SMS Konig

The battleship SMS Konig

SMS KONIG – SHIP DETAILS
Type	Steel, Konig class dreadnought battleship
Shipyard	Imperial Dockyard, Wilhelmshaven
Launched	01.03.1913
Dimensions (LOA)	575.8’x96.8’x27.3’ (IMP) 175.5×29.5×8.3 metres
Tonnage	25,930dt
Engines	3 x 45,750 shp steam turbines
Armament	10 x 30.5cm quick firing L/50 guns, 14 x 15 cm guns, 4 x 8,8 cm anti-aircraft guns, 2 x machine guns, 5 x 50 cm submerged torpedo tubes

Turbine-below-the-shot

Casement-gun-colour

A-drive-shaft-hanger-on-the-seabed-on-the-port-side-of-the-Konig.2

Capstan-machinery

Casement-gun-colour1

Konig-casemate-gun

Konig-boiler-room

Sitting-on-top-of-the-engine-room-great-wall

Konig-the-base-of-a-barbette

Shattered-engines

We’d like to thank Naomi Watson for her permission to use her underwater photographs of the wreck in this article.

SMS KONIG – WRECK DETAILS
Position	58° 53.204’N, 003° 09.202’W
Seabed depth	40 metres
Least depth on wreck	18 metres
Orientation	115°/ 295°
Lying	Lies inverted slight list to port with bow pointing northwest
Description	Of the three Konig class battleships, the Konig would appear to be the most heavily salvaged and as a result in the most dilapidated condition. The wreck lies inverted and listing to port so that all its casemate guns on the port side are within the seabed, as are her five main turrets. You have to visit the starboard side around the bridge area at seabed level to view one of these 5.9” guns, if you can find it, as a lot of debris has fallen down into the area because of the salvage of its main armour belting. The salvors have been very diligent in recovering the higher value metals in several key areas namely, the bow, boiler and engine rooms and stern. The bow and stern have collapsed where blasting took place to remove torpedo tubes, bulkheads and propellors and shafts. The boiler and engine room area has been entered by blasting through the base of the hull and is an area of jumbled metal with some form to large objects which maybe recognisable to the trained eye. The Konig still retains its size and mass but its clear that it is degrading and there are perhaps less obvious features to see than the other two battleships. It is likely that as the Konig further degrades areas deeper within the hull may well open up for exploration in the future. At present it is still a wreck that will take 2-3 dives to even start to understand. Recent multibeam sonar surveys provide 3D visual models of these wrecks, and we recommend viewing them online prior your dive expedition.