page_title: SMS Preussen (1903)
section_title: 1908–1914
hierarchical_section_title: SMS Preussen (1903) / Service history / 1908–1914
caption_attribution_description: Original file: 1. und 2. Geschwader und kleine Kreuzer im Kieler Hafen. First and second battleship squadrons and small cruisers of the German Navy, in Kiel Harbor, Germany, circa 1911-14., ca. 1919 - ca. 1919 Author Koch, K., Photographer (NARA record: 1921118)Record creatorWar Department. (1789 - 09/18/1947)Title 1. und 2. Geschwader und kleine Kreuzer im Kieler Hafen. First and second battleship squadrons and small cruisers of the German Navy, in Kiel Harbor, Germany, circa 1911-14., ca. 1919 - ca. 1919Description General notes: Use War and Conflict Number 486 when ordering a reproduction or requesting information about this image.Date before 1916 date QS:P571,+1916-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P1326,+1916-00-00T00:00:00Z/9, probably pre-1914Collection National Archives at College Park &#160;&#160;Native nameNational Archives and Records AdministrationParent institutionNational Archives and Records AdministrationLocationCollege ParkCoordinates39°&#160;00′&#160;03.6″&#160;N, 76°&#160;57′&#160;34.7″&#160;W Established1994Web pagewww.archives.gov/college-parkAuthority control : Q38945047 ISNI:&#8201;0000 0001 1387 280X NAID:&#8201;10048491 institution QS:P195,Q38945047 Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S)Record ID This media is available in the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 533188. This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing. English&#160;| Español&#160;| Français&#160;| Italiano&#160;| Македонски&#160;| മലയാളം&#160;| Nederlands&#160;| Polski&#160;| Português&#160;| Русский&#160;| Slovenščina&#160;| Türkçe&#160;| Українська&#160;| Tiếng Việt&#160;| 中文（简体）&#160;| 中文（繁體）&#160;| +/− Record group&#58; Record Group 165: Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs, 1860 - 1952 (National Archives Identifier&#58; 494 ) Series&#58; Photographs of Gulf Oil Company Oil Towns and Camps in Mexico, compiled 1921 - 1921 (National Archives Identifier&#58; 533187 ) NAIL Control Number: NWDNS-165-GP-3001 165-GP-3001Source U.S. National Archives and Records AdministrationOther versions Please do not overwrite this file: any restoration work should be uploaded with a new name and linked in this page's "other versions=" parameter, so that this file represents the exact file found in the NARA catalog record to which it links. The metadata on this page was imported directly from NARA's catalog record; additional descriptive text may be added by Wikimedians to the template below with the "description=" parameter, but please do not modify the other fields. (Note: Editors who post this notice are strongly encouraged to add details explaining how it applies to this file.) The metadata on this page was imported directly from NARA's catalog record; additional descriptive text may be added by Wikimedians to the template below with the "Description=" parameter, but please do not modify the other fields. Please help us by reporting errors! This may include misidentifications, erroneous images, typos in the metadata, possible copyright issues, and poor-quality images needing rescanning. (Be aware that, for documentary purposes, NARA often retains the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, or even misspelled.) General notes: Use War and Conflict Number 486 when ordering a reproduction or requesting information about this image.
context_page_description: SMS Preussen was the fourth of five pre-dreadnought battleships of the Braunschweig class, built for the German Kaiserliche Marine. She was laid down in April 1902, was launched in October 1903, and was commissioned in July 1905. Named for the state of Prussia, the ship was armed with a battery of four 28 cm guns and had a top speed of 18 knots. Like all pre-dreadnoughts built at the turn of the century, Preussen was quickly made obsolete by the launching of the revolutionary HMS Dreadnought in 1906; as a result, she saw only limited service with the German fleet.
  Preussen's peacetime career centered on squadron and fleet exercises and training cruises to foreign ports. The ship served as the flagship of II Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet for the majority of her career. During World War I, she served as a guard ship in the German Bight and later in the Danish straits. She participated in a fleet sortie in December 1914 in support of the Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby during which the German fleet briefly clashed with a detachment of the British Grand Fleet.
context_section_description: The fleet conducted training exercises in the Baltic in February 1908. Prince Heinrich, then the commander of the High Seas Fleet, had pressed for such a cruise the previous year, arguing that it would prepare the fleet for overseas operations and would break up the monotony of training in German waters, though tensions with Britain over the developing Anglo-German naval arms race were high. The fleet departed Kiel on 17 July, passed through the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal to the North Sea, and continued to the Atlantic. During the cruise, Preussen visited Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. The fleet returned to Germany on 13 August. The autumn maneuvers followed from 27 August to 12 September. Later that year, the fleet toured coastal German cities as part of an effort to increase public support for naval expenditures.
  In early 1909, Preussen and the battleships Pommern and Schleswig-Holstein were sent to break paths in the sea ice off the coast of Holstein for merchant shipping. Another cruise into the Atlantic was conducted from 7 July to 1 August, during which Preussen stopped in El Ferrol, Spain. On the way back to Germany, the High Seas Fleet was received by the British Royal Navy in Spithead. Later that year, Admiral Henning von Holtzendorff became the fleet commander. Holtzendorff's tenure as fleet commander was marked by strategic experimentation, owing to the increased threat the latest underwater weapons posed and the fact that the new Nassau-class battleships were too wide to pass through the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal. Accordingly, the fleet was transferred from the Baltic Sea port of Kiel to the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven on 1 April 1910.
  In May 1910, the fleet conducted training maneuvers in the Kattegat. These were in accordance with Holtzendorff's strategy, which envisioned drawing the Royal Navy into the narrow waters there. The annual summer cruise was to Norway, and was followed by fleet training, during which another fleet review was held in Danzig on 29 August. After the conclusion of the maneuvers, Schröder was promoted to chief of the Marinestation der Ostsee (Naval Station of the Baltic Sea), his place aboard Preussen being taken by VAdm Friedrich von Ingenohl. A training cruise into the Baltic followed at the end of the year. In March 1911, the fleet held exercises in the Skagerrak and Kattegat, and the year's autumn maneuvers were confined to the Baltic and the Kattegat. Another fleet review was held during the exercises for a visiting Austro-Hungarian delegation that included Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Admiral Rudolf Montecuccoli.
  In mid-1912, due to the Agadir Crisis, the summer cruise was confined to the Baltic, to avoid exposing the fleet during the period of heightened tension with Britain and France. On 30 January 1913, Holtzendorff was relieved as the fleet commander, owing in large part due to Wilhelm II's displeasure with his strategic vision; Ingenohl took Holtzendorff's place, and KAdm Reinhard Scheer in turn replaced Ingenohl as II Squadron commander on 4 February. In late August, the squadron steamed through the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal at the start of the autumn maneuvers to reach the island of Helgoland; the voyage through the canal was notable, because the canal had been closed for over a year while it was enlarged to allow the passage of larger dreadnought battleships. Preussen went into dry dock in November for periodic maintenance, and as a result, missed training exercises conducted that month.
  Preussen participated in ceremonies at Sonderburg on 2 May to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Dybbøl of the Second Schleswig War; she was joined by her sister ships Hessen and Lothringen, the battleship Schlesien, and the armored cruiser Blücher. The ship was present during the fleet cruise to Norway in July 1914, which was cut short by the July Crisis following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand the month before and subsequent rise in international tensions. On 25 July the ship's crew was made aware of Austria-Hungary's ultimatum to Serbia; Preussen left Norway to ren
caption: I (foreground) and II Squadrons (background) in Kiel
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