The II Battle Squadron was a unit of the German
High Seas Fleet
The High Seas Fleet (''Hochseeflotte'') was the battle fleet of the German Imperial Navy and saw action during the First World War. The formation was created in February 1907, when the Home Fleet (''Heimatflotte'') was renamed as the High Seas ...
before and during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The squadron saw action throughout the war, including the
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland (german: Skagerrakschlacht, the Battle of the Skagerrak) was a naval battle fought between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy ...
on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where it formed the rear of the German
line.
Organization
The II Battle Squadron was divided into the III Division and the IV Division; the divisions initially were composed of eight of the ten and s.
[Herwig, p. 45] At the time, was the
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
of the
High Seas Fleet
The High Seas Fleet (''Hochseeflotte'') was the battle fleet of the German Imperial Navy and saw action during the First World War. The formation was created in February 1907, when the Home Fleet (''Heimatflotte'') was renamed as the High Seas ...
and was also assigned to the II Battle Squadron, though only for tactical purposes—the ship was not otherwise subordinate to the squadron commander.
The II Battle Squadron operated from one of the two primary bases of the German fleet. The first, in the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
, was
Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...
on the western side of the
Jade Bight
The Jade Bight (or ''Jade Bay''; german: Jadebusen) is a bight or bay on the North Sea coast of Germany. It was formerly known simply as ''Jade'' or ''Jahde''. Because of the very low input of freshwater, it is classified as a bay rather than an ...
. The island of Heligoland provided a fortified forward position in the
German Bight
The German Bight (german: Deutsche Bucht; da, tyske bugt; nl, Duitse bocht; fry, Dútske bocht; ; sometimes also the German Bay) is the southeastern bight of the North Sea bounded by the Netherlands and Germany to the south, and Denmark and ...
.
[Halpern, p. 10] The second major naval installation was at
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...
, and it was the most important base in the Baltic.
Pillau
Baltiysk (russian: Балти́йск; german: Pillau; Old Prussian: ''Pillawa''; pl, Piława; lt, Piliava; Yiddish: פּילאַווע, ''Pilave'') is a seaport town and the administrative center of Baltiysky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Ru ...
and
Danzig housed forward bases further east in the Baltic. The
Kaiser Wilhelm Canal
The Kiel Canal (german: Nord-Ostsee-Kanal, literally "North- oEast alticSea canal", formerly known as the ) is a long freshwater canal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The canal was finished in 1895, but later widened, and links the ...
through
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...
connected the Baltic and North Seas and allowed the German Navy to quickly shift naval forces between the two seas.
Commanders
''
Konteradmiral
''Konteradmiral'', abbreviated KAdm or KADM, is the second lowest naval flag officer rank in the German Navy. It is equivalent to '' Generalmajor'' in the '' Heer'' and ''Luftwaffe'' or to '' Admiralstabsarzt'' and ''Generalstabsarzt'' in the '' ...
'' (''KAdm''—Rear Admiral)
Reinhard Scheer
Carl Friedrich Heinrich Reinhard Scheer (30 September 1863 – 26 November 1928) was an Admiral in the Imperial German Navy (''Kaiserliche Marine''). Scheer joined the navy in 1879 as an officer cadet and progressed through the ranks, commandin ...
served as the commander of the squadron from January 1913 to 26 December 1914, when he traded commands with ''KAdm''
Felix Funke, who had commanded the
III Battle Squadron
The III Battle Squadron was a unit of the German High Seas Fleet before and during World War I. The squadron saw action throughout the war, including the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where it formed the front of the German lin ...
. ''KAdm'' , formerly the IV Division commander, replaced Funke in August 1915. He held the role until November 1916, when he was promoted to ''
Vizeadmiral
(abbreviated VAdm) is a senior naval flag officer rank in several German-speaking countries, equivalent to Vice admiral.
Austria-Hungary
In the Austro-Hungarian Navy there were the flag-officer ranks ''Kontreadmiral'' (also spelled ''Kont ...
'' (''VAdm''—Vice Admiral) and given command of the
IV Battle Squadron
IV may refer to:
Businesses and organizations
*Immigration Voice, an activist organization
*Industrievereinigung, Federation of Austrian Industry
*Intellectual Ventures, a privately held intellectual property company
*InterVarsity Christian Fello ...
. Mauve was replaced by ''VAdm''
Hubert von Rebeur-Paschwitz
''Vizeadmiral'' Hubert von Rebeur-Paschwitz (14 August 1863 Frankfurt (Oder) – 16 February 1933 (Dresden)) was a German admiral. In 1899 he served as the German Naval attaché to Washington and later in 1912 commanded a flotilla of German ves ...
, who was the final commander of the unit.
History
![Bundesarchiv DVM 10 Bild-23-61-08, Linienschiff](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Bundesarchiv_DVM_10_Bild-23-61-08%2C_Linienschiff_%22SMS_Deutschland%22.jpg)
As part of his program of naval expansion to rival the British
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
, Admiral
Alfred von Tirpitz
Alfred Peter Friedrich von Tirpitz (19 March 1849 – 6 March 1930) was a German grand admiral, Secretary of State of the German Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the German Imperial Navy from 1897 until 1916. Prussi ...
projected the need for a second squadron of eight battleships in his 1898
Naval Law. By 1907, enough new battleships had been completed to stand the new squadron up at full strength.
[
The ships of the II Battle Squadron took part in all of the major fleet actions in the first three years of the war. These included the support missions for the ]battlecruiser
The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of attr ...
s of the I Scouting Group
The I Scouting Group (german: I. Aufklärungsgruppe) was a special reconnaissance unit within the German Kaiserliche Marine. The unit was famously commanded by Admiral Franz von Hipper during World War I. The I Scouting Group was one of the most ...
as they bombarded the British coast in attempts to lure out part of the British Grand Fleet
The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.
History
Formed in August 1914 from the ...
, such as the raids on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December 1914 and on Yarmouth and Lowestoft in April 1916. At the Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland (german: Skagerrakschlacht, the Battle of the Skagerrak) was a naval battle fought between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy ...
in May 1916, the ships formed the rear of the German line, though they saw relatively little combat during the daylight action apart from a brief skirmish with the British battlecruiser
The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of attr ...
squadron. The squadron consisted of only six ships at the time, as had been transferred temporarily to the Baltic for guard duty and was in such poor condition that Scheer removed the ship from the squadron. In the night fighting against the British destroyer flotillas, was torpedoed and sunk, killing her entire crew. Her loss highlighted the vulnerability of the other pre-dreadnoughts to underwater attack, and the II Battle Squadron thereafter remained in port when the High Seas Fleet sortied. On 15 August 1917, the II Battle Squadron was disbanded; the former members of the squadron were thereafter decommissioned and used in subsidiary roles or employed as guard ships.[Gröner, p. 20]
Notes
See also
*Imperial German Navy order of battle (1914) This is the order of battle of the Imperial German Navy (''Kaiserliche Marine'') on the outbreak of World War I in August 1914.
Commanders and locations of the Imperial German Navy
The overall commander of the Imperial German Navy was Kaiser Wil ...
References
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{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017
Naval units and formations of Germany in World War I
Military units and formations of the Imperial German Navy