SMS Von der Tann: Shipwreck Map, Location & Facts

Name	SMS Von der Tann	Wikidata label
Ship type	battlecruiser	Wikidata P31 instance of
Cause of loss	Scuttled	Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence
Nationality / flag	Germany	Wikidata P8047 country of registry
Operator	Imperial German Navy	Wikidata P137 operator
Conflict	World War I	Wikidata P607 conflict
Sea / ocean	North Atlantic Ocean	Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon
Nearest coast	Scotland	Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 5 km from land
Position	58.8771, -3.1872	Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0)

About the wreck

SMS Von der Tann was the first battlecruiser built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), as well as Germany's first major turbine-powered warship. At the time of her construction, Von der Tann was the fastest dreadnought-type warship afloat, capable of reaching speeds in excess of 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph). She was designed in response to the British Invincible class. While the German design had slightly lighter guns—28 cm (11 in), compared to the 30.5 cm (12 in) Mark X mounted on the British ships—Von der Tann was faster and significantly better-armored. She set the precedent of German battlecruisers carrying much heavier armor than their British equivalents, albeit at the cost of smaller guns.

Von der Tann participated in a number of fleet actions during the First World War, including several bombardments of the English coast. She was present at the Battle of Jutland, where she destroyed the British battlecruiser HMS Indefatigable in the opening minutes of the engagement.

Location

Recorded position: 58.8771, -3.1872 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
Sea / ocean: North Atlantic Ocean
Nearest coast: Scotland

Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.

OpenStreetMap

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article SMS Von der Tann (revision 1378301986), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.