Construction
Ordered under the contract name Ersatz Heimdall as a replacement for the obsolete coastal defense ship Heimdall, Friedrich der Grosse was laid down at the AG Vulcan dockyard in Hamburg on 26 January 1910. She was launched on 10 June 1911, after which AG Vulcan conducted builder's trials. At her launching ceremony, Princess Alexandra Victoria performed the christening and Field Marshal Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz gave a speech. She was then transferred to Wilhelmshaven and commissioned into the fleet on 15 October 1912. Exercises in the Baltic Sea followed; Friedrich der Grosse then went to Kiel for final fitting-out work. On 22 January 1913, the ship was finally ready for active service. She cost the German government 45,802,000 marks.
Friedrich der Grosse was 172.4 m (566 ft) long overall and displaced a maximum of 27,000 metric tons (26,570 long tons; 29,760 short tons). The ship had a beam of 29 m (95 ft) and a draft of 9.1 m (30 ft) forward and 8.8 m (29 ft) aft. She was powered by three sets of AEG Curtis turbines, supplied with steam by 16 coal-fired boilers. On trials, the powerplant produced a top speed of 22.4 knots (41.5 km/h; 25.8 mph). She carried 3,600 metric tons (3,500 long tons; 4,000 short tons) of coal, which enabled a maximum range of 7,900 nautical miles (14,600 km; 9,100 mi) at a cruising speed of 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph). Friedrich der Grosse was protected by heavy Krupp cemented armor; the main armored belt was 350 mm (14 in) thick amidships and the conning tower had 400 mm (16 in) thick sides. The gun turrets had 300 mm (12 in) sides. As with the other four ships in her class, Friedrich der Grosse carried anti-torpedo nets until after the Battle of Jutland in 1916.
The ship was armed with a main battery of ten 30.5 cm SK L/50 guns in five twin turrets. She disposed with the inefficient hexagonal turret arrangement of previous German battleships; instead, three of the five turrets were mounted on the centerline, with two of them arranged in a superfiring pair aft. The other two turrets were placed en echelon amidships, such that both could fire on the broadside. The ship was also armed with fourteen 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 guns in casemates amidships, eight 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/45 guns in casemates; these were removed during the war and replaced with four 8.8 cm L/45 anti-aircraft guns. Her armament was rounded out by five 50 cm (20 in) torpedo tubes, all mounted in the ship's hull.
Read more about this topic: SMS Friedrich Der Grosse (1911)
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