Siegfried - class coastal defense ship The " Siegfried " class was a group of six coastal defense ships built by the German " Kaiserliche Marine " ( " Imperial Navy " ) in the late 19th century . The ships were intended to protect the German coastline from naval attacks . The class comprised the lead ship , along with her sisters , , , , and . All six ships were named after Norse mythological figures . Two further vessels , the , were built to a similar design but were not identical . The " Siegfried " - class ships were obsolete by the outbreak of World War I , and saw only limited service in their intended role before they were withdrawn from active duty . The ships then served in a variety of secondary duties , including barracks ships , target ships , and in the case of " Beowulf " , an icebreaker in the Baltic Sea . All six ships were struck from the naval register on 17 June 1919 , days before the Treaty of Versailles was signed . Five of the ships were sold for scrapping immediately after they were struck from the register , but " Frithjof " was purchased by a shipping company , and converted into a freighter . She served in this capacity until she too was scrapped in 1930 . Design . General characteristics . The ships of the " Siegfried " class were long at the waterline and long overall . The ships had a beam of and a draft of between forward and aft . All six ships were heavily rebuilt , each undergoing refits at various times between 1898 and 1904 . During the rebuilding , the ships were lengthened , to at the waterline and overall . The ships ' beams remained the same , but their draft was slightly decreased , to forward and aft . The ships had a designed displacement of , and a maximum displacement of . After the reconstruction , the displacement was increased to between , depending on the ship . The ships used transverse and longitudinal steel frames in the hull . They had eight watertight compartments and a double bottom that ran for 60 % of the hull . After the refits , one more watertight compartment was added . The ships were described as good sea boats ; they had gentle motion and were very responsive to commands from the helm . The ships lost significant speed in heavy seas , however . The ships had a crew of 20 officers and 256 enlisted men , with an additional 6 officers and 22 men when serving as a flagship . The refit increased crew requirements , to an additional 31 sailors normally , and the extra flagship crew increased to 9 officers and 34 men . The ships carried a number of smaller boats , including one picket boat , one pinnace , two cutters , one yawl , and one dinghy . Propulsion . The ships were powered by two sets of 3 - cylinder triple expansion engines , each in its own engine room . These engines drove a pair of three - bladed screws that were in diameter . The ships had eight marine type boilers , with the exception of " Hagen " , which was equipped with eight Thornycroft boilers . The ships had similar maximum speeds , with " Beowulf " the fastest at and " Heimdall " the slowest at . Each ship had three electric generators that provided between 29 – 26 kilowatts at 67 volts . The ships stored up to of coal and of fuel oil , which enabled a range of at a cruising speed of . At , the ships could only steam . With the refit , fuel bunkerage was more than doubled , to of coal and of oil . This dramatically increased the sailing range , to at 10 knots and at 14 knots . Armament . The ships ' primary armament consisted of three K L / 35 guns . In an arrangement very unusual for such large guns , two of which were mounted in a pair of MPL C / 88 turrets forward side - by - side , while the third was mounted in a single turret aft . The guns could train 150 degrees to either side of the centerline , and depress to −4 degrees and elevate to 25 degrees . This enabled a maximum range of . The guns had an ammunition storage of 204 rounds , or 68 shells per gun . The guns had a rate of fire of around 2 shells per minute . The 1895 design for the armor piercing shell weighed . The ships also had a secondary battery of eight SK L / 30 guns with 1 , 500 rounds of ammunition , though " Siegfried " only had six of these guns . After the refit , this was increased to ten 8 . 8 cm guns , and the munition storage correspondingly increased to 2 , 500 rounds . The 8 . 8 cm gun fired a projectile at a muzzle velocity of 590 m / s ( 1 , 936 m / s ) . The guns could sustain a rate of fire of approximately 15 rounds per minute . Six machine gun s were temporarily fitted . The ships were also equipped with four torpedo tubes . One tube was mounted in the stern in an above - water swivel mount , two were placed laterally , also above water , and the fourth was in the bow . The torpedo tubes were supplied with a total of 10 torpedoes . After the refit , the stern and lateral tubes were replaced with weapons , but the lateral torpedo tubes were submerged . They had 8 torpedoes between them . The bow tube was retained , but also moved below the waterline ; it had three torpedoes . Armor . The ships ' armor consisted of compound steel for the first three ships and Krupp armor for the last three , coupled with teak . The upper section of the main armored belt was thick in the central portion of the ship and reduced to at either end . This was mounted on of timber . The lower section of the belt was thick in the central area , and on the bow and stern . This portion of the armored belt was mounted on of timber . The main armored deck was thick , though on " Hagen " and " Heimdall " this was increased to . The conning tower had a roof that was thick and sides that were thick ; the armor protection on the conning tower sides was also increased on " Hagen " and " Heimdall " , to . Construction . The six ships of the " Siegfried " class were built by a combination of private and government shipyards . " Siegfried " was laid down at the Germaniawerft dockyard in Kiel in 1888 . The ship was ordered as the coast defense ship " O " under construction number 44 . She was launched on 10 August 1889 and commissioned into the fleet on 29 April 1890 . " Beowulf " was built at AG Weser in Bremen from 1890 to 1892 . She had been ordered as " P " , under construction number 100 . " Beowulf " was launched on 8 November 1890 and commissioned on 1 April 1892 . " Frithjof " was also built at AG Weser , under construction number 101 and the provisional name " Q " . She was launched on 21 July 1891 and commissioned into active service on 23 February 1893 . " Heimdall " , " Hildebrand " , and " Hagen " were all built at Imperial Navy dockyards , with " Heimdall " at the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven and the latter two at the Kaiserliche Werft Kiel . " Heimdall " was laid down in 1891 under construction number 14 and the provisional name " U " ; she was launched on 27 July 1892 and commissioned on 7 April 1894 . " Hildebrand " and " Hagen " were ordered as " R " and " S " , respectively . " Hildebrand " was laid down in 1890 , launched on 6 August 1892 , and commissioned on 28 October 1893 . " Hagen " , the last ship of the class , was laid down in 1891 , launched on 21 October 1893 , and completed on 2 October 1894 . Service history . The ships of the " Siegfried " class saw only limited service in their intended roles . The revolutions in capital ship building in the first decade of the 20th century rapidly made these ships obsolete . The Second Naval Law , passed on 27 March 1908 , reduced the service life of all capital ships from 25 years to 20 years . This meant that the " Siegfried " - class ships , along with a number of other vessels , were to be replaced as soon as possible . " Siegfried " , " Beowulf " , and " Frithjof " were replaced by the s , , and . " Heimdall " , " Hildebrand " , and " Hagen " were replaced by the s , , and , respectively . As the new battleships were intended for offensive operations , the " Siegfried " class was still retained for coast defense duties . The ships served in this capacity through the start of World War I , until they were withdrawn from active service in 1915 . Afterward , all six ships served in a variety of secondary roles , primarily as barracks ships . All six ships were struck from the naval register on 17 June 1919 , shortly before the Treaty of Versailles , which ended the First World War , was signed . " Siegfried " was a barracks ship in Wilhelmshaven from 1916 . She was intended to be rebuilt as a salvage ship , but this plan was abandoned and the vessel was sold to H . Peters , Wewelsfleth in 1919 for 425 , 000 marks . She was broken up in 1920 in Kiel . " Beowulf " served as a target ship for U - boat s from 1916 to 1918 , when she transitioned to ice - breaking duty in the Baltic Sea . " Frithjof " was a barracks ship in Danzig after 1916 . Following her removal from navy service , she was sold to A Bernstein in Hamburg . She was rebuilt as a freighter by Deutsche Werke , and served in this capacity until she was broken up in 1930 . She was the longest serving " Siegfried " - class ship . " Heimdall " was a barracks ship for the crews of U - boats and the Ems coast defense flotilla based in Emden . Like " Siegfried " , " Heimdall " was intended to be reconstructed as a salvage ship , and this was likewise abandoned . She was broken up for scrap metal in 1921 . " Hildebrand " was a barracks ship in Windau after she was removed from active duty . She was sold to a Dutch ship - breaking firm in 1919 , but while en route to the scrapyard , she became grounded on the Dutch coast . The wreck was blown up in 1933 , and eventually scrapped in situ . " Hagen " was a barracks ship in Libau , Danzig , and Warnemünde during the remainder of World War I . She was sold for scrapping to Norddeutsche Tiefbauges after the end of the war .