The Ships of Brawling Battleships Steel: Germany Battleship Nassau

Laid down on July 22, 1907, launched on March 7, 1908 and commissioned on October 1, 1909, Nassau carried a main armament of twelve 11 inch main guns mounted two per turret; one centerline forward, one centerline aft and one wing turret on each side that could fire to the side and forward and one wing turret on each side that could fire to the side and aft. Nassau was the name ship of a four-ship battleship class that was powered by coal-fired expansion engines as steam turbines were not yet in production in Germany. The plans for these all-big-gun ships, the first German "dreadnoughts," had actually been in the planning stages since 1904. After careful consideration, the Germans decided that their 11 inch gun was comparable to the British 12 inch gun (which it really was not, although it did have a higher rate of fire) and settled on the smaller weapon for their earliest "dreadnoughts." The unhandy-looking gun configuration was what was desired at the time; although only eight guns could be fired in broadside, there were six guns available to fire both fore and aft and the turret distribution supposedly made the loss of multiple turrets from one hit less likely. Nassau was named after a German state incorporated into modern Germany. During the war, Nassau was involved in a number of sorties that failed to produce battles but she was involved in the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916, where she was slightly damaged by two hits by cruiser shells but, during a confused night action with enemy light forces, was also involved in a collision with the British destroyer Spitfire (both ships survived). After the Armistice, she was deleted on November 5, 1919. Nassau was to be handed over to Japan but Japan sold the ship to a British company and the hulk was scrapped in the Netherlands.

See other battleships: Rheinland, Dreadnought, South Carolina