The description of the design of the Bayerne-class battleships will begin, of course, with its large cannons.
Artillery
As we have already said, the main caliber of the Bayern-class battleships was represented by eight 380-mm / 45 C / 13 guns (that is, the 1913 model). These guns continued the traditional line of development of the German naval artillery and, I must say, were completely different from their British counterparts - literally in all respects.
The Germans had long abandoned the obsolete, wire-wound design of the guns that the British continued to use. The British 381 mm / 42 gun was a liner on which many kilometers of red-hot rectangular wire were wound - and then the resulting structure was placed in a tube - the outer casing of the gun. The German 380 mm / 45 gun was created using a much more advanced technology, in which the wire was replaced by three rows of cylinders - as a result, with equal strength, the walls of the German gun were much thinner than that of the English one. This had the most positive effect on the mass of the German artillery system, which weighed only 76, 2 tons with the bolt, while the English 15-inch - 101, 6 tons. And this despite the fact that the English gun was shorter - the full length of its barrel was 43, 36 caliber, while the German has 45 caliber. The shutters were also different - the British gun had a piston-type shutter, the German one was of a wedge type.
Of course, the concepts were also different - as we know, the German fleet adhered to the principle of "light projectile - high muzzle velocity", while the British - "heavy projectile - low muzzle velocity". At the same time, it is not that for the UK this was a deliberate choice, it is simply that the wire structure used there made it extremely difficult to increase the barrel length, which is extremely desirable for increasing the initial velocity of the projectile. Thus, the concept of "heavy projectile - low muzzle velocity" was largely forced for the British, which, however, does not mean that this principle is somehow bad.
Nevertheless, we will postpone a detailed comparison of the British and German guns - together with the American, of course, until the time when, having completed the description of the dreadnoughts of these three countries, we move on to comparing them, but for now this is still far away. Now let's get back to the German artillery system.
The newest 380 mm / 45 cannon fired a 750 kg projectile with an initial speed of 800 m / s. Ammunition for one gun was 90 shells, including 60 armor-piercing and 30 high-explosive. Trinitrotoluene was used as an explosive, while its content in an armor-piercing projectile was 23.5 (according to other sources - 25 kg), in a high-explosive shell - 67.1 kg. The charge consisted of two parts unequal in weight: most of it fit into an ordinary double silk cap with a total weight of 192 kg, the smaller part into a brass sleeve weighing 54 kg. Apparently, the indicated figures were obtained by rounding up, since the total mass of the charge is indicated at 246 kg, but only 245, of which the gunpowder itself was 183 kg, the packaging is 63 kg. It must be said that the use of a sleeve, taking into account the use of a wedge-shaped breech, provided excellent obturation, but this had a price - the total weight of the sleeves on one battleship reached 43 tons.
As for the artillery installation, it was a development of the 305-mm / 50 German gun - not a copy, because a number of improvements were introduced into it, but also not a fundamentally new design. The loading was carried out at a constant elevation angle of 2.5 degrees, due to which it was possible to achieve a sufficiently high reloading speed, the full cycle of which took 26 seconds, however, it is unclear whether this time took into account the procedures for lowering the barrel and returning it to the firing position. Most likely not, since the rate of fire of 380 mm / 45 guns is indicated at the level of 1.5-2 shots / mn., That is, 30-40 seconds per shot.
As for the firing range, there is some hitch here. The fact is that initially "Bayern" and "Baden" received towers with a maximum elevation angle of guns of 16 degrees, at which, apparently, the firing range was 20,250 - 20,400 m, that is, 109-110 cables. But in the work of the respected S. Vinogradov, dedicated to battleships of this type, it is argued that the guns fired at 20 250 m at an elevation angle of 13 degrees, which, I must say, is very doubtful, and possibly a typo. On the other hand, it is reliably known that after the Germans in 1917 increased the maximum elevation angle to 20 degrees, the firing range was 23,200 m, or just over 125 cables. It can be stated that 125 cables in those years were, perhaps, the limit of effective shooting, which the fire control devices of those times could still provide.
All of the above characterizes the German turret installations of 380 mm / 45 guns in the best way, however, they were not free from shortcomings. Some of them were a continuation of their own advantages: for example, both electricity and hydraulics were used in the control of the tower, and the devices that "convert" electricity into hydrodynamic force were located inside the barbet, that is, the turret compartments, while the British placed him outside the towers. This solution provided better protection for all these mechanisms, but, unfortunately, they were very noisy, which made it difficult for the gunners to maintain the towers.
Another drawback was much more significant - there were no transfer compartments for the supply of ammunition in the design of the towers. As you know, the very first battles of heavy ships demonstrated the vulnerability of their artillery cellars - the defeat of the towers was often accompanied by fires that threatened the ships with death. To avoid this, first by the Germans, and later by the British, a fairly simple system was adopted, which can be described briefly as "one closed door" - that is, in the transfer compartment connecting the artillery cellar and the tower's feed pipe (barbet), one is always closed. armored door. When the charges were transferred from the artillery cell to the reloading compartment, the "armored rack" was closed in the tower, and when it was necessary to transfer the charges to the feed pipe, respectively, the door leading to the artillery cellar. Thus, if the tower was broken through and a fire broke out inside it, the fire could not pass into the cellars.
But the towers of the Bayern-class battleships did not have a reloading compartment, and the artillery cellar was separated from the feed pipe by only one armored door - the doors of the loading door, thus, if the tower was hit when they were open, then the fire was quite capable of reaching cellars.
The anti-mine caliber was represented by sixteen 150-mm (to be absolutely precise - 149, 1 mm) C / 06 guns. It was a very successful cannon, fully meeting the tasks of protecting the ship from destroyer attacks. Its projectile weighing 45, 3 kg had an initial speed of 835 m / s, while at the maximum elevation angle of 19 degrees, the firing range of such a projectile was 14 945 m, that is, almost 81 cables. Ammunition left 160 armor-piercing and high-explosive shells per gun. The loading was separate-sleeve, while the weight of the loaded sleeve was 22.5 kg, including 13.7 kg of gunpowder and 8.8 kg - the sleeve itself. The rate of fire is usually indicated as 7-8 rds / min, in fact, most likely, it did not differ from that of similar 6-inch guns from other fleets.
Nevertheless, apparently, the anti-mine artillery "Baern" and "Baden" had a very serious drawback, namely, the relatively low content of explosives in the shells. In fact, this question is unclear, because a significant number of sources pass over this issue in silence, but, according to available data, the content of explosives in an armor-piercing projectile did not exceed 0, 99 kg. As for the high-explosive, it is completely unclear, but given the fact that by the Second World War, the new shells for this gun had 3, 9-4, 09 kg of explosives, it is extremely doubtful that there would have been more during the First World War.
Nevertheless, S. Vinogradov in his monograph "Superdreadnoughts of the Second Reich" Bayern "and" Baden "indicates 3, 0 - 3, 9 kg for armor-piercing 150-mm shells, but this is extremely doubtful. In the end, the British semi-armor-piercing 152-mm shells had 3.4 kg of explosives, and the high-explosive shells had 6 kg at all. Taking into account the above, it is most likely that the content of explosives in the German armor-piercing projectile was 0, 99 kg, and in the high-explosive - in the range of 3, 5-3, 9 kg, which is much lower than the similar indicators of the British cannon.
Why is that? Apparently, the point is this: as we know, the Germans, when building their dreadnoughts, did not adhere to the concept of "only big guns" at all. That is, they, of course, installed a large number of first 280-mm, and then 305-mm guns, but at the same time they were not at all going to give up the average 150-mm caliber. On German ships, it was just the average, the anti-mine functions were performed by 88-mm cannons, which, however, of course, did not exclude the possibility of firing 150-mm guns at attacking destroyers.
And within the medium-caliber concept, the Germans might feel the need for their "six-inch" shells to penetrate some armor. It is known that a decrease in the content of explosives makes it possible to make the shell of the projectile more durable, providing it with better armor penetration, and, apparently, this is exactly what happened with the German 150-mm guns. Their armor-piercing projectile was full-fledged armor-piercing, and the high-explosive in its capabilities was probably close to the English semi-armor-piercing projectile. In other words, apparently, in Germany they preferred to increase the armor penetration of 150-mm guns to the detriment of the impact on an unarmored target, and, of course, from the point of view of protecting the ship from destroyers, this was not the best solution.
All 16 150-mm guns were housed in separate casemates, the height of their barrels above sea level was 5.5 m.
Bayern-class battleships became the first dreadnoughts of the Kaiser's fleet, on which the "intermediate" 150-mm caliber finally became mine-action. The fact is that the 88-mm cannons, previously focused on performing this function, were already assigned a different purpose in the project - they were anti-aircraft guns.
The 88 mm / 45 cannon itself was quite "in trend" with the then guns of a similar purpose - it fired 10 kg shells with an initial speed of 890 m / s. at a range of up to 11 800 m (almost 64 cables), and its maximum elevation angle was 70%, which made it possible to shoot at aircraft. The loading was unitary, the total mass of the cartridge was 15.6 kg. The rate of fire reached 10 rds / min.
According to the project, the battleships of the "Bayern" class were supposed to have eight such guns, but, oddly enough, the "Bayern" itself did not have them at all when it was handed over to the fleet, and the "Baden" received only two such guns. Subsequently, and on that, and on the other, their number was brought to four.
Measuring the distance to the enemy was carried out by means of four rangefinders with a base of 8 meters, and five - with a base of three meters. Other fire control devices were traditional for the German navy. We will dwell on this topic in more detail when comparing the "Rivendjes", "Bayerns" and "Pennsylvania", for now we note that, although they were more primitive than the English ones, they still provided very good indicators of shooting accuracy.
Torpedoes
In addition to the ultimatum-powerful artillery weapons, the Bayern-class battleships received equally serious torpedo weapons. And if the 380-mm / 45 guns of the Bayern still had their analogue in England, then the 600-mm torpedo N-8 of the 1912 model undeniably occupies the top line of the rating of "self-propelled mines" during the First World War. The total weight of the equipped torpedo was 2,160 kg, while the warhead contained 250 kg of TNT (according to other sources, hexanite). As for the range and speed, there are conflicting data - according to some sources, the torpedo could travel 6 km at 36 knots or 14 km at 30 knots, according to others - 13 kilometers, moving 28 knots.
Battleships of the Bayern type had five underwater torpedo tubes - one bow and two onboard, the latter were deployed in the bow at 20 degrees. from the traverse. Ammunition for one device was 4 torpedoes, respectively, the total "Bayern" carried 20 torpedoes.
Without a doubt, we will be absolutely right in asserting that by placing such a powerful torpedo armament on battleships, the Germans completely in vain "threw away" many tens of tons of payload and cubic meters of internal space. But we speak from the height of the post-knowledge, and in those years the naval experts thought quite differently. Let us recall that in about the same years, in England, someone's timid voice, who spoke out for the removal of torpedoes from battleships, was immediately drowned out by an categorical statement: "The fate of the Empire depends on the torpedo weapons of battleships!" and no one dared to challenge this.
Reservation
The length of the citadel of Bayerne-class battleships accounted for 58% of the total length of the ship. Its basis was the main armor belt, which went almost from the beginning of the barbet of the 1st tower and almost to the end of the barbet of the 4th tower, closing with casemates perpendicular to the axis of the ship, while the barbets of the aforementioned towers protruded slightly behind them, which is very clearly visible on one of the the diagrams below. The main armor belt consisted of 3 720 mm high plates. Its upper edge was at the level of the middle deck of the ship, and the lower edge dropped 1,700 mm below the waterline. Thus, with the normal displacement of the battleship, its main armor belt protected the side up to 2,020 mm above sea level. The thickness of the armor plates throughout its "surface" section and another 350 mm "under water" (that is, over 2,370 mm from the upper edge) was 350 mm, then its thickness gradually thinned to 170 mm on the lower edge.
Directly above the main armor belt, along its entire length, and in height from the middle to the upper deck, there was a second, 250 mm armor belt, the height of its armor plates was 2,150 mm. Thus, within the citadel, Bayerne-class battleships had a fully armored side. However, the vertical protection of the citadel was not at all limited to the two indicated belts - the fact is that behind them, at some distance from the sides, from the upper to the lower deck, along the entire length of the 250-350-mm armor belts, there was still an anti-fragmentation 30 mm bulkhead. Looking ahead, we note that the horizontal part of the armored deck within the citadel passed at the level of the lower deck, and from it there were bevels to the lower edge of the 350-mm armor plates. Accordingly, the top of the 30 mm bulkhead was located at the level of the upper deck and the upper edge of the 250 mm armored belt, and the lower edge of this bulkhead was connected to the armored deck at the point where the bevel began. Taking into account the fact that the armored deck within the citadel was 30 mm thick about the entire length, both on the bevels and on the horizontal part, it turned out a kind of scheme of Russian dreadnoughts - behind the main one, and behind the upper armor belt there was a continuous second protection circuit formed by 30 mm armored bulkhead and bevels.
True, in addition to the actual thickness of the armor, there was another difference in this design. As a rule, the bevels of the armored deck of battleships were connected to the lower edge of the armor belt, in the place where the armor ended and the usual, steel sheathing began. But the German designers considered that fastening the bevels, armor belt and plating in one assembly weakened the structure as a whole, therefore, on Bayerne-class battleships, the bevels of the armor deck were connected to the main armor belt, a little short of its lower edge.
Moreover, the underwater part of the ship along the entire length of the citadel was protected by an armored anti-torpedo bulkhead 50 mm thick, extending from the very bottom to the junction of the bevels and the horizontal section of the armored deck and even slightly higher. It was in the same plane with a 30 mm armored bulkhead, and one would expect that they would simply flow smoothly into one another, that is, a solid bulkhead would turn out from the bottom to the main deck, just in the hold to the armored deck it would have a thickness of 50 mm, and over - 30 mm. But for some reason the Germans did not do that - both of these bulkheads were connected "overlapping", so that above the armored deck along the entire length of the citadel at a height of 0.8 m from the armored deck, the armored bulkhead had 80 mm (30 + 50).
From the bow and stern, the citadel along its entire height (from the upper deck to the lower edge of the bonneplites of the main belt) was closed by traverses perpendicular to the axis of the ship, their thickness was 200 mm, with the exception of the part that was located in the space between the middle and lower decks and 30 mm armored bulkheads - there the thickness of the traverses was 300 mm.
Let us now consider the "cover" that covered the citadel from above: as we have already said, the armor belt and armored bulkheads reached the upper deck. She, within the citadel, had armor with a thickness of 30 mm, but not continuous. The fact is that a significant part of the upper deck was occupied by a casemate of 150-mm guns that stood on it, and where the upper deck was also the floor of the casemate, it had no protection.
And the casemate stretched from the 1st tower to the 3rd, while its walls were connected to the barbets of the indicated towers. These walls themselves had a thickness of 170 mm, the roof of the casemates had a differentiated protection of 30-40 mm, with 30 mm sections passing directly above the guns. Inside the casemate was divided by 20 mm steel partitions - it is not entirely clear whether it was armor steel or structural steel.
In general, it turned out the following - in order to hit the space protected by the citadel, the enemy projectile had to overcome:
1. Below the waterline - armor plate 350 mm thick, or that part of it where it dropped to 170 mm, 30 mm bevel and 50 mm armor bulkhead PTZ, that is (hereinafter, without taking into account the slope of armor plates) 250-430 mm of armor.
2. In the section 0.8 m above the waterline - 350 mm armor belt, 80 mm section of vertical armor (where the 30 mm armor bulkhead was "overlapped" with the 50 mm TZ bulkhead) and 30 mm of the horizontal section of the armored deck, and in total - 460 mm of vertical and horizontal armor.
3. At the section at a height of 0.8-1.2 m from the waterline - 350 mm armor belt, 30 mm armored bulkhead and 30 mm horizontal section of the armored deck, and in total - 410 mm of vertical and horizontal armor.
4. At a height of 2, 2-4, 15 m from the waterline - 250 mm upper belt, 30 mm armored bulkhead and 30 mm section of the armored deck, and only 310 mm of vertical and horizontal armor.
5. At the level of the upper deck - 30 mm of horizontal armor of the upper deck and the same amount of armor, that is, a total of 60 mm.
6. By the height of the casemate - it would seem that there is the same vulnerability as the one we described earlier for the Rivenge-class battleships. Indeed, the shell that pierced the 170 mm casemate no longer has any armor barriers under it, except for the 30 mm beveled lower deck. However, there is an important nuance here. The British raised the horizontal part of their armored deck to the level of the main deck, and thus, the enemy projectile, which pierced the 152 mm upper belt (the lower edge of which was exactly at the level of the main deck), just fell into it, and a blow or explosion on the armor of a heavy projectile, the 50 mm armor plate, of course, could not withstand. But with the German battleships, a slightly different story turned out - the fact is that in order to get to the 30 mm armored deck, the enemy projectile should, having broken through the 170 mm wall of the casemate, "go" more than two interdeck spaces down. Taking into account the normalization of the projectile at the moment of hitting the casemate, when the angle of its fall would decrease, there was practically no chance that the projectile could reach the 30 mm armored deck, so if something could threaten the German armored deck, it was only fragments of an exploded projectile. In addition, a small additional protection was provided by the upper and middle decks, which, although they did not have armor, were made of 8 mm steel.
7. At the level of the casemate roof - 30-40 mm of horizontal roof armor and 30 mm of the horizontal section of the armored deck, that is, in total, 60-70 mm of horizontal armor.
Outside the citadel, the corps of the German battleship also had the most solid protection. From 350 mm armor belt, first 200 mm armor plates went into the nose, and then 150 mm, closed with a 140 mm traverse. The armored belt did not reach a little (approximately - 14 m) to the stem, but here the side plating had a thickening of up to 30 mm. In the stern, not reaching a few meters to the sternpost, there was a 200 mm belt, closed by a 170 mm traverse, located, like the others, perpendicular to the axis of the ship, but at the same time it was slightly inclined towards the bow.
Interestingly, the 150 and 200 mm armor plates did not coincide in size and location with the 350 mm plates of the main armor belt. As we have already said, the main armor belt had a height of 3,720 mm, but outside the citadel the armor plates had a height of 4,020 m, and their upper edge was located 330 mm above the main armor belt, and the lower one was 1,670 mm below the waterline, that is, “fell short of the main armor belt by 30 mm. Note also that towards the bottom, the bow 150-200 mm armor plates were thinned to 130 mm, but in the stern of the 200 mm plates - only up to 150 mm.
Thus, in addition to the citadel formed by the 350-mm main armor belt and 200 mm traverses, the Bayrn-class battleships received two more "armored boxes" in the bow (150-200 mm side and 140 mm traverse) and in the stern (200 mm side and 170 mm traverses). The bow "box" was completely open from above, and only along its lower edge from 200 mm traverse to the stem itself was an armored deck without bevels 60 mm thick. In the stern, everything was even better - here the armored deck of the citadel seemed to continue (along with the bevels), having at first a thickness of 60 mm, then - 100 mm and, finally, above the tiller compartment 120 mm, where the deck rose slightly - however, to the upper edge of 200 mm bonneplit she, of course, never reached anywhere.
The shape of the German towers was seriously different from the towers of the battleships of other powers, representing a very unusual polyhedron, which became the "calling card" of the battleships "Bayern" and capital ships of the Third Reich. Accordingly, the vertical booking of the turrets of 380 mm / 45 guns had: the forehead - 350 mm, the sides - 250 mm, the rear part - 290 mm. The horizontal part of the tower roof was 100 mm thick. As for the armor plates, at an angle connecting the vertical armor and the roof of the towers, the situation here was as follows - the frontal armor plate had a slope of 30 degrees. and a thickness of 200 mm, and the side plates were located at an angle of 25 degrees and had a thickness of 120 mm.
The barbets had almost the same intricate design as on the Rivenge-class battleships, but it should be noted that on the German battleships it looks both more rational and solid. The barbets of the first three towers above the forecastle deck, and the barbet of the 4th tower above the upper deck had a thickness of 350 mm, and the barbets of the 1st and 4th towers had the same thickness in the places where these barbets protruded beyond the traverse of the citadel. An exception was a narrow sector of 44 degrees of the 2nd and 3rd towers, located towards the 1st and 4th towers, respectively - there the barbet defended itself in front (behind) a standing tower, and the enemy shell could only hit it at a large angle, so that the armor protection in this area was reduced from 350 to 250 mm. In other parts, the armor of the barbets was also weakened, taking into account the side and / or deck armor, which gave them additional protection. So, the barbets of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd towers between the forecastle deck and the upper deck in the part covered by 170 mm walls of the casemates had a thickness of 170 mm - to get to it, it was necessary to break through either the walls of the casemate or its 30 -40 mm roof. But below the upper deck, there was a noticeably greater variety in the protection of barbets. So, from the upper to the middle deck (opposite the 250 mm armored belt), the barbets of the 1st and 2nd towers had a thickness of 80 mm - in order to reach them, the enemy shell had to first pierce the 250 mm side and the 30 mm armored bulkhead. However, there was also a certain vulnerability inherent in almost all ships with "patchwork" armor protection - if a heavy projectile hit the upper deck without reaching the wall of the casemate, it would be separated from the 80 mm barbet by only 30 mm of horizontal protection of the upper deck and vertical 30 mm armored partition, which could not have stopped the large-caliber ammunition in any way. The armor of the barbet of the 3rd tower between the upper and middle decks had a variable thickness of 80-115 mm, and the 4th tower was even 200 mm thick. As for the protection from the middle to the lower deck (opposite to 350 mm armor plates), here in the first three towers it thinned to 25 mm, and in the fourth - 115 mm. On the one hand, we again see a certain vulnerability, because the projectile could "reach" the space below the middle deck, piercing at an angle the upper belt of a very moderate 250 mm thickness, but for a significant part of the trajectory it would have been opposed further not by 30 mm, but 80 mm armored partition, towering 80 cm above the lower deck and 25 mm of the barbet itself.
The Bayern-class battleships had two conning houses, and the main one, located in the bow, had a conical "top down" shape - its walls had an uneven inclination of 10 degrees to the center plane and 6-8 degrees. along the traverse. The conning tower had three floors - the upper one was protected by 350 mm of vertical armor and a 150 mm roof, the middle one was 250 mm, and the lower one, which was already located under the forecastle deck, was 240 mm. Noteworthy is such a design solution - the width of the armored cabin was 5 m, which was greater than the width of the chimneys, and made it possible to see the stern of the battleship through the slots in the armor. In addition, in battle, the slots in the wheelhouse were closed, and the view from it was carried out using periscopes placed on the 150 mm roof. The forward conning tower was connected to the central post, located in the depths of the hull with a special shaft of square section and 1 meter wide. The thickness of her armor was 70 mm above the forecastle deck and 100 mm below.
With the aft conning tower, everything was much simpler - it was smaller, had the shape of a cylinder, with walls 170 mm and a roof 80 mm thick. She also had an armored well with 180 mm armor above the forecastle deck and 80 mm below it.
In addition to all of the above, they had protection cutouts for chimneys in the lower deck and forecastle deck. It was an armored grate, laid, as it were, over the slots, allowing the smoke to rise up unrestrictedly, but still protecting the boilers from the penetration of large fragments into the chimneys. Unfortunately, the author of this article could not understand their design, but in short, they were gratings made of armored steel.
In conclusion, I would like to mention three more facts regarding the armor protection of Bayern-class battleships. First, all armor plates of 75 mm and thicker were made from cemented Krupp armor, all armor of a smaller thickness was homogeneous (did not have a hardened surface layer). Second, the Germans attached great importance to the integrity of the armored belts, in the sense that they did not allow the plates to be pushed through or fall out, even if they had not been pierced by an enemy shell. To this end, they not only paid exceptional attention to the joints of the armor plates, but also provided for their fastening with dowels. And finally, the third. The total weight of the armor of the Bayern-class battleships was 11,410 tons, or 40.4% of the normal displacement.
This concludes the description of the booking of Bayerne-class battleships, but it will be possible to complete the review of these battleships only in the next article.
