Named after Germany's most northern region, the SMS Schleswig-Holstein was one of  five Deutschland Class battleships "die fünf Schwestern" (the five sisters) that belonged to the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) during WWII. She was a pre-dreadnought ship and was built at GermaniaWerft shipyard, Kiel in 1905 and commissioned into Germany's WWI navy the Kaisermarine on July 6th 1908.

It was a fine ship, powerfully armed and had much better protective armor plating then other ships before her.  She also had a double bottomed hull that strengthened her superstructure and altogether she was a very good sea going vessel.

The Schleswig-Holstein was an active battleship having fought in both world wars including the battle of Jutland in WWI where she took damage after being hit by gunfire from the 2nd British battle squadron.  When WWI ended in 1918 the Schleswig-Holstein was one of six battleships that Germany was allowed to keep in her navy through articles stipulated in the Treaty of Versailles June 28th 1919.  She went through a refit stage at Wilhelmshaven dockyard up until to 1926, the refit included her first two smoke stacks being combined into one leaving a total of only two smoke stacks.

Up to 1935 she was the proud flagship of the Kriegsmarine and from 1936 she became a training ship for Germany's naval officers, for them to gain experience in commanding and sailing a big vessel, such as the ship indeed was at over 13,000 tons.

On August 26th 1939 the SMS Schleswig-Holstein nonchalantly sailed into the Polish port of Gdansk (Danzig) and anchored in the channel near Westerplatte.  For all intents and purposes she was there on a friendly courtesy visit and many of the local inhabitants came out to see the big battleship and those that had cameras took photos of her as she sat quietly in the water.  She was the talking point for the whole community and people were amazed at seeing such a large, old and venerable ship docked up in their harbor.

Onboard the ship though, were commandos of the Hennigsen waffen gruppen that had previous orders to launch an attack on the port but their orders had been temporarily postponed due to Britain and Poland having signed a new treaty of assistance pact and also Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's refusal to join in the planned hostilities.  So for several days the ship just sat, quietly  in harbor whilst Adolf Hitler back in Berlin, decided what to do.

Hitler later reached a decision, a decision that would change the world forever and at 04:45 hrs on September 1st 1939 the Schleswig-Holstein showed her real sinister intentions to the Polish as she suddenly opened fire on the garrison with her big 11 inch and 6 inch guns as well as an endless barrage of machine gun fire.

The local inhabitants and indeed the Polish army that were garrisoned there were taken completely by surprise and were thrown into a state of shock and disarray as the shells rained down blowing up fortifications, buildings and property and murdering them in their scores.  World War Two had just started.

The photo below is of when the ship first opened up on the garrison.

Below is a youtube video of the actual bombardment from the ship  as she opened fire on the garrison and surrounding buildings.

This act of terrible malice can be stated as the first shots ever fired and signaled the start of World War Two.

With German soldiers rushing over the border and the Luftwaffe attacking from the air along with the shelling from the ship, the capitulation of Westerplatte happened in just 7 days.    The Schleswig-Holstein then went on to shell Gdynia, Oksywska, Kepa and the Hel Peninsula during which time she was only ever hit once herself and that was by a Polish 152mm Artillery shell.

The  Schleswig-Holstein took part in several other operations during WWII including the occupation of Denmark when she assisted other ships of the Kreigsmarine during these ostensible actions.  She was also still called up as a training ship and throughout the years of 1941 up to 1944 she was used primarily as a floating anti-aircraft battery and many more anti-aircraft guns were fitted to her decks.

The ships reign of power on the seas ended on December 19th 1944 when she was hit by three bombs that were dropped by the British RAF whilst she was anchored in Gdynia, she erupted into flame and started taking on water.  The fires were later extinguished and the crew repaired the damage as best they could.  Her main guns were repaired but the ship was unable to move being to heavily damaged by the initial bombs that hit her.

The ships crew finally decided to abandon ship about 3 months later on 21st March 1945 but not before laying charges, thus the Schleswig-Holstein was effectively scuttled and finally sank in only 12 meters of water.  The wreck was claimed by the Soviets in 1946 and she was raised and towed to Kronstadt and then on to Tallin where she was again used as a training hulk.

The ship was finally used for target practice and was blown to bits in the Finish Sea in 1956, after fifty years of very interesting service.  The wreck is still there to this day protected by the Estonian National Heritage Board Shipwreck Trust and is often visited by divers from clubs who swim around old wrecks for pastime purposes.

Below are two of the ships 11inch shells preserved for prosperity

The ship cost 24,972,000 Marks to build.

In 1917 the ship became a floating barracks and rest facility for troops fighting on the western front.

3x3 cylinder steam expansion engines

In 1951 six years after the end of WWII the Polish community began to rebuilt the shelled city of Gdansk and many of the buildings that were destroyed by the Schleswig-Holstein were meticulously replicated to how they were before hostilities broke out.  The grandeur of the intricate brick churches with their slender spires and many of the town houses with their embellished architecture now hide all of the horrors that once took place there, in our dark but not too distant past.