SMS Westfalen was a Nassau-class battleship of the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I. The Nassau-class battleships were the first dreadnoughts of the German Navy and were built in response to the Dreadnought itself. Construction was carried out by AG Weser in Bremen. The keel was laid on 12 August 1907, the ship was launched on 1 July 1908, and commissioned on 16 November 1909. She had six turrets, each mounting two 28 cm guns, arranged in a hexagonal pattern on the ship. This meant that one turret was positioned forward and one aft on the centreline, with two more on each side amidships. This arrangement was necessary due to her engine system, which was still based on piston propulsion and required considerable space in the hull.
Westfalen, along with her sister ships, actively participated in World War I, initially in the Baltic Sea and later in the North Sea. SMS Westfalen took part with all her sister ships in the Battle of Skagerrak, where she was part of the I Battle Squadron under Admiral Scheer, and suffered only minor damage from 4-inch artillery fire from British destroyers. On 11 August 1918, a serious accident occurred when SMS Westfalen, along with three other battleships, was supposed to cover an attack by landing craft and torpedo boats on Finland. She ran aground in a fog bank, causing water to enter the hull and damage the engines, resulting in a significant loss of power. She was used as an artillery training ship until the end of the war, when she was decommissioned on 18 December 1918, as she was considered obsolete. However, there were still hopes of using her in the German Navy after the war. Following the scuttling of most of the battleships at Scapa Flow, SMS Westfalen was also surrendered to the victorious Allied powers under the Treaty of Versailles and was sent to Great Britain. She was scrapped at Birkenhead in 1924.
SMS Westfalen was introduced in Update 2.1 "New Power" and is depicted in her 1916 configuration. The ship is a typical example of the first generation of dreadnoughts: virtually no anti-aircraft defences, low speed, but relatively good protection and a relatively high rate of fire for a battleship.
