The Spithead Naval Review 1897

The Spithead Naval Review 1897

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations included a naval review in the waters of Spithead on 26 June 1897 of 165 warships of the Royal Navy. The occasion was a not so subtle demonstration of the absolute supremacy of the Royal Navy at the height of its power. But the seeds of decline of British naval mastery can be traced in the careers of three ships of foreign nations invited to witness this show of dominance.

Ringbolt|June 26, 2026

SMS Kurfurst Friedrich Wilhelm / Barbaros Hayreddin

The first battleship of the Imperial German Navy to fire its guns in anger, but in the service of the Ottoman Empire, not the Kaiser. Spent 6 years as flagship of the Imperial Navy, and then deployed to suppress the Chinese Boxer rebellion. Sold to the Ottomans and provided naval gunfire support to the Turkish defenders at Gallipoli, only to become the first and only battleship to be sunk by a British submarine.

SMS Kurfurst Friedrich Wilhelm / Barbaros Hayreddin

Ringbolt|June 07, 2026

August von Heeringen

In 1897, Korvettenkapitän August von Heeringen was chosen by Konteradmiral Tirpitz to play a key role in creating the German battle fleet which kicked off a naval race with Britain. In 1912, when Germany had lost that race, the then Vizeadmiral von Heeringen was faced with the insuperable problem of how to win a war with the fleet that Tirpitz built.

August von Heeringen

Ringbolt|May 31, 2026

A Ramming Off Folkestone

In the summer of 1878, two German ironclads collided off the Kent coast, sending over 250 sailors to their deaths as SMS Grosser Kurfürst went to the bottom. The disaster led to four courts martial, a loss of confidence in the Kaiserliche Marine and a withering away of the German battle fleet.

A Ramming Off Folkestone

Ringbolt|May 19, 2026

SMS Baden (1880)

A German ironclad coast defence ship of the 1870s which served as a fleet flagship for twenty years, well into the pre-Dreadnought era.

SMS Baden (1880)

Ringbolt|May 12, 2026