Return to Naval Historical Center home page. Return to Online Library listing

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo # NH 50195:  German battleship Schlesien in the Panama Canal, March 1938

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- SHIPS of the GERMAN NAVY --

Schlesien (Battleship, 1908-1945)

Schlesien, a 13,191-ton Deutschland class battleship built at Danzig, Germany, was commissioned in May 1908. She served the Imperial German Navy as a combat ship until 1917, and was thereafter employed as a barracks and training ship. Schlesien was one of the old armored warships that Germany was allowed to keep in service during the post-World War I era and was modernized in the early 1930s. Though mainly serving in a training role, she was also used as a fighting ship in the Baltic area during World War II. In May 1945, Schlesien was badly damaged by a mine and aircraft bombs near Swinemünde and was subsequently scuttled. Her wreck was broken up over next three decades.

This page features our only views of the German battleship Schlesien.

If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 50195

Schlesien
(German Battleship, 1908)

Photographed while transiting the Panama Canal, 8 March 1938.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 116KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 50194

Schlesien
(German Battleship, 1908)

Photographed on 8 March 1938, while transiting the Panama Canal.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 215KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 102540

Schlesien
(German battleship, 1908

Photographed from the battleship Scharnhorst during gunnery exercises in the western Baltic in late January 1940. The ice in the area near Kiel, Germany, was unusually thick that winter.

Copied from the contemporary German photo album "Meine Kriegserinnerungen auf Schlachtschiff Scharnhorst", page 20.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 60KB; 740 x 525 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 82069

Schleswig-Holstein
(German battleship, 1908), in the foreground

Photographed circa 1930.
Battleship Schlesien is at left, and battleship Hessen is in the right background.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 115KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: 242-HB-8252

German battleships Schlesien
and Schleswig-Holstein

In a German Port, about 1934. The bow of a light cruiser is at the extreme right.
Note that the ships are flying the pre-Nazi era national ensign.
Photographed by Hoffman.

Photograph from the Hoffman collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 83KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 


In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold at least one other view of the German battleship Schlesien. The following list features that image:

The image listed below is NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain it using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."



  • Photo #: 80-G-15682
    German battleship Schlesien, probably photographed during the 1930s.
    Port stern view taken at surface level from a sailboat. Schlesien appears to be at anchor, with a boat boom rigged out to port.

    Reproductions of this image should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center.

    The image listed in this box is NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain it using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


  • If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 21 March 2001