Battleship Schleswig-Holstein Military equipment

The Schleswig-Holstein was built as one of the five Deutschland-class battleships, also known as the Five Sisters – Deutschland, Pommern, Hannover, Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein. These were powerful, well-armed ships that carried far better armour than earlier battleships.

Schleswig-Holstein's keel was laid down on 18 August 1905, launched on 7 December 1906 and entered the fleet on 6 July 1908. Schleswig-Holstein participated in both World War I and World War II. Schleswig-Holstein went through several courses of modernisation between 1925 and 1931, resulting in a change of her silhouette and armament as well as movement characteristics. From 1927 to September 1935, she was the flagship of the German Navy.

Schleswig-Holstein made history as the warship involved with the first shots of the Second World War on sea. On the night before 19th December 1944, the ship was bombed on the coast of Eastern Prussia, in Gotenhafen (today Gdynia in Poland), and sustained severe damage. On 21stMarch 1945, the ship was scuttled on the Gotenhafen roadstead by her crew. After the war, in 1946, SchleswigHolstein was salvaged and brought to Kopli Shipyard in Tallinn, with the intention of repairing the ship and using it as a training ship for the Soviet Baltic Navy, renamed the Borodino. This, however, drew protests from the Western allies – according to the peace treaty with Germany, damaged German warships ought not to have been used.

On the 25th September 1947, Schleswig-Holstein was towed from Kopli Shipyard to Neugrund shallows near Osmussaar. There she was used as a target for Russian air force. The old armoured ship stood above water level, being a good landmark for ships arriving to and leaving from the Gulf of Finland. Between 1970 and 1971, the part above water was cut away for scrap iron.

The underwater parts are preserved at a depth of 8–9 meters, over an area approximately 130 meters long and up to 50 meters wide. Smaller pieces can be found further away.