SMS Hindenburg - Construction

Construction

For complete technical details, see Derfflinger class battlecruiser.

Built by the Kaiserliche Werft at their shipyard in Wilhelmshaven, Hindenburg was the third and final ship of her class, her sister ships were Derfflinger and Lützow. Designed as a replacement for the elderly protected cruiser Hertha, Hindenburg's keel was laid down on 30 June 1913. She was launched on 1 August 1915, but due to shifting construction priorities in time of war, she was not completed until 10 May 1917, by which time it was too late for her to see any significant operations in World War I. At the time, British naval intelligence believed the ship was commissioned so late because she had had parts removed to repair Derfflinger after the battle of Jutland in June 1916. In actuality, construction proceeded slowly because of labor shortages.

Hindenburg's primary armament was eight 30.5 cm (12 in) guns in four twin turrets, the same as in her two sisters. However, the gun turrets were Drh LC/1913 mounts, which were an improved version the Drh LC/1912 type mounts on Derfflinger and Lützow—the gun houses on Hindenburg allowed gun elevation to 16°, as opposed to 13.5° in the earlier model. This gave the guns mounted in the Drh LC/1913 turrets an advantage of some 2,000 m (2,200 yd) over those in the older turret. Like her sister ship, the Lützow, she was armed with fourteen 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 guns and four 60 cm (23.6 in) torpedo tubes instead of the standard twelve 15 cm guns and four 50 cm (19.7 in) tubes mounted on Derfflinger. While 2.5 m (8.2 ft) longer and 300 metric tons (300 long tons; 330 short tons) heavier than her sisters, Hindenburg was also faster, capable of steaming at 26.6 kn (49.3 km/h; 30.6 mph) during trials, compared with 25.5 kn (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph) for Derfflinger.