Does anyone know how the German Navy referred to their dreadnoughts, pre-dreadnoughts, and battlecruisers? I know the battlecruisers were Schlachtskreuzer, and armored cruisers were Panzerkreuzer, although I have also seen large cruiser (Großer Kreuzer) and protected cruiser (Geschützter Kreuzer). I have seen both predreads and dreadnoughts referred to as both Schlachtschiffe and Linienschiffe, and even Großlinienschiffe. What would the Germans have called their pre-dreadnoughts and dreadnoughts during WW1, during WW2, and now? Was there a distinction between dreadnoughts and pre-dreadnoughts as there is in English?
German Warships: 1815–1945. Erich Gröner This book states the classification of each class of capital ship, and states that the Wittelsbach, Braunschweig, Deutschland, Nassau, Helgoland, Kaiser, König, and Bayern class ships were classified as Linienschiffe (ship of the line). the Preussen class, Sachsen class, Oldenburg, Brandenburg class and Kaiser Friedrich III classes were classified as Panzerschiffe, and the Siegfried and Odin classes were classified as 4th rate Panzerschiffe. Contemporary British sources classified these Panzerschiffe as battleships and the 4th rate Panzerschiffe as coast defense ships.* *shamelessly stolen from Wikipedia. Not all countries referred to things the same way and many reference books will also refer to ships differently. The above is I believe how those ships are listed in german archives.
Thanks guys, that answers my question. It looks like Schlachtschiffe is a more modern term, and both the predreadnought and dreadnought battleships were referred to as Linienschiffe.
