SMS Bayern (1878)

SMS Bayern
History
German Empire
Name	SMS Bayern
Builder	Kaiserliche Werft, Kiel
Laid down	June 1874
Launched	13 May 1878
Commissioned	4 August 1881
Stricken	19 Feb 1910
Fate	Sold for scrap, 1919
General characteristics
Class and type	Sachsen-class ironclad
Displacement	7,742 t (7,620 long tons)
Length	98.2 m (322 ft 2 in)
Beam	18.4 m (60 ft 4 in)
Draft	6.32 m (20 ft 9 in)
Installed power	8 × Dürr boilers 5,600 ihp (4,200 kW)
Propulsion	2 × single-expansion steam engines 2 × screw propellers
Speed	13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Range	1,940 nmi (3,590 km; 2,230 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	32 officers 285 enlisted men
Armament	6 × 26 cm (10.2 in) L/22 guns 6 × 8.7 cm (3.4 in) guns 8 × 3.7 cm (1.5 in) guns
Armor	Belt: 203–254 mm (8–10 in) Deck: 50–75 mm (2–3 in)

SMS Bayern^[a] was one of four Sachsen-class armored frigates of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). Her sister ships were Sachsen, Baden, and Württemberg. Named for Bavaria, Bayern was built by the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Dockyard) in Kiel from 1874 to 1881. The ship was commissioned into the Imperial Navy in August 1881. She was armed with a main battery of six 26 cm (10.2 in) guns in two open barbettes.

After her commissioning, Bayern served with the fleet on numerous training exercises and cruises. She participated in several cruises escorting Kaiser Wilhelm II on state visits to Great Britain and to various cities in the Baltic Sea in the late 1880s and early 1890s. During 1895–1898, the ship was modernized at the Schichau-Werke dockyard in Danzig; she served for another decade with the fleet before being withdrawn from active service in 1910. She was used as a target ship after 1911, until she was sold in 1919 and broken up for scrap.
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