World of Warships – German Battleship SMS Kaiser

Was able to get two kills and a cap on the Soloman Islands map in my German BB that was released earlier this year.

The SMS Kaiser was the lead ship of her class, which consisted of five ships for the Imperial German Navy. Built around 1911, the ship and her sisters were attached to the German High Seas Fleet.

Early in World War I, the fleet would conduct raids on British coastal towns in an attempt to draw the British Grand Fleet out into the open sea.

During the Battle of Jutland, the Kaiser, along with other Battleships, engaged the Cruiser HMS Southampton on two occasions. The first engagement, Kaiser fired eleven salvos and the second, fired four. All shots by the Kaiser missed, although the Battleship SMS Nassau did score a hit on Southampton.

Later the German Squadron encountered a pair of M Class Destroyers, HMS Nestor and HMS Nomad. The Kaiser opened fire on the Nomad with her secondary guns. One of the shells penetrated the magazine HMS Nomad exploded and sank. Nestor was destroyed by other battleships in the squadron.

Even later during the Battle of Jutland, a wounded German Cruiser, SMS Wiesbaden, was wounded and being chaced by three British Cruisers; HMS Defence, HMS Warrior and HMS Black Prince. The Kaiser opened fire on the Defence, striking the magazine and exploding the ship. The German dreadnought then pursued the Warrior.

The HMS Warrior was able to sail closer to a group of British Queen Elizabeth Class Battleships for protection. One of these vessels, the HMS Warspite, was struck by a shell from the SMS Kaiser and the steering was damaged. Rather than stop the Captain continued forward which forced the ship out of formation, making it an attractive target for the Germans. Warspite did two full 360 degree rotations before the steering was repaired. During this time she was hit 13 times, and drew most of the German fire away from the HMS Warrior.

Because of this, the captain of the Warrior assumed the actions of the Warspite were deliberate to distract the Germans from the damaged, fleeing British Cruiser.

Interestingly enough, the damaged caused by the Kaiser resulted in the Warspite to have steering issues throughout most of her career.