USS Ostfriesland

USS Ostfriesland was a pre-dreadnought battleship named for a German province bordering on the Netherlands and the North Sea. Her keel was laid down in 1908 at Wilhelmshaven, Germany[?]. She was launched in September 1909, and commissioned as SMS Ostfriesland[?] in the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy) in May 1911.

Ostfriesland was surrendered to the Allies following World War I and commissioned into the United States Navy on April 7, 1920, at Rosyth, Scotland[?], with Captain J.F. Hellweg in command.

Though in need of repairs, the ship managed to sail to New York where she decommissioned September 20, 1920. Ostfriesland, with several other ex-German warships, became targets for a demonstration of air power. Bombed by Army planes from Langley Field[?] in Virginia, she was sunk on July 21, 1921, about 60 miles off the Viriginia Capes[?].

General Characteristics

• Displacement: 24,500 tons
• Length: 546 feet
• Beam: 93.3 feet
• Draft: 29.5 feet
• Speed: 21 knots
• Complement: 1150 officers and men
• Armament: 12 12-inch guns, 14 5.9-inch guns, six 19.7-inch torpedo tubes