 45 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes in a variety of different mountings. She served in this capacity until 1919, when she was used briefly as an escort for F-boats. All three ships were broken up for scrap between 1919 and 1920. Baden survived longest, serving as a boom defense hulk after 1910 and a target ship after 1920. She remained in the German Navy's inventory until 1938, when she was sold for scrapping.