{"product_id":"imperial-german-navy-postcard-sms-kurfuerst-friedrich-wilhelm-1901-brandenburg","title":"Imperial German Navy Postcard SMS Kurfuerst Friedrich Wilhelm 1901 Brandenburg","description":"\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eOriginal Imperial German Navy postcard depicting SMS \u003cem\u003eKurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm\u003c\/em\u003e, the second ship of the Brandenburg class of pre-dreadnought battleships and one of the four founding capital units of the Imperial High Seas Fleet. The card was published by \u003cem\u003eCarl Barkhausen, Bremen\u003c\/em\u003e, posted from the Imperial Naval base at Wilhelmshaven in July 1901, and bears period handwriting in old German script (\u003cem\u003eSütterlin\u003c\/em\u003e \/ \u003cem\u003eKurrentschrift\u003c\/em\u003e) running around the printed image — a documentary postal artifact of the early Tirpitz-era Imperial Navy at its principal home port.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThe face presents a two-color lithograph in blue tones showing the battleship under steam in moderate sea, three-quarter port view, with both military masts crowned by fighting tops, twin funnels heavy with coal smoke, and the distinctive Brandenburg-class arrangement of three twin gun turrets along the centerline. The caption beneath the image reads \u003cem\u003eS.M.S. KURFÜRST FRIEDR. WILHELM\u003c\/em\u003e — \u003cem\u003eSeiner Majestät Schiff Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm\u003c\/em\u003e (His Majesty's Ship Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm) — and the publisher imprint \u003cem\u003eCarl Barkhausen, Bremen\u003c\/em\u003e runs vertically along the lower-left margin. Above the printed image and across the surrounding white space, the sender has written a personal message in fluent late-nineteenth-century German cursive, in the conversational form characteristic of pre-divided-back postcard correspondence when the printed face served double duty as image and message panel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThe reverse follows the German pre-1905 single-sided postcard format with no separate message field, addressed in flowing ink to: \u003cem\u003eHerrn Jakob Gerlach, Warenhandlung, in Holzhausen b\/[abbreviated], Kr. [district], Hessen-Nassau\u003c\/em\u003e — translated as \"Mr. Jakob Gerlach, merchant, in Holzhausen near [abbreviated locality], [district name], Hessen-Nassau.\" \u003cem\u003eHessen-Nassau\u003c\/em\u003e was a Prussian province formed in 1868 from territories annexed following the Austro-Prussian conflict of 1866, with its administrative capital at Cassel. Several villages named Holzhausen exist within the province; the specific receiving Holzhausen here is partly obscured by ink offset and would benefit from genealogical or postal-history follow-up. The postage is paid with a single five-pfennig green \u003cem\u003eReichspost\u003c\/em\u003e-inscribed Germania definitive (Michel 55), the Imperial Post issue used from 1900 to 1902 before being replaced by the \u003cem\u003eDeutsches Reich\u003c\/em\u003e inscription. The stamp is tied by a \u003cem\u003eWilhelmshaven\u003c\/em\u003e circular date stamp of July 1901 (day numerals partly soft in the strike), with a corresponding receiving cancellation at the lower left of the reverse. The combination of Wilhelmshaven origin, named-ship subject, and pre-1902 \u003cem\u003eReichspost\u003c\/em\u003e franking dates the card precisely to the year before Tirpitz's Second Naval Law expansion of 1902 shifted the Imperial fleet into its accelerated capital-ship program.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eSMS \u003cem\u003eKurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm\u003c\/em\u003e, named after Friedrich Wilhelm, the Great Elector of Brandenburg (1620–1688), was laid down at the \u003cem\u003eKaiserliche Werft\u003c\/em\u003e (Imperial Shipyard) Wilhelmshaven in 1890, launched on 30 June 1891 in the presence of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and commissioned on 29 April 1894. She and her three sisters — \u003cem\u003eBrandenburg\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eWeißenburg\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eWörth\u003c\/em\u003e — were the first true seagoing battleships of the unified Imperial Navy and represented a deliberate break with the coastal-defense doctrine of the previous decade. Their unusual main armament of six 28 cm (11-inch) guns mounted in three centerline twin turrets was unique among contemporary battleships and gave the class a heavier broadside than any foreign equivalent of its generation. The Brandenburg ships served as the I. Geschwader of the High Seas Fleet through the late 1890s and into the new century, formed the nucleus of the German squadron sent to East Asia during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, and were the platforms on which Tirpitz developed the operational doctrine that would later govern the dreadnought-era High Seas Fleet. \u003cem\u003eKurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm\u003c\/em\u003e and her sister \u003cem\u003eWeißenburg\u003c\/em\u003e were sold to the Ottoman Empire in 1910 as part of a fleet-modernization agreement, the former being renamed \u003cem\u003eBarbaros Hayreddin\u003c\/em\u003e. She was sunk by the British submarine HMS \u003cem\u003eE11\u003c\/em\u003e under Lieutenant-Commander Martin Nasmith in the Sea of Marmara on 8 August 1915 during the Gallipoli campaign, with the loss of approximately 253 of her Ottoman crew.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThe Wilhelmshaven postmark places the sender at the principal Imperial Naval base on Jade Bay, established by Prussia in 1869 and developed under the Empire into the foremost German fleet base on the North Sea. By 1901 Wilhelmshaven was home to the \u003cem\u003eHochseeflotte\u003c\/em\u003e (High Seas Fleet) headquarters, to the \u003cem\u003eKaiserliche Werft\u003c\/em\u003e, and to the bulk of Tirpitz's capital ships. A card depicting a named Brandenburg-class battleship, posted from the fleet's own home port and sent inland to a merchant in Hessen-Nassau, captures the Imperial naval propaganda culture of the period at the most direct point of its operation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eCondition is fair-to-good for a postally used card of approximately 124 years of age. The face retains the printed ship image fully intact with strong blue tone and sharp detail, surrounded by period ink handwriting that runs across most of the white margins above and below the image; some handwriting overlaps with the lower portion of the printed scene but does not obscure the ship itself. There is light age-toning to the paper, scattered foxing, light edge wear, and minor corner bumping. The reverse shows the \u003cem\u003ePOSTKARTE\u003c\/em\u003e heading and address field clean apart from the address itself and the postmark cancellations; one area of light ink staining near the central address line, likely from period handling moisture, partially affects the legibility of the merchant's surname but the name \u003cem\u003eJakob Gerlach\u003c\/em\u003e remains clearly readable. The Germania stamp is firmly affixed with full perforations and bright color. There are no tears, no creases through the image, and no losses to the card body.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eImperial German Navy postcards of the Brandenburg class are noticeably scarcer than examples of the subsequent Kaiser Friedrich III and Wittelsbach classes, both because the Brandenburg ships preceded the great postcard production boom of 1898 to 1914 and because the four units departed Imperial service in 1910 with the Ottoman sale. \u003cem\u003eKurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm\u003c\/em\u003e examples in particular are sought by collectors of pre-dreadnought naval material, by collectors of Wilhelmshaven postal history, and by Ottoman naval specialists drawn to the ship's later identity as \u003cem\u003eBarbaros Hayreddin\u003c\/em\u003e. The combination of a named-ship lithograph, a Wilhelmshaven Imperial-Navy origin cancellation, a pre-1902 \u003cem\u003eReichspost\u003c\/em\u003e franking, and dated period correspondence makes this an unusually content-rich example for the format. The publisher imprint of \u003cem\u003eCarl Barkhausen, Bremen\u003c\/em\u003e places it within a recognized series of Imperial naval postcards from one of the principal Hanseatic publishers of the genre.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Derrittmeister Militaria Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49521838424303,"sku":"44-61","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/9169\/5855\/files\/44-61_1.jpg?v=1778794184","url":"https:\/\/derrittmeister.com\/products\/imperial-german-navy-postcard-sms-kurfuerst-friedrich-wilhelm-1901-brandenburg","provider":"Derrittmeister Militaria Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}