Construction
Weissenburg was the third of four ships of the Brandenburg class. She was ordered as battleship C, and was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin in 1890 under construction number 199. She was the third ship of the class to be launched, which she was on 30 June 1891. She was commissioned into the German fleet on 29 April 1894, the same day as her sister Brandenburg.
Weissenburg was 115.7 m (380 ft) long overall, had a beam of 19.5 m (64 ft) which was increased to 19.74 m (64.8 ft) with the addition of torpedo nets, and had a draft of 7.6 m (25 ft) forward and 7.9 m (26 ft) aft. The ship displaced 10,013 t (9,855 long tons; 11,037 short tons) at its designed weight, and up to 10,670 t (10,500 long tons; 11,760 short tons) at full combat load. She was equipped with two sets of 3-cylinder triple-expansion engines that provided 10,228 indicated horsepower and a top speed of 16.9 knots (31.3 km/h; 19.4 mph).
The ship was unusual for its time in that it possessed a broadside of six heavy guns in three twin gun turrets, rather than the four guns typical of contemporary battleships. The forward and after turret carried 28 cm (11 inch) SK L/40 guns. Her secondary armament consisted of eight 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/35 quick-firing guns mounted in casemates and eight 8.8 cm (3.45 in) SK L/30 quick-firing guns, also casemate mounted. Weissenburg's armament system was rounded out with six 45 cm torpedo tubes, all in above-water swivel mounts. Although the main battery was heavier than other capital ships of the period, the secondary armament was considered weak in comparison to other battleships.
Read more about this topic: SMS Weissenburg
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