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} |} The ''Bayern'' class was a class of four super-dreadnought battleships built by the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). The class comprised , , ''Sachsen'', and ''Württemberg''. Construction started on the ships shortly before World War I; ''Baden'' was laid down in 1913, ''Bayern'' and ''Sachsen'' followed in 1914, and ''Württemberg'', the final ship, was laid down in 1915. Only ''Baden'' and ''Bayern'' were completed, due to shipbuilding priorities changing as the war dragged on. It was determined that U-boats were more valuable to the war effort, and so work on new battleships was slowed and ultimately stopped altogether. As a result, ''Bayern'' and ''Baden'' were the last German battleships completed by the Kaiserliche Marine. ''Bayern'' and ''Baden'' were commissioned into the fleet in July 1916 and March 1917, respectively. This was too late for either ship to take part in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May and 1 June 1916. ''Bayern'' was assigned to the naval force that drove the Imperial Russian Navy from the Gulf of Riga during Operation Albion in October 1917, though the ship was severely damaged from a mine and had to be withdrawn to Kiel for repairs. ''Baden'' replaced as the flagship of the High Seas Fleet, but saw no combat. Both ''Bayern'' and ''Baden'' were interned in Scapa Flow following the Armistice in November 1918. Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, the commander of the interned German fleet, ordered his ships be sunk on 21 June 1919; ''Bayern'' was successfully scuttled, though British guards managed to beach ''Baden'' to prevent her from sinking. The ship was eventually expended as a gunnery target in 1921. ''Sachsen'' and ''Württemberg'', both at various stages of completion when the war ended, were broken up for scrap metal. ''Bayern'' was raised in 1934 and broken up the following year. == Design == The ''Bayern''-class ships were a result of the fourth Naval Law, which was passed in 1912. Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz used public outcry over the British involvement in the Agadir Crisis of 1911 to pressure the Reichstag into appropriating additional funds for the Navy. The Fourth Naval Law secured funding for three new dreadnoughts, two light cruisers, and an increase of an additional 15,000 officers and men in the ranks of the Navy for 1912. The capital ships laid down in 1912 were the s; funding for ''Bayern'' and ''Baden'' was allocated the following year. Funding for ''Sachsen'' was allocated in the 1914 budget, while ''Württemberg'' was funded in the War Estimates. The last remaining pre-dreadnought, , was to be replaced, as well as two elderly pre-dreadnoughts, and . ''Baden'' was ordered as ''Ersatz Wörth'', ''Württemberg'' as ''Ersatz Kaiser Wilhelm II'', and ''Sachsen'' as ''Ersatz Kaiser Friedrich III''; ''Bayern'' was regarded as an addition to the fleet, and was ordered under the provisional name "T". The design for the ships was drawn up between 1910 and 1912. Consideration was given to equipping the new ships with triple turrets mounting the 30.5 cm (12 in) guns of the preceding s, but after examining the gun turrets of the Austro-Hungarian dreadnoughts of the , it was determined that the triple gun turrets still had too many problems. Among these deficiencies were increased weight, reduced ammunition supply and rate of fire, and loss of fighting capability if one of the turrets was disabled. It was therefore decided to arm the new vessels with eight 38 cm guns instead of twelve 30.5 cm guns. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bayern-class battleship」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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