Shipbucket

Hello everyone!

The König-class consisted of four nearly identical battleships who featured optimized armour protection (vertical and underwater protection in particular were better than anything anyone else had to offer at that time, horizontal protection however was rather indifferent) at the expense of firepower. They were also considered reasonably good seaboats and very stable gun platforms.

König (King, named for the title of the King of Prussia, which the German Emperors also had) was fitted as a squadron flagship, but not very suitable as such, due to the very cramped bridge facilities.


At Jutland, she no longer had compass pedestals (German ships switched to gyrocompasses between 1912 and 1915). The bow crest was already removed immediately after the war started.


In 1917, König received a heavy tube foremast with a two-storey fire-control station including an additional rangefinder. Her antenna rig was somewhat more extensive due to her role as squadron flagship. Torpedo nets and the six 88mm guns below the bridge were removed. According to photographic reference, König had only two 88mm flaks aft.


Großer Kurfürst (Grand Elector, named after Friedrich Wilhelm von Preußen, a 17th century Prussian potentate with a long record of military achievements) was initially identical to König, except the bridge structure was much more austere.


This was how Großer Kurfürst looked at Jutland.


At the end of the war, she had the same heavy foremast as König, plus the full complement of four 88mm flaks. According to photographic evidence, she was the only one of her class who at least temporarily wore her bow crest during the war.


Markgraf had a somewhat different aft superstructure (according to available line drawings anyway; there is no photographis material of sufficient quality), otherwise she was identical to Großer Kurfürst.


Markgraf at Jutland


In 1917, Markgraf was reconstructed in a similar manner as her sisters; in addition, she was also fitted as a division flagship and received an additional bridge level. It is not clear whether she had two or four 88mm flaks.


Kronprinz, the last ship of the class was not commissioned prior to 1915; there are no photographs of her with her bow crest at all (none I found, anyway). She served as a prototype for the tube mast later retrofitted to the other three. Her fire-control unit was smaller than that later fitted to the others; initially, it had only one level.


Kronprinz at Jutland


In 1917, the fire control station received another level; Kronprinz could however be distinguished from the others by the smaller upper level. Although photographic evidence on the www is unclear, I pictured her with the full complement of 4 88mm flaks.


By the way, König actually 'belongs' to Midnightnova; these three will not be posted for upload without his permission.

Greetings
GD

Finally! I've been looking forward greatly to this particular series! You've done an awesome job with them!

Very nice rendition of this class. As usual well done Regarding the badges, I'm pretty sure they aren't badges but the bowsprits (Bugzier). I've got the badges for SMS König, SMS Grosser Kurfürst ans SMS Markgraf as WIP's, but unfortunately I haven't been able to find the badges for SMS Kronprinz and SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm (maybe DG_Alpha could get them?).

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Work in progress:
DD County Class PNS Babur (1982)(PAK)
FF Type 21 Class D182 PNS Babur (2000)(PAK)
All relevant Coat of Arms

Will you be doing the Kaiser-class as well?

this is a awesome work

Absolutely excellent!

Excellent series! A pleasure to look at!

Wonderful work. Good drawings with excellent details.

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Thank you Kim for the crest

"Never fear to try on something new. Remember that the Titanic was built by professionals, and the Ark by an amateur"

These are absolutely superb Garlicdesign. I take my hat off to you.

Excellent series!!

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