Imperial German Navy Battleship SMS Kaiserin Framed Period Postcard Kiel

A period German picture postcard of the battleship S.M.S. Kaiserin, framed under glass in an ebonized wooden frame with a gilt inner slip. The printed caption at upper left reads "S. M. Turbinenlinienschiff „Kaiserin" / Wasserverdrängung 25000 Tonnen / Bauwerft Howaldtswerke, Kiel / Besatzung 1100 Mann," which translates as "His Majesty's Turbine Battleship Kaiserin (Empress) / Displacement 25,000 tons / Builder's yard Howaldtswerke, Kiel / Crew 1,100 men." The frame measures approximately 6⅝ inches (16.8 cm) wide and 5⅝ inches (14.3 cm) high, with a visible image of approximately 4⅞ by 3¾ inches (12.4 by 9.5 cm).

The card is printed in black and white from a photograph of the ship seen broadside, her bow to the left, with heavy black smoke rising from her forward funnel and a lighter plume from the after funnel. Her two pole masts, the tall forward conning tower and bridge structure, the boat cranes amidships, and the long row of torpedo-net booms along the hull are all clearly shown, together with crewmen on the forecastle. The frame is a moulded profile in black lacquered or ebonized wood with a narrow stepped outer edge and a flat gilt slip around the opening. The reverse is closed with a card backing held by small nails and sealed around the edges with paper tape, and a small brass triangular hanger is fixed at the centre of the top rail. The reverse of the postcard itself is not visible.

Kaiserin was the third ship of the Kaiser class of five battleships, the first German battleships driven by steam turbines rather than reciprocating engines, which is why the postcard calls her a Turbinenlinienschiff (turbine ship of the line). She was built by Howaldtswerke at Kiel, the only ship of the class from that yard, laid down in November 1910 and launched on 11 November 1911. She was delivered in May 1913 and joined the fleet in December of that year after repairs to turbine damage suffered on trials. Her Parsons turbines, fed by sixteen coal-fired boilers, drove three shafts and gave a top speed of about 22 knots. She carried ten 30.5 cm guns in five twin turrets, two of them placed en echelon amidships so that, in principle, all five turrets could bear on either broadside, with fourteen 15 cm guns in casemates. The figures on the card are rounded: her design displacement was 24,724 tonnes, rising to about 27,000 tonnes fully loaded, and her complement was 41 officers and 1,043 men.

With her sisters Kaiserin served in the III Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet until December 1916, when the five ships of the class were moved to the IV Battle Squadron. At the Battle of Jutland on 31 May and 1 June 1916 she engaged the destroyer Nomad with her secondary guns, fired on a British battleship identified in her records as Malaya, and then shifted fire to the armoured cruiser Defence, which blew up under heavy fire from the German battle line, firing 160 rounds from her main battery and coming through the battle without damage. In October 1917 she took part in Operation Albion, the seizure of the Baltic islands of Ösel, Moon, and Dagö from Russia, shelling the Russian coastal batteries and coming under fire from the battery at Zerel. In November of that year she covered the light forces in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight and scored a hit on the British light cruiser Caledon. After the Armistice she was interned with the main body of the fleet at Scapa Flow, and on 21 June 1919, on the order of Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, her skeleton crew scuttled her with the rest of the interned ships. Her hull was raised in 1936 and broken up at Rosyth.

The caption identifies the ship and her builder but carries no publisher's name on the front, and the card has no visible postmark or message, so its publisher and date of issue cannot be confirmed. Its description of the ship and the absence of any wartime reference suggest it was published in the period between her commissioning in 1913 and the early years of the conflict. The frame appears to be of the period, though whether the card was framed when new cannot be determined.

Condition shows age. The postcard is evenly toned, with a pale stain or haze at upper left around the caption, more apparent in angled light, a faint discoloured patch at upper right near the after mast, light spotting, and slight rubbing along the lower edge. The frame has scuffs and edge wear to the black finish, a loss at the upper right corner exposing the wood and white ground beneath, a small chip at the upper left corner, and a further loss low on the left side exposing the white ground. The gilt slip has small marks and wear. The glass is intact. The backing tape is complete, with some toning, and the backing board carries patches of white paper or tissue residue.

Postcards of the High Seas Fleet's capital ships were bought in large numbers by sailors, their families, and the public in the years of the naval race with Britain, and framed examples such as this were displayed at home as a record of a man's ship or of national pride in the fleet. Kaiserin served from her first months with the fleet through Jutland and the Baltic to the scuttling at Scapa Flow, and this card makes an appropriate piece for a collection of Imperial German naval photographs, postcards, and ship-related material.