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Bayern Class Battleship (1943 Modernization)

A 35,000 ton Battleship built in 1915. Extensively modernized for World War 2.

As a result of the Versailles Treaty Germany was not allowed to keep any modern battleship past the 1907 Deutschland-Class pre-dreadnoughts. Bayern had been badly damaged by an astray mine earlier in the year, so she was in drydock at the time of the signing. Instead of scrapping the ship, she was hastly and secretly "sold" to a breaking company in Gothenburg, Sweden (which happened to be a subsidary of AG Vulcan Stettin, a German shipbuilding yard) and thus outside of the scope of the allied arms-control commission. The ship was "officially" broken up in Hamburg, with hull identification being switched for the incomplete Württemberg, which was then passed off as Bayern. While at the breakers, the German government secretly contracted AG Vulcan to keep the ship intact. All of her armament was dismounted and scrapped while the superstructure removed and discarded. Replacement armament for the ship was readily available in Germany, as existing stocks of naval guns were not subject to arms-reduction. The ship was relatively unrecognizable at this point and it was disguised as a floating barracks under repair for the Swedish Navy (the German government paid ended up paying several million reichsmarks directly to Sweden for official papers and secret cooperation). AG Vulcan also forged records to conflate the breaking up of the old Berserk class monitors with the Bayern, further concealing the super-dreadnought from unwanted eyes. The ship was "commissioned" into the Swedish Navy in 1924 heavily disguised as the barracks ship "HSwMS Helena", and was not noticeable because she was extensively camouflaged to be unrecognizable (it also helped that Sweden was a perceived neutral state). It would only be until 1950 that Swedish involvement was officially revealed.

Amazingly, she was went unnoticed outside of the select few naval personnel in the Reichsmarine, Swedish Navy and Defense Ministry, and AG Vulcan. In 1934, the ship was officially sent for "scrapping" in Hamburg, where she was then transferred to Wilhelmshaven. A great campaign of secrecy was undertaken, with the Gestapo involved in the monitoring of the workers working on the ship. Despite this, the allied intelligence services discovered this treachery and information was leaked to the press. The incident called for international condemnation sparking a crisis between Germany and France. Interestingly enough, the paper trail back to Sweden was not found or connected at the time, but was rumored and suspected until being uncovered after the war.

The British instead wished to negotiate with the Germans, and Bayern was considered too old and too slow to be a major point of contention. Instead, the British delegation felt that the ship would also tie down tonnage needed for new warships, so they allowed the German to keep her (however, it was added to the tonnage used in the 100:35 ratio in the Anglo–German Naval Agreement). The whole matter caused a drift between Britain and France, with the later considering the whole affair to be evidence of British betrayal of supposed German containment.

Bayern was then modernized with a new superstructure, bow, and armament. Spare turrets leftover from WW1 were used to rearm her with a spare set of 38cm guns. She received new secondary armament, a brand new AA suite, torpedo bulges, and countless new additions. A final upgrade was commenced in 1943 with the mounting of modern 5cm AA guns. One of the oldest ship in service in 1948, she was finally decommissioned for the final time having seen service in two world wars.

She was assigned the 1# number hull number after being recommissioned in 1936:
Bayern (SS-1)