"Weissenburg", named for the Battle of Weissenburg of 1870, was long overall, had a beam of which was increased to with the addition of torpedo nets, and had a draft of forward and aft. She displaced as designed and up to at full combat load. She was equipped with two sets of 3-cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engines that each drove a screw propeller. Steam was provided by twelve transverse cylindrical Scotch marine boilers. The ship's propulsion system was rated at and a top speed of . She had a maximum range of at a cruising speed of . Her crew numbered 38 officers and 530 enlisted men.