 The ships of the Bussard class all differed slightly in their characteristics. The first two ships, Bussard and Falke, were 79.62 meters (261.2 ft) long at the waterline and 82.60 m (271.0 ft) long overall. They had a beam of 12.50 m (41.0 ft) and a draft of 4.45 m (14.6 ft) forward and 5.63 m (18.5 ft) aft. They displaced 1,559 metric tons (1,534 long tons) as designed and up to 1,868 t (1,838 long tons) at full combat load. The next three ships, Seeadler, Condor, and Cormoran, were 79.62 m (261.2 ft) long at the waterline and had the same overall length as their earlier sister ships. They had a beam of 12.70 m (41.7 ft) and a draft of 4.42 m (14.5 ft) forward and 5.35 m (17.6 ft) aft. They displaced 1,612 t (1,587 long tons) as designed and 1,864 t (1,835 long tons) at full load. The last ship, Geier, was 79.62 m long at the waterline and 83.90 m (275.3 ft) long overall. She had a beam of 10.60 m (34.8 ft) and a draft of 4.74 m (15.6 ft) forward and 5.22 m (17.1 ft) aft.
