Wittelsbach Class Battleship - Service History

Service History

In the early 1900s, the German fleet was organized as the Home Fleet (German: Heimatflotte). After joining the fleet, the Wittelsbach-class ships were assigned to the I Battle Squadron, where they replaced the older Brandenburg-class battleships. By 1907, the Braunschweig and Deutschland classes had come into service. With two full battle squadrons, the fleet was reorganized as the High Seas Fleet.

Like the Kaiser Friedrich III-class ships, the Wittelsbachs were withdrawn from active service after the advent of the dreadnoughts. The five ships were recalled to active service at the outbreak of war in 1914. They were assigned to the IV Battle Squadron and deployed to the Baltic. The ships were based in Kiel and placed under the command of Vice Admiral Ehrhard Schmidt. In early September 1914, the ships conducted a result-less sweep into the Baltic against the Russian navy operating there. In May 1915, four of the Wittelsbachs sailed into the Baltic and bombarded Libau, which was subsequently captured by the German army. The five ships of the class were moved to Libau during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915, though they did not see any combat during the operation.

British submarines were becoming increasingly active in the Baltic by late 1915; several cruisers had been sunk and the elderly Wittelsbach-class ships could no longer be risked there. Therefore, due to their age and vulnerability, they were withdrawn from active service and disarmed by 1916. They were used as training ships, with the exception of Mecklenburg, which was used as a prison ship. In 1919, Wittelsbach and Schwaben were converted into depot ships for minesweepers. The entire class, with the exception of Zähringen, were struck from the navy list after the end of World War I. Mecklenburg was struck on 27 January 1920, Wettin followed on 11 March 1920, and Wittelsbach and Schwaben were struck on 8 March 1921. The four ships were broken up between 1921–22. Zähringen was converted into a radio-controlled target ship in 1926–27. Royal Air Force bombers sank the ship in Gotenhafen in 1944; the wreck was broken up in 1949–50.