SMS Friedrich Der Grosse (1911)

SMS Friedrich Der Grosse (1911)

SMS Friedrich der Grosse ("His Majesty's Ship Frederick the Great") was the second vessel of the Kaiser class of battleships of the German Imperial Navy. Friedrich der Grosse's keel was laid on 26 January 1910 at the AG Vulcan dockyard in Hamburg, her hull was launched on 10 June 1911, and she was commissioned into the fleet on 15 October 1912. The ship was equipped with ten 30.5-centimeter (12.0 in) guns in five twin turrets, and had a top speed of 23.4 knots (43.3 km/h; 26.9 mph). Friedrich der Grosse was assigned to the III Squadron of the High Seas Fleet for the majority of World War I, and served as fleet flagship from her commissioning until 1917.

Along with her four sister ships, Kaiser, Kaiserin, König Albert, and Prinzregent Luitpold, Friedrich der Grosse participated in all the major fleet operations of World War I, including the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916. Toward the center of the German line, Friedrich der Grosse was not as heavily engaged as the leading German ships, such as the battleships König and Grosser Kurfürst and the battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group—Friedrich der Grosse emerged from the battle completely unscathed. In 1917, the new battleship Baden replaced Friedrich der Grosse as the fleet flagship.

After Germany's defeat in the war and the signing of the Armistice in November 1918, Friedrich der Grosse and most of the capital ships of the High Seas Fleet were interned by the British Royal Navy in Scapa Flow. The ships were disarmed and reduced to skeleton crews while the Allied powers negotiated the final version of the Treaty of Versailles. On 21 June 1919, days before the treaty was signed, the commander of the interned fleet, Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, ordered the fleet to be scuttled to ensure that the British would not be able to seize the ships. Friedrich der Grosse was raised in 1936 and broken up for scrap metal. Her bell was returned to Germany in 1965 and is now located at the Fleet Headquarters in Glücksburg.