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fighting ships of the world

KAISERLICHE MARINE (GERMANY)

CAPITAL SHIPS

BAYERN battleships (1916-1917)

Bayern 1916

Project history: In this class the main armament was increased from 305mm to 380mm without any intervening 350mm as was to have been the case in battlecruisers. Both ships were built under the 1913-14 programme. The forecastle deck extended to the after superfiring turret and freeboard at normal load was 7.2m forward and 4.6m aft. The funnels were not widely separated and both ships had a tripod foremast with a small mainmast close abaft the after funnel, though initially Bayern had none. GM was 2.56m at 8.44m and mean fighting draught 9.09m. When examined in Britain it was thought that Baden was more than 0.3m over her designed draught at normal load.
    The turrets were in superfiring pairs fore and aft and the Drh LC/13 mountings allowed 16° elevation, later increased to 20° in Bayern. There was a 8.2m rangefinder in each turret. The magazines were all above the shell rooms with crowns formed by the armour deck. The 15cm battery was on the upper deck and the 8 planned Flak guns were never carried, the number varying from 2 to 4. The TT were arranged as in Kaiser, but after Bayern was mined the 2 forward broadside tubes were removed in both ships.
    There were 3 oil-fired and 11 coal-fired boilers in 9 boiler rooms with the oil-fired in the 3 foremost. Oil fuel sprays could be used in the coal furnaces. The 3 sets of turbines were in 6 engine rooms, and boiler pressure was still 16.5kgf/cm². Bayern was commissioned for trials on 18 March 1916 and Baden 19 October 1916. On the Belt mile they both recorded 22.0kts with 55,967 and 56,275shp respectively.

Ship protection: The main 350mm belt ran from 1.8m above lwl to 0.4m below between end barbettes, tapering to 170mm at the lower edge 1.7m below lwl. Between main and upper decks it was 250mm. Forward the armour was 200-150mm ending 15m from the bows and aft 200-120mm. The barbettes were 350-250mm reduced to 170mm behind the battery armour, 200-75mm behind the 150mm side and 115-25mm behind the 350mm. The turrets had 350mm faces, 250mm sides, 290mm rears and 200-100mm roofs.  The armour deck was 30mm amidships, 60mm forward and 1120-60mm aft while between end barbettes the upper deck was 30mm outside the battery and 25mm as the battery floor and the forecastle deck 30mm over the latter (40mm near the centreline amidships). The torpedo bulkhead was 50mm, and was continued as a 30mm splinter bulkhead to the upper deck. Fwd CT had 400mm sides and 170mm roof, aft CT had 170mm sides and 80mm roof.