SMS Baden - Construction

Construction

Baden was ordered under the provisional name Ersatz Wörth in 1912, under the fourth and final Naval Law, which was passed that year. Construction began at the Schichau-Werke dockyard in Danzig under construction number 913. The ship was laid down on 20 December 1913 and launched on 30 October 1915. After fitting-out, sea trials were conducted; the ship was commissioned into service on 14 March 1917. She had cost the Imperial German Government 49 million Goldmarks. Baden's two sisterships, Sachsen and Württemberg, both lay incomplete at the end of World War I and were subsequently scrapped, leaving Baden the last battleship built for the Imperial Navy.

Baden was 179.4 m (588 ft 7 in) long at the waterline, and 180 m (590 ft 7 in) long overall. She had a draft of between 9.3 and 9.4 m (30.5 and 30.8 ft). Baden displaced 28,530 metric tons (28,080 long tons; 31,450 short tons) at her designed displacement, which did not include a full load of combat supplies, fuel, and other operational necessities; at full combat load, she displaced up to 32,200 metric tons (31,700 long tons; 35,500 short tons). Baden's displacement was more than 3,000 t (3,000 long tons; 3,300 short tons) greater than that of the preceding König-class ships, making her the largest battleship built by the Imperial Navy. Baden was powered by three sets of Schichau steam turbines, which were rated at 35,000 shaft horsepower, and produced a maximum of 56,275 shaft horsepower (41,964 kW). Designed speed was 21 kn (39 km/h), but Baden achieved a maximum speed of 22.1 kn (40.9 km/h).

She was armed with eight 38 cm (15 in) guns arranged in four twin gun turrets: two superfiring turret pairs fore and aft of the superstructure. Baden and her sister Bayern were the first German warships to feature guns of this caliber; earlier battleships carried either 28 or 30.5 cm (11 or 12 inch) guns. Her secondary armament consisted of sixteen 15 cm (5.9 in) guns, six 8.8 cm (3.45 in) guns and five 60 cm (23.6 in) underwater torpedo tubes, one in the bow and two on each beam. Upon commissioning, she carried a crew of 42 officers and 1,129 enlisted men.