Wednesday 18 March 2015

SMS Seydlitz – The Shell Magnet

The SMS Seydlitz in 1/2400.

Named after one of Prussia’s greatest cavalry generals of all times, the SMS Seydlitz had quite a name to live up to. Contributing in no small amount at all mayor actions on the North Sea from Heligoland, Dogger Bank and to the turbulent Battle of Jutland, she was however going to live up to the named legacy of dash and tenacity in every way. 

The Seydlitz looking her finest for a WW1 commemorative postcard. 

More modern than her battle cruiser predecessors Von der Tann and the two ships in the Moltke-class, the SMS Seydlitz saw the introduction of a new innovative propulsion system allowing an improvement in armor without any loss of speed. The new layout of her propulsion system, would give her 63.000 shp, no less than 21.000 shp more than Von der Tann. 

Aerial photo, the white circles would help pilots set her apart from any entente ships.

This increased power needs to be considered off set against the increase in armor, with the SMS Seydlitz getting a belt armor of 11 inches compared to Von der Tann’s of only 9.5 inches. The effective cruise speed of the boat was the same as the rest of the High Seas Fleet’s battle cruiser force – with a max output of about 28 knots. With these innovations, she was laid down for construction at the Krupp subsidiary; Blohm & Voss in Hamburg in 1911.

Seydlitz steaming out to sea.

With fate having a severe beating in store for the SMS Seydlitz, this heavy armored but fast moving beauty was going to need all the nickel-refined steel plate protection she could get from the Krupp works at Essen. Leading at the front of Hipper’s force at Dogger Bank in 1915, the SMS Seydlitz was going to take some critical, but very instructive damage. 

Barely noticeable, but I tried to add the Seydlitz ship crest,
 with three red fish on a white shield.

A critical hit scored on the SMS Seydlitz by fire from Tiger and Lion, almost blew up the ship, as internal flash from a penetrating shell, was traveling down towards the main magazines. An alert German officer ordered the magazines flooded, and the damage was contained to the reloading chamber, which however blew up killing 159 men. This important learning point would result in an important anti-flash updating of German ammunition and cordite practice, which would prove to be crucial at Jutland.

The Seydlitz barely afloat, limping home after Jutland.


At the Battle of Jutland, the SMS Seydlitz was initially locked in a duel with the Queen Mary in the late afternoon, resulting in a penetrating shell causing an internal explosion ripping the latter ship in two. With terrible consequences, the tables had now turned, and it was the British battle cruisers, which were being schooled in how to handle cordite and contain flash from explosions.

In dock after Jutland, waiting for repairs. 
Notice the large torpedo damage to her starboard side.

 During the later engagement with Beatty and finally the epic showdown with Jellicoe, the Seydlitz was in all hit 21(!) times by heavy shells, and even torpedoed. When she limped back towards home during the night after the battle, she carried an extra 5.300 tons of water due to flooding, with her deck barely remaining above the waterline. As her crew prepared to abandon her, two pump boats from Wilhelmshaven came out to stabilize and bring her home for repairs. Like her historic namesake, the Seydlitz had refined the German forces, been at the heart of the battle, bore the brunt of the charge, and taken a beating to write home about.

Technical drawing of the SMS Seydlitz.


SHIP DATA:

Laid Down: Feb 1911

Launched: Mar 1912

Completed: May 1913

Constructed at: Blohm & Voss, Hamburg

Displacement: 24.988 tons (Full load)

Dimensions: 658ft x 94ft x 30.5ft

Main guns: 10 x 11inch

Armor: 12in belt, 3.1in deck and 9.8in turret armor

Machinery: Parsons Turbines creating 63.000 shp 

Speed: 28 knots

Endurance: 4.200 miles at 14 knots



Thank you very much for reading!

28 comments:

  1. Excellent painting and superb write up!

    Christopher

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    1. Thanks Christopher, glad you liked the little write up too!

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  2. Another masterpiece in miniature, Soren. Impressive as always, and with a nice history lesson.

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    1. Cheers Dean, I'm getting closer to actually having the German and British battle cruiser force in completion... in other words, more to come:0)

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  3. Beautiful model and your fine scale modeling skill continues to astound. Interesting bio of this very famous ship.

    Great stuff!

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    1. Appreciate the kind words Jonathan! She hasn't been on her maiden voyage yet (pitched against Mark's hard hitting and super armored USN), but I've certainly got my hopes up that she will tip the scales to my advantage on the gaming table...

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  4. Impressive painting Sören !

    Greate history read.

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    1. Cheers buddy, seems these dreadnoughts have become my parallel to your "Allmoge" troops - i.e. a collection that just never seems to be big enough:0)

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    2. " A collection that just never seems to be big enough." Is that Soren's Razor?

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  5. Another great post Soren, fantastic painting!

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  6. Great painting and interesting background on the ship. It's always nice to know what you will blow up in the future ;-)

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    1. Haha, thanks Jocke - I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she will elude the feared double "10" dice roll when in action :0)

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  7. Another fine ship ready for the high seas Soren, and great historical back ground!

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    1. Yes indeed, its full steam ahead for the High Seas Fleet at the moment, as I'm continuing the work of redoing a historical correct representation ship per ship of the two battle cruiser fleets at the Battle of Jutland!

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  8. A real treat again! The Kaiser would be proud of your take on his Hochseeflotte! Always love to read the historical background you provide with every post of yours.

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    1. Thank you very much M - I can't say how nice it is to hear that my scribbles actually gets not only read but even enjoyed by fellow history enthusiasts. And yes, I do hope that Old Wilhelm will curl his spiky moustache in appreciation of what I'm doing here. A ship per ship recreation of Hipper's battlecruiser force.

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  9. Great write up, and beautiful paint and model work! Thanks for putting all this work into educational wargaming :-)

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    1. Thanks for those kind words of encouragement SoH - Its nice to know that ones scribbles are read and appreciated - cheers
      /sören

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  10. Nice post - love the work you;ve done on the model. How did you get the sea effect on the base? Is that just paint and varnish? It looks very effective:)

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  11. Thank you very much Mike, you're quite right about the sea-effect. A thick layer of Vallejo 898 with some highlighted waves, all topped off with a glossy varnish! For a more detailed step-by-step take a look at my blog post from Nov 25th 2014!

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  12. Very informative and a great little model and base.

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    1. Thanks Pat, glad you liked it. These small 1/2400 dreadnoughts offer a nice interlude from the larger projects in 28mm, and have fast become something of a personal favorite :0)

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  13. Great looking ship! I need to get my butt in gear in get some miniatures painted! Min Sambo kommer att opereras i veckan så jag kommer att ta hand om min alskling till ett tag.

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  14. Fantastic paint job. Hard to believe it's 1/2400, it looks as good as a lot of 1/700 models I've seen.

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  15. This is my very first visit,and I enjoyed this topic very much. The ships are really cool.
    The Photo`s and Fine Report combined are like a kind of portal view down the rabbit hole of history. Beano Boy

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    1. Thanks for dropping by Paul - its a real pleasure to read your comment! Hope to see you here on the blog again :0)

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