The Nassau class battleship was a powerful and well-armored dreadnought-type battleship, bristling with twelve 280-mm and twenty four 150-mm naval guns. It was one of four identical war vessels in service with the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy) during World War I. They had all been completed and commissioned by 1910 and they comprised the Nassau, Posen, Rheinland, and Westfalen.
These new German warships were the answer to the British Royal Navy HMS Dreadnought, which had been launched in 1906. Thus, the German Nassau class battleship was the first German dreadnought to enter service with the Kaiserliche Marine in October 1909. With this new class, it was the first time the Germans fitted modern steam engines in their capital ships. Despite having survived World War I, they all were decommissioned in 1920, as it was part of the Treaty of Versailles sanctions against Germany. They had to reduce the tonnage of the navy.
All four Nassau class battleships took part in the Battle of Jutland on May 31-June 1, 1916, with Nassau receiving two hits that caused moderate damage. Later that year, Westfalen would be torpedoed by a British submarine on August 19, 1916, causing heavy damage. However, she would manage to return to the port of Kiel for repair. Rheinland, on the other hand, would run aground at the end of the war and had to be stripped of her guns and other loads to be able to sail back to Germany.
Specifications
Type: dreadnought
Length: 146.1 m (479.3 feet)
Beam: 26.9 m (88.4 feet)
Draft: 8.9 m (29.3 feet)
Displacement: 21,000 tons (full load)
Armor: between 300-mm and 80-mm-thick on the belt, and 280-mm and 90-mm of thickness on the bulkheads.
Propulsion: 3-shaft, vertical triple-expansion steam engines, with 3 cylinders each, delivering 22,000 HP; they were supplied by 12 boilers.
Speed: 19.5 knots.
Range: 9,400 nautical miles at 10 knots.
Crew: 1,139 sailors and officers
Below, the Naussau battleship, the first of her class, in 1912.
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