SMS Friedrich der Grosse
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1.
Dec. 26, 2009

Could someone give me some information on the below tag. It belonged to my Grandad who was born in Hartlepool in 1901 where he worked as a ship builder. I know it involves a German Kaiser Class Battleship called Friedrich der Grosse which was involved in the Battle of Jutland and later scuttled at Scapa Flow. What was the tag used for and what does the No 414 mean?

Regards,
Mr. Denis Moore

 

Reply 1
Dec. 27, 2009

Sorry Michael, I cannot help, but as guess it might be a tag used by the ship builders to identify the workers on the ship.

Stewart Hett
Reply 2
Dec. 27, 2009

According to Jane's Fighting Ships 1914 she had a compliment of 1,088. The tally makes sense if it identifies the shop, which it does, and an allotted number for each crew member. Therefore each member of the crew would have a unique identification. Strangely, this class of ship (Kaiser Class of five rather than the usual four ships) had four bilge keels (two are usual) and were fitted with anti-rolling tanks (Frahm tanks) which were fitted to several classes of SMS major warships. These tanks, which assists in keeping the vessel on an even keel in rough weather, contributed to their reputation of being rather stable firing platforms.

Phil Heydon
Reply 3
Dec. 27, 2009

My guess - one of the ship's key tags.

Gordon Smith


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Page published Dec. 26, 2009