:SMS Rheinland

{{Main|Nassau-class battleship}}

Design work on the {{lang|de|Nassau}} class began in late 1903 in the context of the Anglo-German naval arms race; at the time, battleships of foreign navies had begun to carry increasingly heavy secondary batteries, including Italian and American ships with {{cvt|20.3|cm|0}} guns and British ships with {{cvt|23.4|cm}} guns, outclassing the previous German battleships of the {{sclass|Deutschland|battleship|4}} with their {{cvt|17|cm}} secondaries. German designers initially considered ships equipped with {{cvt|21|cm}} secondary guns, but erroneous reports in early 1904 that the British {{sclass|Lord Nelson|battleship|1}}s would be equipped with a secondary battery of {{cvt|25.4|cm|0}} guns prompted them to consider an even more powerful ship armed with an all-big-gun armament consisting of eight {{cvt|28|cm}} guns. Over the next two years, the design was refined into a larger vessel with twelve of the guns, by which time Britain had launched the all-big-gun battleship {{HMS|Dreadnought|1906|6}}.{{sfn|Dodson|pp=72–75}}

File:Nassau-class plan and profile.png

The ship was {{cvt|146.1|m|ftin}} long, {{cvt|26.9|m|ftin}} wide, and had a draft of {{cvt|8.9|m|ftin}}. She displaced {{convert|18,873|t|LT|sp=us|lk=on}} with a normal load, and {{cvt|20,535|t|LT}} fully laden. She had a flush deck and a ram bow, a common feature for warships of the period. {{lang|de|Rheinland}} had a fairly small superstructure, consisting primarily of forward and aft conning towers. She was fitted with a pair of pole masts for signaling and observation purposes. The ship had a crew of 40 officers and 968 enlisted men.{{sfn|Gröner|p=23}}{{sfn|Campbell & Sieche|p=140}}

She retained 3-shaft triple expansion engines instead of more advanced turbine engines. Steam for the engines was provided by twelve coal-fired water-tube boilers, which were vented through two funnels. Her propulsion system was rated at {{convert|22000|PS|ihp kW|lk=on}} and provided a top speed of {{convert|20|kn|lk=in}}. She had a cruising radius of {{convert|8300|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|12|kn}}.{{sfn|Gröner|p=23}}{{sfn|Campbell & Sieche|p=140}}{{efn|This type of machinery was chosen at the request of both Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz and the Navy's construction department; the latter stated in 1905 that the "use of turbines in heavy warships does not recommend itself."{{sfn|Herwig|pp=59–60}} This decision was based solely on cost: at the time, Parsons held a monopoly on steam turbines and required a 1 million gold mark royalty fee for every turbine engine made. German firms were not ready to begin production of turbines on a large scale until 1910.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|pp=23, 35}}}}

{{lang|de|Rheinland}} carried a main battery of twelve 28 cm SK L/45 gun{{efn|In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" ({{lang|de|Schnelladekanone}}) denotes that the gun is quick firing, while "L/45" provides the length of the gun in terms of the diameter of the barrel. In this case, the L/45 gun is 45 caliber, which means that the gun is 45 times as long as its diameter.{{sfn|Grießmer|p=177}}}} guns in six gun turrets arranged in an unusual hexagonal configuration. One was placed forward, another toward the stern, and the remaining four were placed on the wings, two per broadside. Her secondary armament consisted of twelve 15 cm SK L/45 guns, mounted in casemates located amidships. Close-range defense against torpedo boats was provided by a tertiary battery of sixteen 8.8 cm SK L/45 naval gun, which were also mounted in casemates.{{sfn|Gröner|p=23}} The ship was also armed with six {{cvt|45|cm|in|1}} submerged torpedo tubes. One tube was mounted in the bow, another in the stern, and two on each broadside, on both ends of the torpedo bulkheads.{{sfn|Campbell & Sieche|p=140}}

The ship's hull was protected by heavy armor plate consisting of Krupp cemented steel. The belt armor along the sides of the hull was {{cvt|11.5|in|cm|order=flip}} thick in the central portion, tapering down to {{cvt|4|in|cm|order=flip}} at the bow. The belt was reinforced by an armored deck that angled downward at the sides to connect to the bottom edge of the belt. The deck was {{cvt|1.5|in|cm|order=flip}} on the flat portion, while the sloped sides increased in thickness to {{cvt|2.3|in|cm|order=flip}}. {{lang|de|Rheinland}}{{'}}s main battery turrets had 28 cm of Krupp steel on their faces. Her forward conning tower had {{cvt|30|cm|1}} of armor plate on the sides, while the aft tower received only {{cvt|20|cm|1}} on the sides.{{sfn|Gröner|p=23}}{{sfn|Campbell 1977|pp=13–14}}

File:Bundesarchiv DVM 10 Bild-23-61-23, Linienschiff "SMS Rheinland".jpg

{{lang|de|Rheinland}} was ordered under the provisional name {{lang|de|Ersatz Württemberg}}, as a replacement for the old {{sclass|Sachsen|ironclad|2}} {{SMS|Württemberg|1878|2}}.{{sfn|Gröner|p=23}} She was laid down on 1 June 1907 at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|p=27}} Like her sister {{SMS|Nassau||2}}, construction proceeded under absolute secrecy; detachments of soldiers guarded the shipyard itself, as well as contractors such as Krupp that supplied building materials.{{sfn|Hough|p=26}} The ship was launched on 26 September 1908;{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|p=27}} at the launching ceremony the ship was christened by Queen Elisabeth of Romania and Clemens Freiherr von Schorlemer-Lieser gave a speech.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 7|p=72}} Fitting-out work was completed by the end of February 1910. A dockyard crew was used for limited sea trials, which lasted from 23 February to 4 March 1910 off Swinemünde. She was then taken to Kiel, where she was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 30 April 1910. Under the command of {{lang|de|Kapitän zur See}} (KzS) Albert Hopman, Rheinland conducted official sea trials in the Baltic Sea.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|p=30}}{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 7|p=71}}

At the conclusion of trials on 30 August 1910, {{lang|de|Rheinland}} was taken to Wilhelmshaven, where a significant portion of the crew was transferred to the new battlecruiser {{SMS|Von der Tann||2}}. For the next month, Hopman was temporarily replaced, though he returned in September. Following the autumn fleet maneuvers in September, the crew was replenished with crewmembers from the old pre-dreadnought battleship {{SMS|Zähringen||2}}, which was decommissioned at the same time. {{lang|de|Rheinland}} was then assigned to I Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet. In October, the fleet went on the annual winter cruise, followed by fleet exercises in November.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|p=30}}{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 7|p=71}} In March 1911, the fleet conducted exercises in the Skagerrak and Kattegat. {{lang|de|Rheinland}} and the rest of the fleet received British and American naval squadrons at Kiel in June and July. The year's autumn maneuvers were confined to the Baltic and the Kattegat. Another fleet review was held afterward, during the exercises for a visiting Austro-Hungarian delegation that included Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Admiral Rudolf Montecuccoli.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 2|pp=241–242}} In September, KzS Richard Engel replaced Hopman.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 7|p=71}}

The next year followed a similar pattern until mid-1912, when the summer cruise was confined to the Baltic due to the Agadir Crisis; the naval command sought to avoid exposing the fleet during the period of heightened tension with Britain and France. The September exercises were conducted off Helgoland in the North Sea.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 2|pp=242–243}}{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|p=8}} The training schedule returned to normal for 1913 and 1914, and the summer cruises again went to Norway. For the 1914 cruise, the fleet departed for Norwegian waters on 14 July, some two weeks after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. The probability of war cut the cruise short; {{lang|de|Rheinland}} and the rest of the fleet were back in Wilhelmshaven by 29 July.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|p=11}}

File:First and second battleship squadrons and small cruiser of the - NARA - 533188-2 restored.jpg in Kiel before the war]]

{{lang|de|Rheinland}} participated in nearly all of the fleet advances throughout the war.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|p=30}} The first such operation was conducted primarily by the battlecruisers; the ships bombarded Scarborough, Hartlepool, and Whitby on 15–16 December 1914.{{sfn|Tarrant|p=31}} During the operation, the German battle fleet of some 12 dreadnoughts and 8 pre-dreadnoughts, which was serving as distant support for the battlecruisers, came to within {{cvt|10|nmi}} of an isolated squadron of six British battleships. However, skirmishes between the rival destroyer screens convinced the German commander, Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl, that he was confronted with the entire Grand Fleet. He broke off the engagement and turned for home.{{sfn|Tarrant|pp=31–33}}

{{lang|de|Rheinland}} next took part in the fleet advance on 24 January 1915 to support I Scouting Group after it had been ambushed by the British 1st and 2nd Battlecruiser Squadrons during the Battle of Dogger Bank, though she again saw no action, as the battle had ended before the High Seas Fleet arrived late in the afternoon.{{sfn|Massie|pp=375–404}} Following the loss of the armored cruiser {{SMS|Blücher}} at the Battle of Dogger Bank, the Kaiser removed Ingenohl from his post on 2 February. Admiral Hugo von Pohl replaced him as commander of the fleet.{{sfn|Tarrant|pp=43–44}} Pohl conducted a series of fleet advances in 1915 in which {{lang|de|Rheinland}} took part; in the first one on 29–30 March, the fleet steamed out to the north of Terschelling and return without incident. Another followed on 17–18 April, where the fleet covered a mining operation by II Scouting Group. Three days later, on 21–22 April, the High Seas Fleet advanced towards the Dogger Bank, though again failed to meet any British forces.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 2|p=15}} During the operation, the high-pressure cylinder of {{lang|de|Rheinland}}{{'}}s starboard engine failed. Repair work lasted until 23 May.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|pp=30–31}} The fleet next went to sea on 29–30 May, advancing as far as Schiermonnikoog before being forced to turn back by inclement weather. On 10 August, the fleet steamed to the north of Helgoland to cover the return of the auxiliary cruiser {{SMS|Meteor|1914|2}}.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 2|p=15}} That month, Heinrich Rohardt was given command of {{lang|de|Rheinland}}.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 7|p=71}}

{{main|Battle of the Gulf of Riga}}

In August 1915, the German fleet attempted to clear the Russian-held Gulf of Riga in order to facilitate the capture of Riga by the German army. To do so, the German planners intended to drive off or destroy the Russian naval forces in the Gulf, which included the pre-dreadnought battleship {{ship|Russian battleship|Slava||2}} and a number of gunboats and destroyers. The German naval force would also lay a series of minefields in the northern entrance to the Gulf to prevent Russian naval reinforcements from reentering the area. The assembled German fleet included {{lang|de|Rheinland}} and her three sister ships, the four {{sclass|Helgoland|battleship|2}}s, and the battlecruisers {{lang|de|Von der Tann}}, {{SMS|Moltke||2}}, and {{SMS|Seydlitz||2}}. The force operated under the command of Vice Admiral Franz von Hipper. The eight battleships were to provide cover for the forces engaging the Russian flotilla. The first attempt on 8 August was unsuccessful, as it had taken too long to clear the Russian minefields to allow the minelayer {{SMS|Deutschland|1914|2}} to lay a minefield of her own.{{sfn|Halpern|pp=196–197}}

On 16 August 1915, a second attempt was made to enter the Gulf: {{lang|de|Nassau}} and {{SMS|Posen||2}}, four light cruisers, and 31 torpedo boats managed to breach the Russian defenses.{{sfn|Halpern|p=197}} On the first day of the assault, the German minesweeper {{SMS|T46||2}} was sunk, as was the destroyer {{SMS|V99||2}}. The following day, {{lang|de|Nassau}} and {{lang|de|Posen}} engaged in an artillery duel with {{lang|ru|Slava}}, resulting in three hits on the Russian ship that forced her to retreat. By 19 August, the Russian minefields had been cleared and the flotilla entered the Gulf. However, reports of Allied submarines in the area prompted the Germans to call off the operation the following day.{{sfn|Halpern|pp=197–198}} Admiral Hipper later remarked that "To keep valuable ships for a considerable time in a limited area in which enemy submarines were increasingly active, with the corresponding risk of damage and loss, was to indulge in a gamble out of all proportion to the advantage to be derived from the occupation of the Gulf before the capture of Riga from the land side."{{sfn|Halpern|p=198}}

File:SMS Rheinland.jpg

By the end of August, {{lang|de|Rheinland}} and the rest of the High Seas Fleet units were back in their bases on the North Sea. The next operation conducted was a sweep into the North Sea on 11–12 September, though it ended without any action. Another sortie followed on 23–24 October during which the German fleet did not encounter any British forces.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|p=31}} On 12 January 1916, Admiral Reinhard Scheer replaced Pohl as the fleet commander; Scheer continued the aggressive fleet strategy of his predecessors.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 2|p=15}} On 12 February 1916, {{lang|de|Rheinland}} was sent to the dockyard for an extensive overhaul, which lasted until 19 April. {{lang|de|Rheinland}} was back with the fleet in time to participate in another advance into the North Sea on 21–22 April. Another bombardment mission followed two days later; {{lang|de|Rheinland}} was part of the battleship support for the I Scouting Group battlecruisers that attacked Yarmouth and Lowestoft on 24–25 April.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|p=31}} During this operation, the battlecruiser {{lang|de|Seydlitz}} was damaged by a British mine and had to return to port prematurely. Visibility was poor, so the operation was quickly called off before the British fleet could intervene.{{sfn|Tarrant|pp=52–54}}

{{main|Battle of Jutland}}

Scheer immediately planned another attack on the British coast, but the damage to {{lang|de|Seydlitz}} and condenser trouble on several of the III Battle Squadron dreadnoughts delayed the plan until the end of May.{{sfn|Tarrant|pp=56–58}} The German battlefleet departed the Jade at 03:30 on 31 May.{{sfn|Tarrant|p=62}}{{efn|The times mentioned in this section are in CET, which is congruent with the German perspective. This is one hour ahead of GMT, the time zone commonly used in British works.}} {{lang|de|Rheinland}} was assigned to II Division of I Battle Squadron, under the command of Rear Admiral W. Engelhardt. {{lang|de|Rheinland}} was the second ship in the division, astern of {{lang|de|Posen}} and ahead of {{lang|de|Nassau}} and {{SMS|Westfalen||2}}. II Division was the last unit of dreadnoughts in the fleet; they were followed by the elderly pre-dreadnoughts of II Battle Squadron.{{sfn|Tarrant|p=286}}

File:HMS Black Prince.jpg

Between 17:48 and 17:52, 11 German dreadnoughts, including {{lang|de|Rheinland}}, engaged and opened fire on the British 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron, though the range and poor visibility prevented effective fire, which was soon checked.{{sfn|Campbell 1998|p=54}} Some ten minutes later {{lang|de|Rheinland}} again opened fire on the British cruisers, targeting what was most likely {{HMS|Southampton|1912|6}}, though without success.{{sfn|Campbell 1998|p=99}} By 20:15, the German fleet had faced the deployed Grand Fleet for a second time and was forced to turn away; in doing so, the order of the German line was reversed, with {{lang|de|Rheinland}} third from the front, behind {{lang|de|Westfalen}} and {{lang|de|Nassau}}.{{sfn|Tarrant|p=172}} At 21:22, crewmen aboard {{lang|de|Rheinland}} and {{lang|de|Westfalen}}, the two leading ships in the German line, spotted two torpedo tracks that turned out to be imaginary. The ships were then forced to slow down in order to allow the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group to pass ahead.{{sfn|Campbell 1998|p=254}} Around 22:00, {{lang|de|Rheinland}} and {{lang|de|Westfalen}} observed unidentified light forces in the gathering darkness. After flashing a challenge via searchlight that was ignored, the two ships turned away to starboard in order to evade any torpedoes that might have been fired. The rest of I Battle Squadron followed them.{{sfn|Campbell 1998|p=257}}

At about 00:30, the leading units of the German line encountered British destroyers and cruisers. A violent firefight at close range ensued; {{lang|de|Rheinland}} engaged the armored cruiser {{HMS|Black Prince|1904|6}} with her secondary guns at a range of {{cvt|2200|to|2600|m|yd}}. After a few minutes, {{lang|de|Rheinland}} and the rest of the German battleships turned away to avoid torpedoes. At 00:36, {{lang|de|Rheinland}} was hit by a pair of {{cvt|6|in|cm|adj=on}} shells from Black Prince.{{sfn|Campbell 1998|pp=286–287}} One of the shells cut the cables to the four forward searchlights and damaged the forward funnel. The second struck the side of the ship and exploded on the forward armored transverse bulkhead. Although the bulkhead was bent inward from the explosion, it was not penetrated.{{sfn|Campbell 1998|p=303}} About 45 minutes later, {{lang|de|Rheinland}} opened fire on another destroyer, possibly {{HMS|Ardent|1913|2}}, but she had to cease when a German cruiser came too close to the line of fire.{{sfn|Campbell 1998|p=289}} At the same time, Black Prince was obliterated by accurate fire from the battleship {{SMS|Ostfriesland||2}}.{{sfn|Campbell 1998|p=290}}

Despite the ferocity of the night fighting, the High Seas Fleet punched through the British destroyer forces and reached Horns Reef by 04:00 on 1 June.{{sfn|Tarrant|pp=246–247}} The German fleet reached Wilhelmshaven a few hours later, where {{lang|de|Rheinland}} refueled and re-armed. Meanwhile, her three sisters stood out in the roadstead in defensive positions.{{sfn|Tarrant|p=263}} Over the course of the battle, the ship had fired thirty-five 28 cm (11 in) shells and twenty-six 15 cm (5.9 in) rounds.{{sfn|Tarrant|p=292}} The two hits from Black Prince had killed 10 men and wounded 20.{{sfn|Tarrant|p=298}} Repair work followed immediately in Wilhelmshaven and was completed by 10 June.{{sfn|Campbell 1998|p=336}}

Another fleet advance followed on 18–22 August; the I Scouting Group battlecruisers were to bombard the coastal town of Sunderland in an attempt to draw out and destroy Beatty's battlecruisers. As only two of the four German battlecruisers were still in fighting condition, three dreadnoughts were assigned to the Scouting Group for the operation: {{SMS|Markgraf||2}}, {{SMS|Grosser Kurfürst|1913|2}}, and the newly commissioned {{SMS|Bayern||2}}. {{lang|de|Rheinland}} and the rest of the High Seas Fleet were to trail behind and provide cover.{{sfn|Massie|p=682}} The British were aware of the German plans and sortied the Grand Fleet to meet them. By 14:35, Admiral Scheer had been warned of the Grand Fleet's approach and, unwilling to engage the whole of the Grand Fleet just 11 weeks after the decidedly close call at Jutland, turned his forces around and retreated to German ports.{{sfn|Massie|p=683}}

{{lang|de|Rheinland}} covered a sweep by torpedo boats into the North Sea on 25–26 September. The fleet advanced as far as the Dogger Bank on 19–20 October.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|pp=26–27, 31}} The operation led to a brief action on 19 October, during which a British submarine torpedoed the cruiser {{SMS|München||2}}. The failure of the operation (coupled with the action of 19 August) convinced the German naval command to abandon its aggressive fleet strategy in favor of a resumption of the unrestricted submarine warfare campaign.{{sfn|Massie|p=684}} In early 1917, the ship was stationed on sentry duty in the German Bight. The crew became unruly due to poor quality food in July and August of that year. The ship did not take part directly in Operation Albion against the Russians, but remained in the western Baltic to prevent a possible incursion by the British to support their Russian ally.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|p=31}}

File:SMS Westfalen LOC 25466u.jpg

{{main|Invasion of Åland}}

In late 1917, the Grand Duchy of Finland declared independence from the collapsing Russian Empire, but the country quickly devolved into a civil war between the Whites and the Reds. As the latter were being supported by the new Communist government of Soviet Russia, which was still fighting Germany, the German government decided to intervene in Finland to aid the White faction. Rheinland was assigned to a squadron that was to support a German expeditionary force deployed to Finland. The naval unit, commanded by {{lang|de|Konteradmiral}} Hugo Meurer, was assigned three tasks: to seize the island of Åland for use as a forward operating base; transfer the army's Baltic Sea Division to Finland; and to support army operations along the Finnish coast. The squadron, which was named a {{lang|de|Sonderverband}} (special unit), also included {{lang|de|Westfalen}}, the minelaying cruiser {{SMS|Nautilus|1906|2}}, III Sperrbrecher Group, the 9th Minesweeping Half-Flotilla, four torpedo boats, and a number of supporting vessels and transports.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 8|pp=74–76}}

On 23 February, the two battleships took on the 14th Jäger Battalion and a company of bicycle troops, and early on 24 February they departed for Åland. Sweden had previously granted permission for Germany to sail through Swedish territorial waters, but by this time, had revoked the agreement, so the ship had to sail through international waters. Meuer initially intended to land the soldiers near Lemland, but the danger of mines and heavy sea ice forced him to move to Eckerö, despite Swedish objections. Sweden had already sent forces to the island, including a squadron that consisted of coastal defense ships {{HSwMS|Sverige||2}}, {{HSwMS|Thor|1898|2}}, and {{HSwMS|Oscar II||2}}, and they were already in Eckerö when the Germans arrived. Negotiations ensued, which resulted in the landing of the German troops on Åland on 7 March; {{lang|de|Westfalen}} then returned to Danzig, but {{lang|de|Rheinland}} was left at Eckerö.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|p=27}}{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 8|pp=76–77}} She remained there until 10 April.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|p=31}}

On 11 April, the ship departed the Ålands for Helsinki, with the intention of proceeding to Danzig to refuel. However, she encountered heavy fog while en route and ran aground on Lagskär Island at 07:30. Two men were killed in the incident and the ship was badly damaged. Three boiler rooms were flooded and the inner hull was pierced. Refloating efforts on 18–20 April proved unsuccessful. The crew was removed temporarily, to bring the pre-dreadnought {{SMS|Schlesien||2}} back into service. On 8 May, the floating crane {{SMS|Viper|1876|2}} was brought in from Danzig; the main guns, some of the turret armor, and the bow and citadel armor were all removed. The ship was lightened by {{cvt|6400|MT|sp=us}}—more than a third of her normal displacement—and with the aid of pontoons, eventually refloated by 9 July.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|p=31}}{{sfn|Dodson|p=133}} The ship was towed to Mariehamn where some limited repairs were effected.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|pp=31–32}} On 24 July the ship departed for Kiel with the assistance of two tug boats; she arrived there three days later. It was determined that repair work was impractical and instead the ship was decommissioned on 4 October and placed into service as a barracks ship in Kiel.{{sfn|Staff Vol. 1|p=32}}

Following the German collapse in November 1918, a significant portion of the High Seas Fleet was interned in Scapa Flow according to the terms of the Armistice. {{lang|de|Rheinland}} and her three sisters were not among the ships listed for internment, so they remained in German ports.{{sfn|Hore|p=67}} They had their guns disabled, along with the four Helgoland-class battleships. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles that formally ended the war in June 1919, Rheinland and the other dreadnoughts that had remained in Germany were to be surrendered to the Allies under Article 185. Negotiations between the Allies over which country received what vessels, and what those ships could be used for began in November. {{lang|de|Rheinland}} was struck from the German naval list on 5 November in preparation for the transfer. While final decisions were still being made, the Allies decided that the ships in question were to sail to either a British or French port, and accordingly, though Rheinland was not transferred because she was too unseaworthy after her grounding. Instead, she was sold directly to a Dutch shipbreaker on 28 June 1920; she was towed to Dordrecht on 29 August under the contract name "F". {{lang|de|Rheinland}}{{'}}s bell is preserved at the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden.{{sfn|Dodson & Cant|pp=14, 32–35, 39–45, 48, 104}}{{sfn|Gröner|p=24}}

{{notes|notes =}}

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|year=1993

|location=Ratingen

|publisher=Mundus Verlag

| isbn = 978-3-7822-0287-9

|language=de

|name-list-style=amp

|ref={{sfnRef|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 2}}

}}

• {{cite book

| last1 = Hildebrand

| first1 = Hans H.

| last2 = Röhr

| first2 = Albert

| last3 = Steinmetz

| first3 = Hans-Otto

| year = 1993

| title = Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart

| trans-title=The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present

| volume = 7

| publisher = Mundus Verlag

| location = Ratingen

| isbn = 978-3-7822-0267-1

| ref = {{sfnRef|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 7}}

|name-list-style=amp

| language = de

}}

• {{cite book

| last1 = Hildebrand

| first1 = Hans H.

| last2 = Röhr

| first2 = Albert

| last3 = Steinmetz

| first3 = Hans-Otto

| year = 1993

| title = Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart

| trans-title=The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present

| volume = 8

| language = de

| publisher = Mundus Verlag

| location = Ratingen

|name-list-style=amp

| ref = {{sfnRef|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 8}}

}}

• {{cite book

| last = Hore

| first = Peter

| year = 2006

| title = Battleships of World War I

| publisher = Southwater Books

| location = London

| isbn = 978-1-84476-377-1

| ref = {{sfnRef|Hore}}

}}

• {{cite book

| last = Hough

| first = Richard

| author-link = Richard Hough

| year = 2003

| title = Dreadnought: A History of the Modern Battleship

| publisher = Periscope Publishing

| location = Penzance

| isbn = 978-1-904381-11-2

| ref = {{sfnRef|Hough}}

}}

• {{cite book

| last = Massie

| first = Robert K.

| author-link = Robert K. Massie

| year = 2003

| title = Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea

| publisher = Ballantine Books

| location = New York City

| isbn = 978-0-345-40878-5

| ref = {{sfnRef|Massie}}

| title-link = Castles of Steel

}}

• {{cite book

| last = Staff

| first = Gary

| year = 2010

| title = German Battleships: 1914–1918

| volume = 1: Deutschland, Nassau and Helgoland Classes

| publisher = Osprey Books

| location = Oxford

| isbn = 978-1-84603-467-1

| ref ={{sfnRef|Staff Vol. 1}}

}}

• {{cite book

| last = Staff

| first = Gary

| year = 2010

| title = German Battleships: 1914–1918

| volume = 2: Kaiser, König And Bayern Classes

| publisher = Osprey Books

| location = Oxford

| isbn = 978-1-84603-468-8

| ref ={{sfnRef|Staff Vol. 2}}

}}

• {{cite book

| last = Tarrant

| first = V. E.

| year = 2001

| orig-year = 1995

| title = Jutland: The German Perspective

| publisher = Cassell Military Paperbacks

| location = London

| isbn = 978-0-304-35848-9

| ref = {{sfnRef|Tarrant}}

}}

{{Nassau class battleship}}

{{April 1918 shipwrecks}}

{{Featured article}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rheinland}}

Category:Nassau-class battleships

Category:Ships built in Stettin

Category:World War I battleships of Germany

Category:1908 ships

Category:Maritime incidents in 1918