Overview
| Class: | König | Builder: | Imperial Dockyard, Wihelmshaven #33 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Length: | 175.4m | Launched: | 1 Mar. 1913 |
| Beam: | 19.5m | Commissioned: | 9 Aug. 1914 |
| Draft: | 9.19m | Speed: | 21.0 kts |
| Displacement: | 28 600 t | Power: | 43 300 shp |
Service Record
A Photograph of the König from the Orkney
Library archive.
- III Battle Squadron.
- 7 December 1914 collided with SMS Grosser Kurfürst near Wilhelmshaven.
- 1916. In the Battle of Jutland she was hit by four 15inch, nine 13.5 inch and four 6 inch shells with 45 killed and 27 wounded. After the battle she was repaired at Kiel.
- October 1917 operations in the Baltic Islands.
- 17 October 1917 attacked Russian battleships, sinking the ship Slava.
- 6/12/18 interned Scapa Flow
- 14:00 21/06/19 scuttled
Present Condition
A multibeam image of the SMS König as she is
today.
All three battleships are almost completely upside down with their superstructure impacted into the seabed, the port side more than the starboard. The shallowest point of the starboard side is reached at around 18m (below chart datum) and the post side at around 25m. The hull has broken just forward of the forward gun turret and the bow settled to the seabed. The seabed is 37m below chart datum at the bow and 35m at the stern.
Extensive salvage work has taken place along the hull particularly around the engine room and further astern.
The spotting top is on the seabed close to the hull
3D interactive models
The interactive models below are based on acoustic surveys carried out by the ScapaMAP project. The Z (vertical) axis is emphasised in these models.
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To use these models you will need to download iView3D (a free 3D viewer, you need to register to get this download) and the .sd file of interest from the links above.
Survey geotiffs
König 2001 survey
(zip format 279kB).
König 2006 survey
(zip format 356kB).
The 2001 and 2006 surveys are available above as .zip's containing the geotiff and .tfw world information files. The geotiff is in EPSG Projection 32630 - WGS 84 / UTM zone 30N.
Because the site of the König is of national
importance it has been protected as a scheduled monument.
Visitors are welcome to enjoy and respect this wreck but removal
of artefacts from it is illegal. You can find out more about what
scheduling means through the link below:
Protecting Scotland's nationally important monuments