SMS Kaiser Wilhelm II SMS " Kaiser Wilhelm II " ( " His Majesty ' s Ship Emperor William II " ) was the second ship of the of pre - dreadnought battleship s . She was built at the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven and launched 14 September 1897 . The ship was completed 7 October 1898 and commissioned into the fleet as flagship on 4 February 1902 . The ship was armed with a main battery of four guns in two twin turrets . She was powered by triple expansion engines that delivered a top speed of . " Kaiser Wilhelm II " served as the flagship of the High Seas Fleet until 1906 , when she was replaced by the new battleship . After the new dreadnought battleship s began entering service in 1910 , " Kaiser Wilhelm II " was decommissioned and put into reserve . With the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , she and her sisters were brought back into active duty as coastal defense ships in the V Battle Squadron . Due to her age , however , she was withdrawn from this role in early 1915 , after which she served as a command ship for the commander of the High Seas Fleet . Following the end of the war in November 1918 , " Kaiser Wilhelm II " was stricken from the navy list and sold for scrap in the early 1920s . Her bow ornament is preserved at the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden . Construction . " Kaiser Wilhelm II " s keel was laid in 1896 , at the Kaiserliche Werft in Wilhelmshaven , under construction number 24 . She was ordered under the contract name " Ersatz Friedrich der Grosse " , to replace the elderly armored frigate . " Kaiser Wilhelm II " was launched on 14 September 1897 and commissioned on 13 February 1900 . The ship was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of forward and aft . The ship was powered by three 3 - cylinder vertical triple expansion engines that drove three screws . Steam was provided by four Marine - type and eight cylindrical boilers . " Kaiser Wilhelm II " s powerplant was rated at , which generated a top speed of . " Kaiser Wilhelm II " s armament consisted of a main battery of four 24 cm ( 9 . 4 in ) SK L / 40 guns in twin gun turret s , one fore and one aft of the central superstructure . Her secondary armament consisted of eighteen 15 cm ( 5 . 9 inch ) SK L / 40 guns and twelve 8 . 8 cm ( 3 . 45 in ) SK L / 30 quick - firing guns . The armament suite was rounded out with six 45 cm torpedo tubes , all in above - water swivel mounts . Service history . When " Kaiser Wilhelm II " was commissioned into the fleet in 1900 , she assumed the position of fleet flagship ; she held this position until 1906 . " Kaiser Wilhelm II " was assigned to the I Squadron of the " Heimatflotte " ( Home Fleet ) , where she was joined by her sister - ships . At 01 : 30 on 2 January 1901 , " Kaiser Wilhelm II " s sister ship struck an underwater obstacle while the two ships were steaming from Danzig to Kiel . The shock from the collision damaged the ship ' s boilers and started a fire in the coal bunkers . " Kaiser Wilhelm II " took her sister in tow , although after a period of time , the engines on " Kaiser Friedrich III " were restarted . The ships reached Kiel , where temporary repairs were conducted . In September 1902 , extensive fleet maneuvers were conducted in the Baltic and North Sea . " Kaiser Wilhelm II " didn ' t actively take part in the exercises ; she instead served as an observation ship for the commander of the fleet , as well as her namesake , Kaiser Wilhelm II . In 1905 , " Kaiser Wilhelm II " was assigned to the II Division of the I Squadron , alongside her sister - ship and the newer battleship ; the " Heimatflotte " at that time consisted of another division of three battleships in the I Squadron and two more three - ship divisions in the II Squadron . This was supported by a cruiser division composed of two armored cruiser s and six protected cruiser s . In 1906 , " Kaiser Wilhelm II " was replaced as fleet flagship by the new battleship . The ship served with the active fleet for ten years , by which time the new dreadnought s were beginning to come into service . " Kaiser Wilhelm II " was then decommissioned and placed into reserve . While the ship was in reserve , she was assigned to the V Squadron of the Reserve Fleet , along with her four sister ships and the battleship . World War I . At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , " Kaiser Wilhelm II " and her sisters were brought out of reserve and mobilized as the V Battle Squadron . They were tasked with coastal defense , though they served in this capacity for a very short time . In February 1915 , they were again withdrawn from service . Thereafter , " Kaiser Wilhelm II " was converted into a floating headquarters for the commander of the High Seas Fleet in Wilhelmshaven . The ship had its wireless equipment modernized for use by the commander when the fleet was in port . According to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of the war , the German navy was significantly reduced in strength . As a result , " Kaiser Wilhelm II " was stricken from the navy list on 17 March 1921 and sold to shipbreakers . By 1922 , " Kaiser Wilhelm II " and her sisters had been broken up for scrap metal . The ship ' s bow ornament is preserved at the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden . Notes . Footnotes Citations References . Books Journals