SMS Schleswig-Holstein

SMS Schleswig-Holstein

SMS Schleswig-Holstein, one of the five Deutschland-class battleships, was the last pre-dreadnought battleship built by the German Kaiserliche Marine. The ship was laid down in the Germaniawerft dockyard in Kiel in August 1905 and commissioned into the fleet nearly three years later in July 1908. The ships of her class were already outdated by the time they entered service, being inferior in size, armor, firepower and speed to the new post-Dreadnought battleships. The ship was named for the province of Schleswig-Holstein.

The ship fought in both World Wars. During World War I, she saw front-line service in the II Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet, which culminated in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916. After the battle, Schleswig-Holstein was relegated to guard duties in the mouth of the Elbe River before being decommissioned in late 1917. As one of the few battleships permitted for Germany by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Schleswig-Holstein was again pressed into fleet service in the 1920s. In 1935, the old battleship was converted into a training ship for naval cadets.

Schleswig-Holstein fired the first shots of World War II when she fired at the Polish base at Westerplatte in the early morning hours of 1 September 1939. The ship was used as a training vessel for the majority of the war, and was sunk by British bombers in December 1944. Schleswig-Holstein was subsequently salved and then beached for use by the Soviet Navy as a target. The ship's bell is on display in the Bundeswehr Military History Museum in Dresden.