Episode 253
SMS Wittelsbach
Sat, 2018-Jan-13 00:34 UTC
Length - 3:04
Direct Link
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.
The featured article for Saturday, 13 January 2018 is SMS Wittelsbach.
SMS Wittelsbach ("His Majesty's Ship Wittelsbach") was the lead ship of the Wittelsbach class of pre-dreadnought battleships, built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). She was the first capital ship built under the Navy Law of 1898, brought about by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. Wittelsbach was laid down in 1899 at the Wilhelmshaven Navy Dockyard and completed in October 1902. She was armed with a main battery of four 24 cm (9.4 in) guns and had a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).
The ship served in the I Squadron of the German fleet for the majority of her peacetime career, which spanned from 1902 to 1910. During this period, she was occupied with extensive annual training and making good-will visits to foreign countries. The training exercises during this period provided the framework for the High Seas Fleet's operations during World War I. She was decommissioned in September 1910, but was reactivated in 1911 for training ship duties, which lasted through 1914.
After the start of World War I in August 1914, Wittelsbach was brought back to active duty in the IV Battle Squadron. The ship served in the Baltic Sea, including during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915, but saw no combat with Russian forces. By late 1915, crew shortages and the threat from British submarines forced the Kaiserliche Marine to withdraw older battleships like Wittelsbach. The ship then saw service in auxiliary roles, first as a training ship and then as a ship's tender. After the war, she was converted into a tender for minesweepers in 1919. In July 1921, the ship was sold and broken up for scrap metal.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:34 UTC on Saturday, 13 January 2018.
For the full current version of the article, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Wittelsbach.
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This has been Kendra. Thank you for listening to featured Wiki of the Day.
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