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} |} The ''Moltke'' class was a class of two "all-big-gun" battlecruisers of the German Imperial Navy built between 1909–1911. Named and , they were similar to the previous unique battlecruiser, but the newer design featured several incremental improvements. The ''Moltke''s were slightly larger, faster, and better armored, and had an additional pair of 28 centimeter guns. Both ships served during World War I. ''Moltke'' participated in several major battles with the rest of the High Seas Fleet, including the battles of Dogger Bank and Jutland in the North Sea, and the Battle of the Gulf of Riga and Operation Albion in the Baltic Sea. At the end of the war, ''Moltke'' was interned with the majority of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow while the ships' fate was being discussed during peace treaty negotiations. The ships were scuttled on 21 June 1919 to prevent their seizure by the Allies. ''Goeben'' was stationed in the Mediterranean at the start of the war; she escaped from pursuing Royal Navy ships to Constantinople. The ship, along with the light cruiser , was transferred to the Ottoman Navy soon after arrival. Strategically, ''Goeben'' played a very important role: she helped bring the Ottoman Empire into the war as a member of the Central Powers, and by acting as a fleet in being the ship prevented Anglo-French attempts to force the Bosporus, and similarly stymied a possible advance by the Russian Black Sea Fleet. ''Goeben'' was retained by the new Turkish government after the war. Only slightly modified from her original configuration, the ship remained on active service with the Turkish Navy until being decommissioned on 20 December 1950; she was stricken from the Navy register on 14 November 1954. Two years earlier, when Turkey joined NATO in 1952, the ship was assigned the hull number B70. The ship was unsuccessfully offered for sale to the West German government in 1963. Without a group willing to preserve her as a museum, the ship was sold to M.K.E. Seyman in 1971 for scrapping. She was towed to the breakers on 7 June 1973, and the work was completed in February 1976. == Development == During a May 1907 conference, the German Naval Office decided to follow up the unique battlecruiser with an enlarged design. The 44 million marks allocated for the 1908 fiscal year created the possibility of increasing the size of the main guns from the 28 cm (11 in) weapons of the preceding design to 30.5 cm (12 in). However, Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, along with the Construction Department, argued that increasing the number of guns from 8 to 10 would be preferable, as the 28 cm guns had been deemed sufficient to engage even battleships. Tirpitz also argued that, given the numerical superiority of the Royal Navy's reconnaissance forces, it would be more prudent to increase the number of main guns, rather than increase their caliber. The General Navy Department held that for the new design to fight in the battle line, 30.5 cm guns were necessary. Ultimately, Tirpitz and the Construction Department won the debate, and ''Moltke'' was to be equipped with ten 28 cm guns. It was also mandated by the Construction Department that the new ships have armor protection equal or superior to ''Von der Tann''s and a top speed of at least . During the design process, there were many weight increases due to growth in the size of the citadel, armor thickness, additions to the ammunition stores, and the rearrangement of the boiler system. It was originally planned to build only one ship of the new design, but due to the strains being put on the Navy design staff, it was decided to build two ships of the new type. They were assigned under the contract names of "Cruiser G" and "Cruiser H". As Blohm & Voss made the lowest bid for "Cruiser G", the company also secured the contract for "Cruiser H". The former was assigned to the 1908–09 building year, while the latter was assigned to 1909–10. The contract for "Cruiser G" was awarded on 17 September 1908, under building number 200. The keel was laid on 7 December 1908, and the ship was launched on 7 April 1910. "Cruiser G" was commissioned on 30 September 1911 as SMS ''Moltke''. The ship's namesake was Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke, the Chief of Staff of the Prussian Army in the mid 19th century. "Cruiser H" was ordered on 8 April 1909 with the building number 201. The ship's keel was laid on 12 August 1909; the hull was launched on 28 March 1911. After fitting-out, "Cruiser H" was commissioned on 2 July 1912 as SMS ''Goeben''. The ship was named for August Karl von Goeben, a Prussian general who served during the Franco-Prussian War. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Moltke-class battlecruiser」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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