70426 - Battleship SMS Markgraf, 1914, 1/700

SMS Markgraf was a König class battleship of the Deutschen Kaiserlichen Marine (German Imperial Navy) of World War I. She was named in honor of one of the titles of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, since in addition to being the Emperor of Germany he was also the King of Prussia and the Margrave (Markgraf in German) of Brandenburg.

The outbreak of World War I saw the Markgraf undertake operations in the North Sea and cover the battlecruiser bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft on 25 April 1916.

As part of the German High Seas Fleet's Third Battle Squadron under Rear-Admiral Paul Behncke, she took part in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where she received five hits that slightly damaged her and killed 11 of her crew. Repairs took a month in Hamburg and afterwards the Markgraf went on several operations in both the North Sea and the Baltic.

In October 1917, during Operation Albion, a naval operation against the Imperial Russian Navy near the Baltic Islands of Osel and Dagö (now Saaremaa and Hiiumaa), the Markgraf struck a mine and was slightly damaged. It was during this action that her sister ship SMS König sank the Russian pre-dreadnought Slava.

Interned after the end of World War I at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, she was scuttled there by her crew on 21 June 1919, together with the entire German High Seas Fleet. The Markgraf sank at 1645 hrs. A group of Royal Marines, while trying to prevent the scuttling killed her captain, Walter Schumann, and the First Officer, Hermann Dittman. They were among the last German casualties of the World War I.

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