German Pre-Dreadnought Battleship SMS Kaiser Wilhelm II

SMS Kaiser Wilhelm II was the second ship of the Kaiser Friedrich III-class of pre-dreadnought battleships built for the German Imperial Navy. Named after Emperor Wilhelm II, she served primarily in the early 20th century as a fleet flagship and later in support and training roles.

SMS Kaiser Wilhelm II was built at the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven. Her keel was laid down in 1897, she was launched on 14 September 1899, and commissioned on 13 February 1902.

Service History

After commissioning, Kaiser Wilhelm II took over as flagship of the German fleet (the Heimatflotte), a position she held from 1902 until 1906. As flagship, she was involved in numerous training cruises, fleet manoeuvres, and international visits, symbolizing the growing power and prestige of the German Navy under Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz’s naval expansion policy.

Despite being a prestigious ship in her early career, the launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 rendered all pre-dreadnoughts including Kaiser Wilhelm II effectively obsolete. She was replaced as fleet flagship by more modern ships and was transferred to secondary duties.

In 1908, she was decommissioned and placed in reserve, though she continued to be used periodically for training and gunnery practice.

World War I

During World War I, Kaiser Wilhelm II and her sisters (SMS Kaiser Friedrich III, SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, SMS Kaiser Karl der Grosse and SMS Kaiser Barbarossa) were brought out of reserve and mobilized as V Battle Squadron on 5 August 1914; Kaiser Wilhelm II served as the flagship of the squadron. She later served as a headquarters and accommodation ship, based in Wilhelmshaven. After the war, in January 1920, she was formally stricken from the naval register, in line with the disarmament terms imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles. SMS Kaiser Wilhelm II was sold for scrap in 1921 and broken up in Rüstringen.

Displacement	Normal: 11,097 t (10,922 long tons) Full load: 11,785 t (11,599 long tons)
Length	125.3 m (411 ft 1 in)
Beam	20.4 m (66 ft 11 in)
Draft	7.89 m (25 ft 11 in)
Installed power	12 × water-tube boilers 12,822 ihp (9,561 kW)
Propulsion	3 × triple-expansion steam engines 3 × screw propellers
Speed	17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph)
Range	3,420 nmi (6,330 km; 3,940 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	39 officers 612 enlisted men
Armament	4 × 24 cm (9.45 in) 40  cal guns 18 × 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/40 guns 12 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/30 guns 12 × 3.7 cm (1.5 in) machine cannon 6 × 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt: 300 to 150 mm (11.81 to 5.91 in) Deck: 65 mm (2.56 in) Conning Tower: 250 mm (9.84 in) Turrets: 250 mm (9.84 in) Casemates: 150 mm (5.91 in)