SMS Ostfriesland - Service History

Service History

After commissioning, Ostfriesland conducted sea trials, which were completed by 15 September. Kapitän zur See (KzS) Walter Engelhardt served as the ship's first commanding officer. On the 22nd, the ship was formally assigned to the I Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet. She then conducted individual ship training exercises, which were followed by I Squadron, and then fleet, maneuvers in November. Ostfriesland became the new squadron flagship on 24 April 1912, replacing Westfalen. The annual summer cruise in July–August, which typically went to Norway, was interrupted by the Agadir Crisis. As a result, the cruise only went into the Baltic. Ostfriesland and the rest of the fleet then fell into a pattern of individual ship, squadron, and full fleet exercises over the next two years of peacetime. Ostfriesland won the 1912/1913 Kaiserschiesspreis—the Kaiser's artillery shooting prize—for I Squadron. Kapitänleutnant Friedrich Beesel was the ship's gunnery officer at the time and, as such, was responsible for the accuracy of the ship's shooting.

On 14 July 1914, the annual summer cruise to Norway began. During the last peacetime cruise of the Imperial Navy, the fleet conducted drills off Skagen before proceeding to the Norwegian fjords on 25 July. The following day the fleet began to steam back to Germany, as a result of Austria-Hungary's ultimatum to Serbia. On the 27th, the entire fleet assembled off Cape Skadenes before returning to port, where it remained at a heightened state of readiness. War between Austria-Hungary and Serbia broke out on the 28th, and in the span of a week all of the major European powers had joined the conflict. By 29 July Ostfriesland and the rest of I Squadron was back in Wilhelmshaven.