"Standard" battleships of the USA, Germany and England. German Bayern
Having studied in the previous article the design features of battleships of the Rivend type, we turn to the offspring of the “gloomy Teutonic genius”, the heights of the German battleship-building of the First World War era, called “Bayern” and “Baden”.
History These ships began in the autumn-winter months of 1910, when the question of increasing the caliber of the guns of the “capital” Kaiserlichmarine ships was again raised on the agenda. But first - a little backstory.
As is known, the first German Dreadnoughts of the Nassau type received 280-mm guns, which at that time were the standard main caliber of heavy German ships: the last two battleships of the Kaiserlmarine battleships, Braunschweig and Deutschland, each had four 280-mm guns with a length 40 barrel gauges. Of course, the Nassau-type battleships got an improved and more powerful 45-caliber artillery system, but still it was not considered sufficient for the future battleships. And now, the next four German dreadnoughts, ships of the Helgoland type, received for service a much more powerful 305-mm / 50 Krupp gun, which became one of the best in the world (and, possibly, the best) artillery system of this caliber, a real artillery piece art, which left behind the British 305-mm / 45 and 305-mm / 50 tools. Of course, they are not looking for good from the good, so the next series, the Kaiser-type battleships, the Germans armed the same 305-mm / 50 artillery system.
And then 1909 struck the year marked by the laying of the first Super Dreadnought out in the world - the British Orion, and it became clear that the Lady of the Seas would then build ships with 343-mm artillery. Oddly enough, the news of this did not cause any rush in Germany: despite the fact that their next series of battleships laid in 1911 g (type "Koenig"), was intended to fight the British superdownnouet, they kept the same 305 -mm / 50 guns that stood on the Kaisers. And the Koenigs themselves were structurally very similar to the battleships of the previous series, excluding the location of the main artillery.
The logic of the Germans was quite clear: yes, the English 343-mm guns are more powerful, but the German 305-mm is easier, and this made it possible to create a lighter, or better protected tower (more precisely, both) at the same time as a smaller diameter barbet. , which again made it possible to improve its protection or save weight, the same was true of feed mechanisms, ammunition ... In general, the Germans felt that due to the well-known relief of the main caliber, they can create much better protected ships than the British build, and best armor a better flatness in the projectile flight path, a higher rate of fire will provide “Koenigs” with an advantage in combat with the 343-mm super-dreadnoughts, despite the fact that the latter have more powerful guns. As far as the German designers and admirals were right in their arguments? We will answer this question some other time when we take up a detailed analysis of the English Orions and Iron Dyukov and the German Kaisers and Koenigovs, but this is beyond the scope of our today's article. Now it is important for us to know that the Germans considered this way, and not whether their views were fair.
So, when designing the Koenig, the Germans believed that ten 305-mm / 50 guns fully meet the tasks of the modern battleship. But soon the United States and Japan followed the example of the British, switched to even larger 356-mm guns, and it became clear that the armament of the battleships Fleet high seas need to be strengthened. But how? The German Arms Department of the Imperial Ministry of the Sea considered two options. One of them was to increase the number of 305 mm / 50 guns to 13-15 units. to a battleship - obviously, this entailed a transition from two-gun tower installations to three-gun ones, or even more. The second option was to preserve the two-gun turrets while increasing the caliber of the guns to 340 mm. After making the necessary calculations, in November 1910, German experts came to the conclusion that 340-mm guns in two-gun towers are preferred. However, the calculation results did not at all prompted the Germans to immediately create a 340-mm artillery system. In essence, the result of the calculations of the weapons department was the realization of the need for more powerful naval artillery than the existing 305 mm, but a promising caliber for future battleships was yet to be determined. Therefore, the project of the 340-mm two-gun tower, which was developed on the initiative and presented in July 1911 by the Krupp concern, aroused only polite interest from the Ministry of the Sea.
The process of determining the optimal caliber of promising battleships in Germany was not fast and very thorough. The Secretary of State (Maritime Minister) A. von Tirpitz asked a very reasonable question: more recently, the 280-305-mm cannons suited everyone, now the 343-356-mm artillery systems are coming into service with the newest ships, but where is the finish in this caliber race? ? There was no doubt that he would be somewhere: in the end, there would be both technical and economic restrictions. Von Tirpitz saw that the size and power of the dreadnoughts were growing from year to year, but he was well aware that this growth was finite: sooner or later, the battleships would reach their limit for the existing technological level of size, which would no longer exceed will not compensate for the rapid increase in the cost of ships.
In other words, von Tirpitz assumed that sooner or later the same would happen with dreadnoughts as with squadron battleships, and that their size and firepower would stabilize at some level. But in 1911, obviously, this has not yet happened, but the one who sets the limits of the battleships before the others, will be able to start building them earlier, and thus will benefit while the other countries create weaker ships.
Von Tirpitz ordered some calculations, both technical and tactical, and was soon convinced that the maximum caliber of guns was stabilizing somewhere around 16 inches (400-406 mm). In this, his assumptions were confirmed by consultants from Krupp, who claimed that the British, adhering to the old methods of manufacturing artillery systems (wire trunks), would not be able to create heavier sea guns.
It would seem that here it is - the solution of the problem, everything is clear, and we must build battleships with sixteen-inch artillery, but von Tirpitz hesitated. The fact is that he had to take into account both internal and external political factors, and here everything was difficult.
There was no information that any countries were designing 15-16 guns in inches, and the battleships for 16-inch guns promised to become huge and expensive. Will the Reichstag accept such an increase in value, given that no one in the world is building such battleships yet? Does the creation of a “16-inch” ships by Germany provoke another round of the naval arms race? But, on the other hand, if only to "pull up" for other powers in the artillery caliber, will Germany lag behind at sea? Von Tirpitz had no answers to these questions, and he 4 August 1911 ordered three departments of the Maritime Ministry: shipbuilding, general and arms departments to carry out comparative studies of the transfer of the main ships of the fleet to 350-mm, 380-mm and 400-mm guns .
And so, September 1 held an extended meeting on the choice of the caliber of future guns. An interesting fact is that the 380-mm guns were thrown off immediately, but a heated debate ensued about the other two. Ten 350-mm guns or eight 400-mm? Interestingly, the gunners and the head of the armaments department, Rear Admiral G. Gerdes, spoke in favor of the 10 * 350-mm guns, which should have been placed on the battleship in five two-gun towers, similar to "Kenigo". Their arguments boiled down to the fact that the 400-mm gun, of course, better penetrates the armor, but not so much as to have an overwhelming advantage over the 350-mm guns, their rate of fire is comparable, and the 10 trunks can "bring in the enemy" more projectiles than the 8 . Strangely enough, they were opposed by shipbuilders - fleet chief designer G. Buerkner stated that he was a staunch supporter of a four-towed ship, whose instruments were grouped in the bow and stern, leaving the middle part of the hull unoccupied by cars, boilers, boats and mine-artillery. He stated that the fifth tower “always interferes”, and that, if possible, it should be disposed of. In addition, he noted that 10 * 350-mm guns will have more weight than 8 * 400-mm, and that the savings can be up to 700 tons.
Seeing that the discussion had reached a dead end, A. von Tirpitz proposed a compromise solution - to use 10 * 350-mm guns, placing them in the extremities in two-and three-gun turrets so that 1-th and 4-th towers were three-gun, and 2 th and 3-I - two-gun, that is, like the Americans later installed 10 * 356-mm guns on the battleships "Oklahoma" and "Nevada", laid down about a year later described events. But this compromise did not satisfy anyone, because the rejection of three-gun towers in the Imperial Maritime Ministry bordered on a phobia. We will list the main arguments against such towers below.
1. The large diameter of the barbets made it necessary to cut “huge holes” in the decks of the ship - according to the German shipbuilders, this violated the optimal distribution of longitudinal structural connections of the hull and adversely affected its strength. I must say, the argument is completely far-fetched - and then, and later, many ships with three-gun turrets were built, whose hull strength was quite satisfactory.
2. Reducing the rate of ammunition to the average gun. In fact, if such a problem existed, it could, if not be solved at all, then be reduced to a completely insignificant value.
3. The increase in torque of the turntable of the turret when fired, since the axes of the extreme guns defended from the center of the installation further than in the two-gun turret. It must be said that, although this objection is absolutely valid, it, with a reasonable construction of the towers, did not lead to any complications.
4. Great loss of firepower in the development of a three-gun turret in battle. Very controversial argument. Yes, of course, three guns and a half times more than two, but the fact is that the chances of getting into one of the five towers are noticeably more than one of the four.
At the same time, the specialists of the Naval Ministry fully realized that the three-gun turrets also have advantages - a more compact placement of artillery, which makes it possible to reduce the length of the citadel and save weight on it, and in addition, the possibility of providing better artillery fire angles. But still, despite the above, and the fact that the German naval gunners and engineers knew about the introduction of three-gun towers in the fleets of Russia, Italy and Austria-Hungary, their prejudice against such towers remained undefeated.
Although…
The author of this article has some, not even a guess, but rather a direction that requires further research. As you know, Austria-Hungary managed to build a four of very interesting and powerful battleships of the Viribus Unitis, combining in a relatively small displacement acceptable speed, very strong artillery weapons and impressive booking. However, very little is known about the battleships themselves (as, indeed, about the vast majority of the Austro-Hungarian ships), the bibliography about them is very, very scarce. If you look at the table TTX, it turns out that the Habsburg empire succeeded almost the best 305-mm dreadnoughts in the world (at the time of the bookmark, of course). But the history of naval construction shows that usually such “super ships” suffer from many unobvious shortcomings, and their table advantages remain only on paper.
At the same time, the respected S. Vinogradov in his monograph “Superdreadnoughts of the Second Reich“ Bayern ”and“ Baden ”. The main caliber of Admiral Tirpitz notes that at the time of the 1 discussion on September 1911, the Germans already had data on Viribus Units and had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the design of their three-gun installations. Apparently - at the level of the drawings, since the battleships of the specified series were commissioned, but perhaps in 1911 g the towers themselves were already ready in metal.
Of course, the Germans had a strong prejudice against the three-gun towers, and this is not questioned. But it is very difficult to imagine that the German engineers deliberately perverted their conclusion about the towers of the Austrian ships to please this point of view. It is much easier to assume that the design of the Austro-Hungarian dreadnoughts and their towers really possessed all the above disadvantages and the Germans, having studied them properly, found a “brilliant” confirmation of their position. However, we repeat - this is just a personal assumption of the author, a hypothesis, not confirmed by any documents.
Be that as it may, the compromise proposed by A. von Tirpitz did not satisfy either of the parties. Then Rear Admiral G. Gerdes proposed eight 350-mm guns located in four towers linearly elevated in the ship’s ends, but the Secretary of State himself rejected such a weakening of the weapons, finding it unpromising. As a result, the meeting elected a battleship with eight 400-mm guns for further development, but indicated in the resolution that this decision would require an appropriate political assessment.
Three weeks later, the meeting was held again, and now its participants reacted to the 400-mm caliber much more "friendly" than the September 1. Much was said about the prestige of Germany, about the possibility of overtaking competitors - in general, the admirals and designers were now significantly inclined towards the 400-mm gun, and von Tirpitz began to prepare a report for the Kaiser.
There was not much time left - in the late fall, von Tirpitz was to receive an invitation to the annual autumn hunt, which actually happened. There, far from the troubles and vanities of Berlin, the state secretary presented a sketch to the battleship to the Kaiser, from which, in general, the design of the Bayern began. Unfortunately, little is known about this project. The normal displacement of the battleship was 28 250 t, length - 177 m, weapons - 8 * 400-mm, 14 * 150-mm and 10 * 88-mm guns. The project envisaged a three-shaft power plant that became classic for German ships of the line, and the middle shaft was supposed to work on diesel. And that, in general, was all.
Kaiser liked the project, now it was necessary to make a preliminary estimate for the construction of the battleship. Despite the preference that von Tirpitz had for 400-mm caliber, ships with 350-mm and 380-mm guns were also taken into work. And the first estimations showed that the preliminary draft, which demonstrated to Kaiser von Tirpitz, was too optimistic.
The version of the battleship with 10 * 350-mm guns acquired the normal displacement of 29 000 tons and the cost of 59,7 million marks. Well, the battleship with 8 * 400-mm guns turned out to be even larger, despite the fact that its “price tag” was guaranteed to go for 60 million marks. These figures were too high for von Tirpitz, he did not consider it possible to convince politicians of the need to allocate such funds.
And here came the conceptual design of the battleship with 8 * 380-mm guns, worked out by the shipbuilding department: with a normal displacement in 28 100, it should have cost about 57,5 million marks. Such indicators A. von Tirpitz considered quite acceptable, the ship fits into the budgets. Of course, the 400-mm gun was more powerful, but von Tirpitz, forced to take into account the financial and political aspects, wrote to the Kaiser:
In other words, there is every reason to assume that by refusing 400-mm guns, von Tirpitz argued something like this: now our battleships will still be the strongest, and then, even if some powers switch to 406-mm guns, then we using a lighter 380-mm artillery system, we use the weight saved to enhance the booking of our ships. So our dreadnoughts, being weaker armed, will become better protected and will remain completely equivalent to enemy ships of the same class with 16-inch artillery.
In fact, and without any doubt, at this moment the Kaiser's fleet lost its ultimatum-powerful battleships, which by force of artillery would have significantly surpassed the British. The fact that the 400-mm gun would have been only slightly more powerful than the 380-mm, contained a fair amount of guile, although it is possible that von Tirpitz was simply misinformed by the forecasts of specialists. It is easy for us to reason today, having at hand all the necessary background information, but the most powerful weapon of the German fleet at that time was Krupp's twelve-inch (305-mm), and the rest of the guns did not even exist in the form of some elaborate sketches.
However, if we compare the two guns of England, made at the same technological level - 381-mm and 406-mm, we will see that the difference between them is very noticeable. As we have said, the 381-mm gun fired 871 kg with projectiles with an initial speed of 752 m / s, and the 406-mm cannon, which later received Nelson-type battleships, fired 929 kg with projectiles with an initial speed of 785 m / s. there is a muzzle energy of the 406-mm gun turned out to be about 16,2% higher. It seems to be not so much, but if it is forgotten that the 381-mm cannon was deservedly considered a masterpiece of artillery, but the 406-mm artillery system is considered by all to be unsuccessful. For some reason, the British left the principle of “heavy projectile - low initial speed” to the principle “light projectile - high initial speed”, but for a number of reasons, this very speed could not be ensured - according to the 929 kg project, the projectile should was leaving the barrel at a speed of 828 m / s ... However, later the artillery system was improved, bringing the initial speed to 797 m / s., so that it became more powerful than the British fifteen-inch already by 19,8%. At the same time, the American 406-mm cannon, having a 1000 kg projectile and an initial velocity of 790 m / s, exceeded the British 381-mm gun in muzzle energy by 26,7%.
In other words, there is no doubt that with an equal technological level, the 400-mm gun could have been more powerful than the 380-mm on 20-25%, and this is a very significant superiority. And the Germans stopped literally a step away - another thousand, or one and a half thousand tons of displacement, several million more marks and ... Alas, history does not know the subjunctive mood.
On the other hand, the rejection of 400-mm guns can not be considered a sign of inertia of the German naval leadership. The fact is that at the time of the decision, the Germans knew only that ships with 343-356-mm artillery systems were being built in the world, and that the British seemed to be thinking about an even larger caliber gun, but there was no exact data on the latter. And the Germans made great strides forward, at one stroke increasing the caliber of their guns by almost three inches - the case in naval history is quite exceptional. Suffice it to say that the 380-mm two-gun turret had a weight almost twice as large as a similar turret with 305-mm guns. Thus, the Germans not only decided on a revolutionary increase in the power of their dreadnoughts, but also took this step completely independently, influenced by their own views on the evolution of naval armaments, and not because they were forced to catch up with someone. Information that the British create "381-mm" dreadnoughts, arrived in Germany about six months after the decision to build battleships with 380-mm guns was made.
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History These ships began in the autumn-winter months of 1910, when the question of increasing the caliber of the guns of the “capital” Kaiserlichmarine ships was again raised on the agenda. But first - a little backstory.
As is known, the first German Dreadnoughts of the Nassau type received 280-mm guns, which at that time were the standard main caliber of heavy German ships: the last two battleships of the Kaiserlmarine battleships, Braunschweig and Deutschland, each had four 280-mm guns with a length 40 barrel gauges. Of course, the Nassau-type battleships got an improved and more powerful 45-caliber artillery system, but still it was not considered sufficient for the future battleships. And now, the next four German dreadnoughts, ships of the Helgoland type, received for service a much more powerful 305-mm / 50 Krupp gun, which became one of the best in the world (and, possibly, the best) artillery system of this caliber, a real artillery piece art, which left behind the British 305-mm / 45 and 305-mm / 50 tools. Of course, they are not looking for good from the good, so the next series, the Kaiser-type battleships, the Germans armed the same 305-mm / 50 artillery system.
And then 1909 struck the year marked by the laying of the first Super Dreadnought out in the world - the British Orion, and it became clear that the Lady of the Seas would then build ships with 343-mm artillery. Oddly enough, the news of this did not cause any rush in Germany: despite the fact that their next series of battleships laid in 1911 g (type "Koenig"), was intended to fight the British superdownnouet, they kept the same 305 -mm / 50 guns that stood on the Kaisers. And the Koenigs themselves were structurally very similar to the battleships of the previous series, excluding the location of the main artillery.
Battleship "Koenig"
The logic of the Germans was quite clear: yes, the English 343-mm guns are more powerful, but the German 305-mm is easier, and this made it possible to create a lighter, or better protected tower (more precisely, both) at the same time as a smaller diameter barbet. , which again made it possible to improve its protection or save weight, the same was true of feed mechanisms, ammunition ... In general, the Germans felt that due to the well-known relief of the main caliber, they can create much better protected ships than the British build, and best armor a better flatness in the projectile flight path, a higher rate of fire will provide “Koenigs” with an advantage in combat with the 343-mm super-dreadnoughts, despite the fact that the latter have more powerful guns. As far as the German designers and admirals were right in their arguments? We will answer this question some other time when we take up a detailed analysis of the English Orions and Iron Dyukov and the German Kaisers and Koenigovs, but this is beyond the scope of our today's article. Now it is important for us to know that the Germans considered this way, and not whether their views were fair.
So, when designing the Koenig, the Germans believed that ten 305-mm / 50 guns fully meet the tasks of the modern battleship. But soon the United States and Japan followed the example of the British, switched to even larger 356-mm guns, and it became clear that the armament of the battleships Fleet high seas need to be strengthened. But how? The German Arms Department of the Imperial Ministry of the Sea considered two options. One of them was to increase the number of 305 mm / 50 guns to 13-15 units. to a battleship - obviously, this entailed a transition from two-gun tower installations to three-gun ones, or even more. The second option was to preserve the two-gun turrets while increasing the caliber of the guns to 340 mm. After making the necessary calculations, in November 1910, German experts came to the conclusion that 340-mm guns in two-gun towers are preferred. However, the calculation results did not at all prompted the Germans to immediately create a 340-mm artillery system. In essence, the result of the calculations of the weapons department was the realization of the need for more powerful naval artillery than the existing 305 mm, but a promising caliber for future battleships was yet to be determined. Therefore, the project of the 340-mm two-gun tower, which was developed on the initiative and presented in July 1911 by the Krupp concern, aroused only polite interest from the Ministry of the Sea.
The process of determining the optimal caliber of promising battleships in Germany was not fast and very thorough. The Secretary of State (Maritime Minister) A. von Tirpitz asked a very reasonable question: more recently, the 280-305-mm cannons suited everyone, now the 343-356-mm artillery systems are coming into service with the newest ships, but where is the finish in this caliber race? ? There was no doubt that he would be somewhere: in the end, there would be both technical and economic restrictions. Von Tirpitz saw that the size and power of the dreadnoughts were growing from year to year, but he was well aware that this growth was finite: sooner or later, the battleships would reach their limit for the existing technological level of size, which would no longer exceed will not compensate for the rapid increase in the cost of ships.
In other words, von Tirpitz assumed that sooner or later the same would happen with dreadnoughts as with squadron battleships, and that their size and firepower would stabilize at some level. But in 1911, obviously, this has not yet happened, but the one who sets the limits of the battleships before the others, will be able to start building them earlier, and thus will benefit while the other countries create weaker ships.
Von Tirpitz ordered some calculations, both technical and tactical, and was soon convinced that the maximum caliber of guns was stabilizing somewhere around 16 inches (400-406 mm). In this, his assumptions were confirmed by consultants from Krupp, who claimed that the British, adhering to the old methods of manufacturing artillery systems (wire trunks), would not be able to create heavier sea guns.
It would seem that here it is - the solution of the problem, everything is clear, and we must build battleships with sixteen-inch artillery, but von Tirpitz hesitated. The fact is that he had to take into account both internal and external political factors, and here everything was difficult.
There was no information that any countries were designing 15-16 guns in inches, and the battleships for 16-inch guns promised to become huge and expensive. Will the Reichstag accept such an increase in value, given that no one in the world is building such battleships yet? Does the creation of a “16-inch” ships by Germany provoke another round of the naval arms race? But, on the other hand, if only to "pull up" for other powers in the artillery caliber, will Germany lag behind at sea? Von Tirpitz had no answers to these questions, and he 4 August 1911 ordered three departments of the Maritime Ministry: shipbuilding, general and arms departments to carry out comparative studies of the transfer of the main ships of the fleet to 350-mm, 380-mm and 400-mm guns .
And so, September 1 held an extended meeting on the choice of the caliber of future guns. An interesting fact is that the 380-mm guns were thrown off immediately, but a heated debate ensued about the other two. Ten 350-mm guns or eight 400-mm? Interestingly, the gunners and the head of the armaments department, Rear Admiral G. Gerdes, spoke in favor of the 10 * 350-mm guns, which should have been placed on the battleship in five two-gun towers, similar to "Kenigo". Their arguments boiled down to the fact that the 400-mm gun, of course, better penetrates the armor, but not so much as to have an overwhelming advantage over the 350-mm guns, their rate of fire is comparable, and the 10 trunks can "bring in the enemy" more projectiles than the 8 . Strangely enough, they were opposed by shipbuilders - fleet chief designer G. Buerkner stated that he was a staunch supporter of a four-towed ship, whose instruments were grouped in the bow and stern, leaving the middle part of the hull unoccupied by cars, boilers, boats and mine-artillery. He stated that the fifth tower “always interferes”, and that, if possible, it should be disposed of. In addition, he noted that 10 * 350-mm guns will have more weight than 8 * 400-mm, and that the savings can be up to 700 tons.
Seeing that the discussion had reached a dead end, A. von Tirpitz proposed a compromise solution - to use 10 * 350-mm guns, placing them in the extremities in two-and three-gun turrets so that 1-th and 4-th towers were three-gun, and 2 th and 3-I - two-gun, that is, like the Americans later installed 10 * 356-mm guns on the battleships "Oklahoma" and "Nevada", laid down about a year later described events. But this compromise did not satisfy anyone, because the rejection of three-gun towers in the Imperial Maritime Ministry bordered on a phobia. We will list the main arguments against such towers below.
1. The large diameter of the barbets made it necessary to cut “huge holes” in the decks of the ship - according to the German shipbuilders, this violated the optimal distribution of longitudinal structural connections of the hull and adversely affected its strength. I must say, the argument is completely far-fetched - and then, and later, many ships with three-gun turrets were built, whose hull strength was quite satisfactory.
2. Reducing the rate of ammunition to the average gun. In fact, if such a problem existed, it could, if not be solved at all, then be reduced to a completely insignificant value.
3. The increase in torque of the turntable of the turret when fired, since the axes of the extreme guns defended from the center of the installation further than in the two-gun turret. It must be said that, although this objection is absolutely valid, it, with a reasonable construction of the towers, did not lead to any complications.
4. Great loss of firepower in the development of a three-gun turret in battle. Very controversial argument. Yes, of course, three guns and a half times more than two, but the fact is that the chances of getting into one of the five towers are noticeably more than one of the four.
At the same time, the specialists of the Naval Ministry fully realized that the three-gun turrets also have advantages - a more compact placement of artillery, which makes it possible to reduce the length of the citadel and save weight on it, and in addition, the possibility of providing better artillery fire angles. But still, despite the above, and the fact that the German naval gunners and engineers knew about the introduction of three-gun towers in the fleets of Russia, Italy and Austria-Hungary, their prejudice against such towers remained undefeated.
Although…
The author of this article has some, not even a guess, but rather a direction that requires further research. As you know, Austria-Hungary managed to build a four of very interesting and powerful battleships of the Viribus Unitis, combining in a relatively small displacement acceptable speed, very strong artillery weapons and impressive booking. However, very little is known about the battleships themselves (as, indeed, about the vast majority of the Austro-Hungarian ships), the bibliography about them is very, very scarce. If you look at the table TTX, it turns out that the Habsburg empire succeeded almost the best 305-mm dreadnoughts in the world (at the time of the bookmark, of course). But the history of naval construction shows that usually such “super ships” suffer from many unobvious shortcomings, and their table advantages remain only on paper.
At the same time, the respected S. Vinogradov in his monograph “Superdreadnoughts of the Second Reich“ Bayern ”and“ Baden ”. The main caliber of Admiral Tirpitz notes that at the time of the 1 discussion on September 1911, the Germans already had data on Viribus Units and had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the design of their three-gun installations. Apparently - at the level of the drawings, since the battleships of the specified series were commissioned, but perhaps in 1911 g the towers themselves were already ready in metal.
Three-gun turret of Viribus Unitis type battleships
Of course, the Germans had a strong prejudice against the three-gun towers, and this is not questioned. But it is very difficult to imagine that the German engineers deliberately perverted their conclusion about the towers of the Austrian ships to please this point of view. It is much easier to assume that the design of the Austro-Hungarian dreadnoughts and their towers really possessed all the above disadvantages and the Germans, having studied them properly, found a “brilliant” confirmation of their position. However, we repeat - this is just a personal assumption of the author, a hypothesis, not confirmed by any documents.
Be that as it may, the compromise proposed by A. von Tirpitz did not satisfy either of the parties. Then Rear Admiral G. Gerdes proposed eight 350-mm guns located in four towers linearly elevated in the ship’s ends, but the Secretary of State himself rejected such a weakening of the weapons, finding it unpromising. As a result, the meeting elected a battleship with eight 400-mm guns for further development, but indicated in the resolution that this decision would require an appropriate political assessment.
Three weeks later, the meeting was held again, and now its participants reacted to the 400-mm caliber much more "friendly" than the September 1. Much was said about the prestige of Germany, about the possibility of overtaking competitors - in general, the admirals and designers were now significantly inclined towards the 400-mm gun, and von Tirpitz began to prepare a report for the Kaiser.
There was not much time left - in the late fall, von Tirpitz was to receive an invitation to the annual autumn hunt, which actually happened. There, far from the troubles and vanities of Berlin, the state secretary presented a sketch to the battleship to the Kaiser, from which, in general, the design of the Bayern began. Unfortunately, little is known about this project. The normal displacement of the battleship was 28 250 t, length - 177 m, weapons - 8 * 400-mm, 14 * 150-mm and 10 * 88-mm guns. The project envisaged a three-shaft power plant that became classic for German ships of the line, and the middle shaft was supposed to work on diesel. And that, in general, was all.
Kaiser liked the project, now it was necessary to make a preliminary estimate for the construction of the battleship. Despite the preference that von Tirpitz had for 400-mm caliber, ships with 350-mm and 380-mm guns were also taken into work. And the first estimations showed that the preliminary draft, which demonstrated to Kaiser von Tirpitz, was too optimistic.
The version of the battleship with 10 * 350-mm guns acquired the normal displacement of 29 000 tons and the cost of 59,7 million marks. Well, the battleship with 8 * 400-mm guns turned out to be even larger, despite the fact that its “price tag” was guaranteed to go for 60 million marks. These figures were too high for von Tirpitz, he did not consider it possible to convince politicians of the need to allocate such funds.
And here came the conceptual design of the battleship with 8 * 380-mm guns, worked out by the shipbuilding department: with a normal displacement in 28 100, it should have cost about 57,5 million marks. Such indicators A. von Tirpitz considered quite acceptable, the ship fits into the budgets. Of course, the 400-mm gun was more powerful, but von Tirpitz, forced to take into account the financial and political aspects, wrote to the Kaiser:
“The advantage associated with a further increase in caliber is relatively small, and hence this tool can probably be maintained even when other fleets switch to an even heavier caliber.”
In other words, there is every reason to assume that by refusing 400-mm guns, von Tirpitz argued something like this: now our battleships will still be the strongest, and then, even if some powers switch to 406-mm guns, then we using a lighter 380-mm artillery system, we use the weight saved to enhance the booking of our ships. So our dreadnoughts, being weaker armed, will become better protected and will remain completely equivalent to enemy ships of the same class with 16-inch artillery.
In fact, and without any doubt, at this moment the Kaiser's fleet lost its ultimatum-powerful battleships, which by force of artillery would have significantly surpassed the British. The fact that the 400-mm gun would have been only slightly more powerful than the 380-mm, contained a fair amount of guile, although it is possible that von Tirpitz was simply misinformed by the forecasts of specialists. It is easy for us to reason today, having at hand all the necessary background information, but the most powerful weapon of the German fleet at that time was Krupp's twelve-inch (305-mm), and the rest of the guns did not even exist in the form of some elaborate sketches.
However, if we compare the two guns of England, made at the same technological level - 381-mm and 406-mm, we will see that the difference between them is very noticeable. As we have said, the 381-mm gun fired 871 kg with projectiles with an initial speed of 752 m / s, and the 406-mm cannon, which later received Nelson-type battleships, fired 929 kg with projectiles with an initial speed of 785 m / s. there is a muzzle energy of the 406-mm gun turned out to be about 16,2% higher. It seems to be not so much, but if it is forgotten that the 381-mm cannon was deservedly considered a masterpiece of artillery, but the 406-mm artillery system is considered by all to be unsuccessful. For some reason, the British left the principle of “heavy projectile - low initial speed” to the principle “light projectile - high initial speed”, but for a number of reasons, this very speed could not be ensured - according to the 929 kg project, the projectile should was leaving the barrel at a speed of 828 m / s ... However, later the artillery system was improved, bringing the initial speed to 797 m / s., so that it became more powerful than the British fifteen-inch already by 19,8%. At the same time, the American 406-mm cannon, having a 1000 kg projectile and an initial velocity of 790 m / s, exceeded the British 381-mm gun in muzzle energy by 26,7%.
In other words, there is no doubt that with an equal technological level, the 400-mm gun could have been more powerful than the 380-mm on 20-25%, and this is a very significant superiority. And the Germans stopped literally a step away - another thousand, or one and a half thousand tons of displacement, several million more marks and ... Alas, history does not know the subjunctive mood.
Battleship Bayern
On the other hand, the rejection of 400-mm guns can not be considered a sign of inertia of the German naval leadership. The fact is that at the time of the decision, the Germans knew only that ships with 343-356-mm artillery systems were being built in the world, and that the British seemed to be thinking about an even larger caliber gun, but there was no exact data on the latter. And the Germans made great strides forward, at one stroke increasing the caliber of their guns by almost three inches - the case in naval history is quite exceptional. Suffice it to say that the 380-mm two-gun turret had a weight almost twice as large as a similar turret with 305-mm guns. Thus, the Germans not only decided on a revolutionary increase in the power of their dreadnoughts, but also took this step completely independently, influenced by their own views on the evolution of naval armaments, and not because they were forced to catch up with someone. Information that the British create "381-mm" dreadnoughts, arrived in Germany about six months after the decision to build battleships with 380-mm guns was made.
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