Thanks to the amazing generosity of Garlicdesign, I am hereby posting the first of three versions of the
S.M.S. Seydlitz, arguably, with the
S.M.S.:s Derfflinger and
Emden, perhaps the most famous of all Kaiserlische Marine vessels. This is merely a correction in detail of GD:s original posting (se above conversation), and, I believe, if we're going to publish this ship, it'd be a crime (almost) not to also represent her as of Doggerbank, Jan. 24, 1915. The
Seydlitz was rightly regarded as a very lucky - and happy ship. Throughout the war, she was uniquely (for any navy!) commanded by basically one skipper: Kapitän zur See Christoph Moritz von Egidy (1870-1937), from commissioning date, in May 1913, till Oct. 1917, when Kapitän zur See Wilhelm Tägert succeeded him.
So, it is as Egidy's command we know
Seydlitz' career and accomplishments. It was under this noble, and very able commander that he (ships are masculine in German, unless specifically feminine!) fought at Doggerbank and Jutland (Skagerrak) and it was the exceptional leadership qualities and seamanship of v. Egidy together with the resilience, patriotism and indomitable toughness of his crew that brought an almost mortally wounded and crippled
Seydlitz home safe to Wilhelmshafen. His end was ignominous: being scuttled at Scapa Flow after a long dreary, seven month internment, thanks to the duplicity of the Entete powers. Rightfully, if any former Imperial vessel should have deserved to be preserved, one way or the other, verily it was
S.M.S. Seydlitz.
There is one (possibly apocryphal) story about the
Seydlitz and its perception among the German people: Once, during his initial trials, when the huge vessel's sailing qualities were not yet fully known and acquainted with, Moritz v. Egidy happened to approach the harbor jetty at a slightly too fast speed. Noticing this, the Captain's wife, Irmgard, seized a tube and hollered up to the bridge of the battlecruiser, where v. Egidy was prominently standing, offering the following advice:
"Moritz, I think you're coming in too fast, I think you should put engines full reverse and your rudder hard 30 degrees port." The Captain is said to have duly followed his sailor-wife's (for she was an avid sports sailor!) advice and thus saved the giant vessel from possible ruin - and his own career furthermore!
Upon the Centenary of the epic Battle of Jutland, May 31 -June 1, 1916, it is only right and appropriate that Shipbucket is gifted with an accurate representation of this amazing vessel, and that that version should show him with battleflags hoisted, ready to engage the British Battlecruiser Fleet, under VA Sir David Beatty at approx 1545. S.M.S. Seydlitz, was at the time the third ship of five in VA Franz Hipper's 1. Aufklärungsgeschwader (
Lützow, Derfflinger, Seydlitz, Moltke and
von der Tann).
Seydlitz is attributed with the killing shot that blew up Beatty's finest unit,
H.M.S. Queen Mary.
Seydlitz himself suffered no fewer than 21 heavy (12" to 15") and medium (9.2" to 6") hits as well as two torpedo hits, shipping some 5,300 tons of seawater and being down with the bow some 57 feet!