SMS Derfflinger

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Career
SMS Derfflinger
Class and type:	Derfflinger class battlecruiser
Name:	Derfflinger
Namesake:	Georg von Derfflinger
Ordered:	1912-1913 Naval Programme
Builder:	Blohm & Voss, Hamburg
Laid down:	30 March 1912
Launched:	17 July 1913
Commissioned:	1 September 1914
Nickname:	"Iron Dog"
Fate:	Scuttled in Scapa Flow on 21 June 1919, wreck raised 1939, broken down after 1946
General characteristics
Displacement:	26,180 tons normal load 31,200 tons full load
Length:	210.4 meters (690.32 ft)
Beam:	29.0 meters (95.14 ft)
Draft:	9.20 meters (30.18 ft)
Propulsion:	4 shaft Parsons turbines; 18 boiler; 76,634 shp
Speed:	25.5 knots
Range:	5600 nmi at 12 kn
Complement:	44 officers and 1,068 men
Armament:	8 x 30.5 cm (12") SK L/50 in 4 twin turrets 12 x 15 cm (5.9") SK L/45 in 12 single turrets 4 x 8,8 cm (4 x 1) in 4 single mounts 4 x single 50 cm torpedo tubes
Armour:	Belt: 300 mm Command Tower: 300 mm Deck: 30 mm Turrets: 270 mm

SMS Derfflinger was a World War I battlecruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine. The ship was named after Brandenburg Field Marshal Reichsfreiherr Georg von Derfflinger who fought in the Thirty Years' War. She was the lead ship of her class, her sister ships being SMS Lützow and SMS Hindenburg.

1 Construction
2 Service
- 2.1 Jutland
3 External links & References
4 See also
5 References

Construction

The crest of the Derfflinger.

Built by Blohm und Voss at their yard in Hamburg, Derfflinger's keel was laid in January 1912. She was to have been launched 14 June 1913, but due to a mishap the ship got stuck after only a few centimeters. A second attempt was successful on 17 July 1913. Commissioned on 1 September 1914, she was fully operational by November of that year.

The Derfflinger and the ships of her class were designed to be improvements on the previous battlecruisers of the German Navy, the Moltke class and the SMS Seydlitz as well as to complement the König class battleships.

Both the Königs and the Derfflingers mounted their main battery in twin turrets on the centerline and both classes were outfitted with a partially oil-fired boiler arrangement. Derfflinger was the first German capital ship to have a flush deck design, while the lack of secondary casements mounts in the hull itself was a preview of more modern naval designs by the 1930s.

Service

The Derfflinger firing a broadside.

Upon commissioning, Derfflinger was attached to the First Scouting Group (I Aufklärungsgeschwader) commanded by Vice Admiral Franz von Hipper. After the outbreak of World War I she took part in the bombardment of Scarborough, Yorkshire on 14 December 1914.

Subsequently, she fought at the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1915 where she was hit by three shells but in the process also managed to hit and cripple the Royal Navy battlecruiser HMS Lion.

On 24 April 1916 the Derfflinger took part in the coastal bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft.

Jutland

Participating in the Battle of Jutland as part of the German High Seas Fleet on 31 May 1916, the Derfflinger and her sister-ship the SMS Lützow were between them credited with sinking the British battlecruisers HMS Queen Mary and HMS Invincible. In the process she was herself heavily damaged by hits from ten 15-inch, one 13.5-inch, and ten 12-inch heavy shells, and took on 3,000 tons of water. One 15-inch shell struck Derfflinger's "D" turret and detonated inside, killing most of the turret crew, rendering it useless. One 15-inch shell from Revenge penetrated Derfflinger's "C" barbette, knocking it out of action. She nevertheless was able to limp home, and the resulting repairs took her out of commission for four months. This was the highest number of hits suffered by any ship that survived Jutland; because of this, the British nicknamed her the "Iron Dog". ^[1]

The Derfflinger being scuttled at Scapa Flow.

After Jutland, the High Seas Fleet showed little further inclination to challenge the Royal Navy. Aside from an unsuccessful sortie into the North Sea on 3 April 1918, the rest of the First World War passed uneventfully for Derfflinger.

After the end of World War I, Derfflinger was interned at Scapa Flow, where her crew scuttled her on 21 June 1919. The wreck was raised upside down in August 1939 and remained in Scapa Flow until the end of World War II. Derfflinger was subsequently towed to Rosyth and broken up from 1946 to 1948.

External links & References

SMS Derfflinger at the German Navy History website
SMS Derfflinger photo gallery at MaritimeQuest.com
Gross Kreuzer of the Derfflinger class at German-Navy.tripod.com.
Koop, Gerhard & Schmolke, Klaus-Peter. Vom Original zum Modell: Die Großen Kreuzer Von der Tann, Moltke-Klasse, Seydlitz, Derfflinger-Klasse. Bonn: Bernard & Graefe Verlag, 1998. ISBN 3-7637-5673-5