Nassau-class Battleship

The Nassau class was a planned set of battleships for service in the Kaiserliche-Marine. Ultimately only one vessel was completed, being the SMS Nassau in service from 1927-1949. This vessel used the prototype turbo-electric drive developed by the Imperial Electric Works in 1918, which would be later installed in Englean cruisers and battlecruisers for the following decades. This class of ships was designed to be a "modern battleship" for usage during the 1920s in order to compliment the older fleet in service, which comprised of both pre-war and First Great War battleships. The SMS Nassau was used in the Ophion theatre of war during the Second Great War, and was decommissioned in 1949. After decommissioning, it was decided to remove her equipment (guns, turbo-electric drive) and use her as a target in Operation Typhoon in 1952 in Nukagawa Bay.

SMS Nassau, 1940
Class overview
Builders:	Englean Kaiserreich
Operators:	Kaiserliche-Marine
Preceded by:	Götterdämmerung Class
Succeeded by:	Kaiser Class
Built:	1923-1926
In commission:	1927-1949
Planned:	2
Completed:	1
Cancelled:	1
Active:	0
Retired:	2
Scrapped:	0
Englean Kaiserreich
Name:	Nassau
Namesake:	House of Nassau
Ordered:	5 December 1921
Laid down:	24 April 1923
Launched:	3 March 1926
Commissioned:	30 June 1927
Decommissioned:	4 April 1949
Fate:	Sunk as target in Operation Typhoon, 1952.
Status:	Wreck located in Nukagawa Bay, Nukagawa Archipelago
General characteristics
Type:	Battleship
Displacement:	33,100 tons
Length:	190 m (620 ft)
Beam:	29.72 m (97.5 ft)
Draft:	9.30 m (30.5 ft)
Propulsion:	Prototype Imperial Electric Works HB-778 turbo-electric drives.
Speed:	23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Complement:	1,080
Armament:	8x 38 cm SK C/16 12x 15 cm SK C/12 14x 8.8 cm SK C/06 16x 3.7 cm SK C/35 16x 2 cm C/36
Armour:	Belt: 170-350 mm Deck: 60 mm Turrets: 350 mm
Aircraft carried:	2 x reconnaissance aircraft
Aviation facilities:	3 x catapult