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SMS ''Von der Tann'' was the first battlecruiser built for the German Kaiserliche Marine, as well as Germany's first major turbine-powered warship. At the time of her construction, ''Von der Tann'' was the fastest dreadnought-type warship afloat, capable of reaching speeds in excess of . She was designed in response to the British . While the German design had slightly lighter guns—28 cm (11 in), compared to the 30.5 cm (12 in) Mark X mounted on the British ships—''Von der Tann'' was faster and significantly better-armored. She set the precedent of German battlecruisers carrying much heavier armor than their British equivalents, albeit at the cost of smaller guns. ''Von der Tann'' participated in a number of fleet actions during the First World War, including several bombardments of the English coast. She was present at the Battle of Jutland, where she destroyed the British battlecruiser in the opening minutes of the engagement. ''Von der Tann'' was hit several times by large-caliber shells during the battle, and at one point in the engagement, the ship had all of her main battery guns out of action either due to damage or malfunction. Nevertheless, the damage was quickly repaired and the ship returned to the fleet in two months. Following the end of the war in November 1918, ''Von der Tann'', along with most of the High Seas Fleet, was interned at Scapa Flow pending a decision by the Allies as to the fate of the fleet. The ship met her end in 1919 when German caretaker crews scuttled their ships to prevent their division among Allied navies. The wreck was raised in 1930, and scrapped at Rosyth from 1931 to 1934. == Development == The preceding German large cruiser design, , was an incremental increase over previous armored cruisers. ''Blücher'' was armed with twelve 21 cm (8.3 in) guns, and designed to counter what the Germans knew about the British , which were assumed to be larger iterations of the basic armored cruiser type. Once sufficient information about the new British cruisers became available, it was obvious that they were not simply an enlargement on previous designs but a whole new type of warship—the battlecruiser—to which ''Blücher'' was quite inferior. However, there were insufficient funds to alter ''Blücher''s layout, so the cruiser assigned for 1907 would have to be an entirely new design. Design of ''Von der Tann'' began in August 1906, under the name "Cruiser ''F''", amid disagreements over the intended role of the new ship. Admiral Tirpitz advocated a ship similar to the new British battlecruisers of the ''Invincible'' class: heavier guns, lighter armor, and higher speed with the intention of using the ship as a fleet scout and to destroy the opposing fleet's cruisers. Tirpitz had no intention of using the ship in the main battle line. Kaiser Wilhelm II however, along with most of the ''Reichsmarineamt'' (Imperial Navy Office), was in favor of incorporating the ship into the battle line after initial contact was made, which necessitated much heavier armor. This insistence upon the capability to fight in the battle line was a result of the numerical inferiority of the German High Seas fleet compared to the British Royal Navy. Several design proposals were submitted, all calling for heavy main guns, between 30.5 cm (12 in) and 34.3 cm (13.5 in) calibers. However, financial limitations dictated that smaller, less expensive weaponry would be used instead. The final design therefore used the same 28 cm (11 in) double turret introduced for the last two s — hydraulic elevated Drh LC/1907 instead of electrical elevated Drh LC/1906. In compensation, the design was given a relatively heavy secondary armament. At a conference in September 1906, many of the disagreements over the ship's design were resolved. The Naval Constructor, von Eickstedt, argued that since the explosive trials for the proposed protection systems for the new battlecruiser had not been completed, the construction should be postponed, to allow for any alterations to the design. He also argued that guns of 21 cm (8.3 in) or 24 cm (9.4 in) caliber would be sufficient to penetrate the armor of the new British battlecruisers. However, Admiral August von Heeringen, of the General Navy Department, stated that for the ship to be able to engage battleships, the 28 cm (11 in) caliber guns were necessary. Admiral Capelle, the deputy director of the ''Reichsmarineamt'', stated that by mid November 1906, the testing for the underwater protection designs would be complete. He suggested that if the torpedo bulkhead needed to be strengthened, the ship might be too heavy for the 28 cm (11 in) guns, if the displacement of around 19,000 t (21,000 short tons) was to be retained. Tirpitz refused to consider using smaller guns, even if it meant increasing the displacement of the ship. Von Eickstedt proposed employing a secondary battery of 17 cm (6.7 in) guns instead of the 15 cm (5.9 in) the design called for, but the increased weight would have made it impossible to mount eight main battery guns. On 22 June 1907, the Kaiser authorized construction of Cruiser ''F'', to be named ''Von der Tann'', after Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen, a Bavarian general who fought in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. The contract was awarded to the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, on 26 September 1907. The keel was laid on 21 March 1908, and the ship was launched nearly a year later, on 20 March 1909. The source of the ship's name was the subject of much gratitude from the Bavarian aristocracy. Newspapers at the time reported that Luitpold, the prince regent and ''de facto'' ruler of Bavaria, telegraphed a message of thanks to the German emperor, and the launch ceremony was overseen by one of Von der Tann's descendants, also a general. He spoke to the assembled crowd, stating his hope that ''Von der Tann'' would, in his words, "go out to protect Germany's might world-trade, or, at the command of his Majesty the Emperor, to ward off an enemy who attack ed the vital interests or the honour of the Empire. Might the ship acquit herself upon the ocean as the General whose name she bore had acquitted himself upon the blood-drenched battlefield and bring her flag victorious out of the fight for the greatness and the honour of Germany." The ship cost 36.523 million Marks. 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「SMS Von der Tann」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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