Named after Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Seydlitz represented the culmination of the first generation of German battlecruisers, which had started with the Von der Tann in 1906 and continued with the pair of Moltke -class battlecruisers ordered in 1907 and 1908.
Probably the most modern battlecruiser in service by 1914, SMS Seydlitz proved the excellence of its fire control system at the battle of Jutland, taking torpedo hits and perhaps 25 heavy rounds hits and survived. Her baptism of fire at the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1914 saw her duelling with HMS Lion, taking three hits.
🎬 Welcome to today’s deep-dive into one of the most legendary warships of the First World War: SMS Seydlitz. ⚓ Built at the height of the naval arms race, Seydlitz wasn’t just another ...
Along with 90,000 of his starving comrades, Seydlitz marched off into Soviet captivity in February 1943. Till now, Seydlitz was not an atypical German general, many of whom were grumbling about Hitler by 1943. What he did next, however, stamped him as a loner for the rest of his life.
Explore the legacy of SMS Seydlitz, the iconic German battlecruiser, and delve into its storied past during World War I's naval warfare.
Though outwardly similar to the Moltke -class, SMS Seydlitz was built with a longer but slimmer hull than Moltke and with greater compartmentation and armor - her belt armor was on par with contemporary battleships.
In April 1913 Seydlitz was delivered to Kiel by a dockyard crew. On 22 May the cruiser was put into service and began trials. The crew of Seydlitz came for the most part from the armoured cruiser Yorck, and was augmented from elsewhere.