page_title: SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm
section_title: 1901–1910
hierarchical_section_title: SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm / Service history / In German service / 1901–1910
caption_attribution_description: German pre-dreadnought battleship Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm sometime before 1903
context_page_description: SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm was one of the first ocean-going battleships of the German Kaiserliche Marine. The ship was named for Prince-elector Friedrich Wilhelm, 17th-century Duke of Prussia and Margrave of Brandenburg. She was the fourth pre-dreadnought of the Brandenburg class, along with her sister ships Brandenburg, Weissenburg, and Wörth. She was laid down in 1890 in the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven, launched in 1891, and completed in 1893. The Brandenburg-class battleships carried six large-caliber guns in three twin turrets, as opposed to four guns in two turrets, as was the standard in other navies.
  Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm served as the flagship of the Imperial fleet from her commissioning in 1894 until 1900. She saw limited active duty during her service career with the German fleet due to the relatively peaceful nature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As a result, her career focused on training exercises and goodwill visits to foreign ports. These training maneuvers were nevertheless very important to developing German naval tactical doctrine in the two decades before World War I, especially under the direction of Alfred von Tirpitz.
context_section_description: Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm went to Kiel after returning from the expedition to China, where on 14 August KAdm Fischel raised his flag aboard the ship. She was assigned to I Squadron as the second command flagship for the annual autumn maneuvers. These exercises were interrupted by the visit from Nicholas II of Russia, who came aboard Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm. After the maneuvers, Fischel was replaced by KAdm Curt von Prittwitz und Gaffron on 24 October. In late 1901, the fleet went on a cruise to Norway, during which Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm stopped in Oslo. During the months of December, January, and February, the ship was in drydock for major repair work.
  The pattern of training for 1902 remained unchanged from previous years; I Squadron went on a major training cruise that started on 25 April. The squadron initially steamed to Norwegian waters, then rounded the northern tip of Scotland, and stopped in Irish waters. The ships returned to Kiel on 28 May. Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm then participated in the annual autumn maneuvers, after which she was decommissioned, with the new battleship Wittelsbach taking her place as second command flagship. The four Brandenburg class battleships were taken out of service for a major reconstruction. The work to Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm was done at the Kaiserliche Werft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven. The work included increasing the ship's coal storage capacity and adding a pair of 10.5 cm guns. The plans had initially called for the center 28 cm turret to be replaced with an armored battery of medium-caliber guns, but this proved to be prohibitively expensive. Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm was the last ship of her class to complete her reconstruction, which was finished on 14 December 1905.
  On 1 January 1906 she was assigned to II Squadron and served as the flagship of first KAdm Henning von Holtzendorff, and then during the autumn maneuvers of KAdm Adolf Paschen. The fleet conducted its normal routine of individual and unit training, interrupted only by a cruise to Norway from mid-July to early August. The annual autumn maneuvers occurred as usual. Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm served as the second command flagship in I Squadron of the newly created High Seas Fleet, but at the end of the 1906 training year, she was removed from active duty and her place was taken by the new battleship Pommern.
  Beginning on 1 October 1907, Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm was assigned to the Reserve Squadron in the North Sea, which had been created in early 1907 to train new crews. Her three sister ships joined her in this unit; their duties typically consisted of training cruises in the North Sea. From 5 to 25 April, she operated with the Training Squadron with its flagship Vineta. In September, the Reserve Squadron contributed vessels to the autumn maneuvers; Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm served as the Reserve Squadron flagship, with the coastal defense ships Ägir and Frithjof, the minelaying cruisers Nautilus and Albatross, and the old avisos Blitz, Pfeil, and Zieten. The Squadron was organized in Cuxhaven and joined the High Seas Fleet in the German Bight on 8 September. They participated in the main series of exercises off Heligoland, and the squadron was dissolved when the maneuvers ended on 12 September.
  After completing her annual winter overhaul, Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm returned to the Reserve Squadron in January 1909. Starting on 27 March, she operated with the Training Squadron again, the flagship of which was now the armored cruiser Friedrich Carl. Between 30 March and 24 April, she cruised in the central Baltic and in the waters around Rügen. She and the rest of the Reserve Squadron joined the autumn maneuvers in August and the battleship Schwaben replaced Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm as the flagship of the Reserve Squadron. Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm was then transferred to the VII Division in the Reserve Squadron. She continued in this routine in early 1910; she operated with the Training Squadron from 4 to 29 April and cruised in the Skagerrak and the western Baltic. The battleship was scheduled 
caption: Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm at anchor circa 1903
exif: {}