 Following the German defeat in World War I, the German navy, reorganized as the Reichsmarine, was permitted to retain three of the Deutschland-class battleships: Hannover, Schleswig-Holstein and Schlesien, along with several of the Braunschweig-class battleships. Deutschland, the oldest and least advanced ship of the class, was instead scrapped in 1922. Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein were modernized in the 1920s, a process that included replacement of the ships' 17 cm guns with 15 cm (5.9 in) pieces. Schlesien and Schleswig-Holstein continued in their battleship configuration with the active fleet, while Hannover was intended to be rebuilt as a target ship, although this never occurred.
