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Friedrich der Große Class Battleship (1948 Modernization)

A 66,000 ton class battleship; the penultimate class Kriegsmarine battleship armed with twelve 40.6cm guns. The FdGs were designed to be superior than all previous classes of ships of the line. Both ships were laid down in 1939 and completed in 1944.

A rivial to Montana and Yamato in size, breadth of armament, and capability, "Großer Friedrich" was a testament to the scale and firepower of the battleship. Armed with 12x 40.6cm guns, she could output a huge broadside on anything unfortunate enough to be on the other end of her guns. She carries a massive AA armament, capable of laying down a cloud of mixed caliber flak. Radar laid gunnery allowed for highly accurate fire up to a maximum of 25 miles out, while multiple fire directors and radar pieces made her detection equipment hard to destroy. At 28 knots, she has comparable speed to other fourth generation battleships, but was slower than other fleet units. Armoring was substantial, with a total thickness of 40.6cm at the waterline. The armor belt was also an all or nothing system and was more efficient than the elephant-like armor of preceding warships. All-in-all, they had long service lives and were modernized frequently.

Originally, up to 6 warships were planned, but the dominance of fleet carriers rendered the class of little use. The slipways earmarked for the class were then expanded and diverted for the two follow-on Wotan class ships in late 1943. As a result, only 2 were completed:

Friedrich der Große (SS-9)
Großer Kurfürst (SS-10)