SMS Bayern (1878)
SMS Bayern was one of four Sachsen-class armored frigates of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). Her sister ships were Sachsen, Baden, and Württemberg. Named for Bavaria, Bayern was built by the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Dockyard) in Kiel from 1874 to 1881. The ship was commissioned into the Imperial Navy in August 1881. She was armed with a main battery of six 26 cm (10.2 in) guns in two open barbettes.
SMS Bayern | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| German Empire | |
| Name | SMS Bayern |
| Builder | Kaiserliche Werft, Kiel |
| Laid down | June 1874 |
| Launched | 13 May 1878 |
| Commissioned | 4 August 1881 |
| Stricken | 19 Feb 1910 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 1919 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Sachsen-class ironclad |
| Displacement | 7,742 t (7,620 long tons) |
| Length | 98.2 m (322 ft 2 in) |
| Beam | 18.4 m (60 ft 4 in) |
| Draft | 6.32 m (20 ft 9 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) |
| Range | 1,940 nmi (3,590 km; 2,230 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement |
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| Armament |
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| Armor | |
After her commissioning, Bayern served with the fleet on numerous training exercises and cruises. She participated in several cruises escorting Kaiser Wilhelm II on state visits to Great Britain and to various cities in the Baltic Sea in the late 1880s and early 1890s. During 1895–1898, the ship was modernized at the Schichau-Werke dockyard in Danzig; she served for another decade with the fleet before being withdrawn from active service in 1910. She was used as a target ship after 1911, until she was sold in 1919 and broken up for scrap.