Maximum Draft of German Battleships

Warship design and construction, terminology, navigation, hydrodynamics, stability, armor schemes, damage control, etc.
bradshawja
Junior Member
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 4:40 am

Maximum Draft of German Battleships

Post by bradshawja »

Hello to all, I am excited to join this forum and look forward to learning about battleship design and technology from the members of this forum.

I am designing a 3d model of a H-Class battleship and wish to make it as realistic as possible. I wish for my design to still be able to use German ports and operate in the North and Baltic seas with no worries. So my question then is what would have been the maximum draft of a German battleship at "full load" in order for it to still be able to operate in a German port? Could dredging or other accommodation have been made to increase this number? The answer will determine how ridiculous i can make my design. The only info I have been able to find so far is that Germany wanted to keep the H-class under 11.5 m at max displacement.
Thorsten Wahl
Senior Member
Posts: 919
Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2009 4:17 pm

Re: Maximum Draft of German Battleships

Post by Thorsten Wahl »

The main naval base for german capitalships past the war should have been Trondheim. So draft requirements dont influence any decision in this respect.
Meine Herren, es kann ein siebenjähriger, es kann ein dreißigjähriger Krieg werden – und wehe dem, der zuerst die Lunte in das Pulverfaß schleudert!
sineatimorar
Member
Posts: 176
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2013 1:42 pm

Re: Maximum Draft of German Battleships

Post by sineatimorar »

I am doing a similar exercise to which you can follow my design development, the good and the bad, on my website ( just type in my handle with .com on the end ) . With the greatest of respect to Mr Thorten it would be an error to assume that having access to Norway's ports precludes any restrictions. An German navy ship would have to enter German bases if the need arouse. Further they more than likely would have been built in Germany. The 11.5m max draft refers to the access locks to Germany's main naval base of Wilhelmhaven. At that time two drydocks of the size of Elbe17 were in the process of been constructed as were two additional locks. Only the locks were finished.

It is the depth of theses locks that give rise to this restriction more than any matters of dredging any particular access canals. Even today the modern container port is situated outside the main basin that exists in our timeframe.

Most other nateral sea and river ways in the other ports are risked between 9.5m to 10.5m.
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