Behold the mighty German Empire!
I will not bother with pictures of my early battle-line. The Zahringen-class Battleship was short-ranged, cheap and tough. All were eventually scrapped.
The follow-on Deutschland Battleships had the advantage of a semi-dreadnought armament of 10" secondary guns in casemates, and Medium range, to be more mobile in times of war. The Deutchlands proudly escorted invasion convoys for many years until they, too, were hauled into the scrapyards for their steel to be reclaimed.
The true warriors of my starting fleet were of course the cruisers. The
Freya class Armored Cruisers had quite the extraordinary life, starting from my revelation that they were constructable at all with 11" guns! They spearheaded Germany's dominance in cruiser warfare, completely outmatching all opponent Armored Cruisers. Italy's cruiser and merchant fleet succumbed to them, as did France's, though the cruiser
Prinz Heinrich was overwhelmed in an ambush in the only French victory. The
Hansa was scuttled in another war when she ran out of coal.
Long after every other nation had sold their inferior CAs off, the
Freyas were easily slaughtering enemy CLs. However, with war with Britain and their enormous battle-line looming, engineers discovered it was possible to mount a pair of 16" battleship cannon in single turrets on these venerable warships, whilst retaining their ancient coal-fired engines. Despite protests amongst the admiralty about the effectiveness of this project, it was ordered done.
The
Victoria Louise chased down the ultra-modern HMS
Australia after the battlecruiser had taken a spread of torpedoes at the chaotic beginning of the battle off the Isle of Portland. Accurate fire from the old cruiser finished the job that torpedoes had started, though a fast battleship later detonated the already-sinking BC's magazines.
These refit cruisers did not have the same luck through the next 4 years of war, and all were sunk while having no decisive hits attributed to them.
The
Neu Yorck class of "Dreadnought Cruiser" had a uniform 10" main gun armament (Rather like the
Spartiate that someone else here designed!), as a stopgap design while I waited to be able to make credible BBs. The four ships served with limited distinction, with one being scuttled and the other three surviving all wars.
The Wittelsbach-class Dreadnought was Germany's first and technically only Battleship class, having 10 12" guns and the ability to fire cross-deck to use them all in her broadside. The
Wittelsbach herself was sunk in an engagement with the French in 1920, long after her day had passed. I forget what took her, but I have a suspicion it was the French hero-ship
Charlemagne.
In light of the refit of the
Freyas to carry 16" guns, the same was deemed easily possible on the
Wittelsbachs. The refit was successful on the three old ships, adding more modern gun tubes to the battleline. Their fire was accurate and decisive throughout the war, but their slow speed could not get them out of trouble. All were eventually sunk, mostly, I recall, by torpedoes, not gunfire.
The
Von Der Tann class "Fast Battleship" set the pattern for German dominance for the rest of modern naval history. The forward superfiring "B" turret and was researched early on, along with triple turrets, reducing the weight needed to armor her main battery.
Goeben and
Moltke stole all the glory in the war with Japan, obliterating the entire IJN battle line while the name-ship
Von Der Tann missed out.
A fourth ship was intended, but was instead built as a follow-on class,
Seydlitz, with 14" guns.
In the course of the war with Britain, these old ships grimly soldiered on.
Von Der Tann took an unlucky hit to her electrical systems and went dead in the water in range of the British battleline, with
Goeben and
Moltke forced to withdraw with heavy damage. Once the British naval blockade was broken, and a blockade instead imposed on Britain,
Goeben and
Moltke were brought in for a refit with double 16" turrets. One of the ships served in an engagement post-refit.
Seydlitz was not refit, and retained her 14" guns and coal-fired engines until the end of the war.
The
Derfflinger-class "Fast Battleship" boasted 15" guns, and, more importantly, a far superior armor scheme. The All-or-Nothing armor allowed the decks and turrets to be proofed against nearly any weapon, though it seemed impossible to armor a ship's belt against increasing gunpower. Of the four built, one was sunk in battle against the United Kingdom.
The following
Graf Spee class was little changed, bearing the 16" guns that were the hallmark of the modern era. The brand-new Fast BB
Thetis was sunk by the French
Charlemagne after its escort torpedoed
Thetis, salvaging a scrap of honor for the Republic in defeat. Another was sunk in the war against Britain, leaving only the name-ship to represent the class.
The
Prinz Eugen class were essentially repeat
Graf Spees with slightly thickened deck armor. The name-ship was sunk, while its three survived the war.
The single-ship
Hansa class were an attempt to make a
Prinz Eugen on slightly less tonnage, using modern machinery. The
Hansa was sunk by the UK in her first battle.
The mass-produced
Thetis class Battleship took the
Hansa concept to an extreme, shrinking the
Prinz Eugen hull by 6,500 tons by sacrificing operational range and crew conditions. An additional armament of torpedoes was added. This led to significant cost savings, allowing for no less than 7 of these modern ships to be built before the war's end, with an additional 4 on the way. I suggest to my replacement Grand Admiral that these be cancelled in favor of a more balanced design.
As a bonus, have the
Charlemagne, the only enemy ship of major note. This French Battleship surprised me in an early battle, remaining Unidentified as it rained 16" shells at anything that came after its division as they ran back to port. The other division of French BBs was separated from them, slowed by battle damage, and utterly obliterated.
Charlemagne was a menace, giving the French people hope and honor when the rest of their battle-line was destroyed, including a similar 16"-gunned dreadnought. In a small engagement near the end of the war,
Charlemagne found the newly-built
Graf Spee class
Thetis. Under the cover of
Charlemagne's guns, its escort destroyer slipped in and torpedoed
Thetis, allowing
Charlemagne to finish the German fast battleship off and sail home with a much-needed victory. One battleship could not stop the entire German Navy, and
Charlemagne remained in port until the government of France collapsed.