Profile drawing of Pommern
14218 tMaximum displacement
127,6 mOverall length
18,7 knMaximum speed
743Complement

The battle line's catastrophic loss

Pommern connected years of peacetime fleet building with the realities of the First World War, carrying the Deutschland design into the battle line and its aftermath.

01

The final pre-dreadnought design

Completed as HMS Dreadnought changed naval warfare, the class entered service already overshadowed by a new generation of capital ships.

02

The test of Jutland

After years of exercises, patrols and North Sea operations, her wartime service reached its defining moment with the battle fleet at Jutland.

03

The fleet's great battle claims her

A torpedo strike during the night action after Jutland caused a catastrophic magazine explosion, making her the battle fleet's gravest capital-ship loss.

Design and service

The story of Pommern

The five ships of the Deutschland class were the last pre-Dreadnougth battleships build in Germany. Based on the previous Braunschweig class, the new ships were slightly better protected, but lost a bit of the good maneuverability. The artillery of those ships was kept quite similar to the one of their predescessors.

With their old fashioned design, those ships were only use as second line battleships during World War I, but all took part in the Battle of Jutland. Because of their age those ships were among the few battleships, Germany was allowed to keep after World War I, two of them even saw action in World War II. For more information on this, see the Kriegsmarine page about Schleswig Holstein and Schlesien.

The Pommern was a loss of the Battle of Jutland on 01.06.1916, where it sunk after torpedo hits scored by British destroyers, causing 839 causalities. In 1957 some of the material of the ship was raised from the wreck.

At a glance

Technical profile

Dimensions, armament, protection and performance.

Dimensions

Size (Max)
14218 t
Length (Total)
127,6 m
Length (Waterline)
125,9 m
Beam
22,2 m
Draft
8,21 m
Crew
743

Armament

28 cm L/40
4
17 cm L/35
14
8,8 cm L/30
20
Machine guns
4
45 cm torpedo tubes
6

Armor

Deck
40mm
Belt
240 mm (max)
Main guns
280 mm (max)

Machinery

Shafts
3
Engines
3
Type
3-cyl expansion engines

Performance

Total Performance
17696 shp
Speed
18,7 kn
Range
4800 miles at 10 kn

Construction record

Pommern

Laid down
AG Vulcan Stettin, April 1904
Launched
02.12.1905
Commissioned
06.08.1907
Fate
sunk after torpedo hit during the Battle of Jutland on 01.06.1916