German Kriegsmarine Battleship Schlesien Stickpin

Very well made gilt Tombac and multi-colored enamel stickpin for the Battleship Schlesien (Linienschhiff Schlesien). The shield measures 19mm tall and is inlaid with red and black enamel depicting the Silesian eagle. The reverse is marked A.DREYER FAHNENFABRIK. HILDESHEIM. The 50mm knurled pin is attached with a plate.

SMS Schlesien was one of five Deutschland-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) between 1904 and 1906. Named after the German province of Silesia, Schlesien was laid down at the Schichau-Werke shipyard in Danzig on 19 November 1904, launched on 28 May 1906, and commissioned on 5 May 1908. She was armed with a battery of four 28 cm (11 in) guns and had a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). From 21 to 27 September 1939 she was used to bombard Polish artillery positions around Hel and Jastarnia.

As Germany began to prepare for war with the Soviet Union in early 1941, Schlesien was reactivated on 30 April to protect minelayers along with Schleswig-Holstein as they laid a series of minefields in the Baltic to prevent the Soviet Baltic Fleet from attempting to break out to Britain. On 2 May, she was ordered to protect the Peenebrücke Wolgast [de] bridge that connected Wolgast and the island of Usedom. Early on the morning of 3 May 1945, while steaming south of Greifswalder Oie, she struck a British air-dropped naval mine; the explosion killed two men and caused significant flooding.