SMS Oldenburg ( 1884 ) SMS " Oldenburg " was an armored warship of the German Imperial Navy . Laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin in 1883 , the ship was launched in December 1884 and commissioned into the Navy in April 1886 . " Oldenburg " was intended to have been a fifth member of the of sortie corvettes , but budgetary limitations and dissatisfaction with the " Sachsen " class prompted a redesign that bore little resemblance to the earlier vessels . " Oldenburg " mounted her main battery of eight guns amidships , six in a central casemate on the main deck and two directly above them on the broadside . She was the first German capital ship constructed entirely from German - made steel . " Oldenburg " did not see significant service with the German Navy . She participated in fleet training maneuvers in the late - 1880s and early 1890s , but she spent the majority of the 1890s in reserve . Her only major deployment came in 1897 – 1898 when she joined an international naval demonstration to protest the Greek annexation of Crete . In 1900 , she was withdrawn from active duty and used as a harbor defense ship . From 1912 to 1919 , she was used by the High Seas Fleet as a target ship ; she was sold for scrapping in 1919 and broken up that year . Design . " Oldenburg " was intended to be a fifth member of the of sortie corvettes . The design for the ship was radically altered , between 1879 and 1881 , for a variety of reasons . The German Navy was largely dissatisfied with the " Sachsen " class ships , and a number of design faults required correction . Budgetary constraints also limited the design of the ship , forcing the design staff to work within a displacement some lower than that of the " Sachsen " s . Assessment of the design is mixed ; naval historian Erich Gröner states that " Oldenburg " was an " experimental design , of no real value in combat . " " Conway ' s All the World ' s Fighting Ships " concurs , stating that " Oldenburg " was " considered to be of little fighting value by the time she was completed . " The 1889 edition of the " Brassey ' s Naval Annual " reported a contradictory opinion , however , stating that " The majority of German naval critics are dissatisfied to a greater or less extent with all of these vessels , the , , , and " Oldenburg " excepted . " General characteristics . " Oldenburg " was long at the waterline and long overall . She had a beam of and a draft of forward and aft . At the designed displacement , the vessel displaced . When the ship was fully loaded , she displaced . Her hull was built with transverse and longitudinal steel frames ; iron was used for the stem and stern . The ship had twelve watertight compartments and a double bottom that ran for 60 percent of the length of the hull . " Oldenburg " was the first German capital ships built entirely from German - made steel . The German navy regarded " Oldenburg " as an adequate sea boat , though she suffered from significant pitching . As a result of her tendency to pitch severely , a ballast was permanently installed in the bow . She also lost a great deal of speed in heavy seas ; at conditions above Beaufort sea state 6 , this could be up to a 25 percent loss of speed . The ship could not operate under severe weather conditions . Her transverse metacentric height was . Her standard complement consisted of 34 officers and 355 enlisted men , though her crew was later reorganized to 32 officers and 40 enlisted sailors . She carried a number of smaller boats , including one picket boat , one launch , two pinnace s , two cutters , two yawls , and one dinghy . Machinery . " Oldenburg " was powered by two horizontal 4 - cylinder double expansion steam engines in separate engine roomes ; the two engines each drove a three - bladed screw in diameter . Steam was provided to the engines by eight transverse cylinder boilers , divided into two boiler rooms . Each boiler was equipped with three fireboxes , for a total of 24 , which operated at up to forced . The engines were designed to operate at for a top speed of . On speed trials , her engines slightly exceeded the designed horsepower , at , though " Oldenburg " made only . The ship was designed to store of coal , though she could accommodate up to . An additional of coal could be stored on her deck . At a cruising speed of , " Oldenburg " could steam for . Increasing her speed by one knot reduced her range to , and at , she could cruise for only . Steering was controlled by a single rudder . She was equipped with three electrical generators with a total output of 29 kilowatts at 65 volts . Armament and armor . " Oldenburg " carried eight L / 30 hooped guns in an unusual configuration : six guns on the main deck , one on each broadside , four in embrasure s at each corner of the central battery to give a measure of end - on fire , and two on the upper deck firing broadside . These guns were supplied with 494 rounds of ammunition , and could depress to −5° and elevate to 8° . This enabled a maximum range of . She was also equipped with four L / 22 guns and two L / 24 guns . Four torpedo tube s rounded out her armament . One was mounted in the bow , submerged , two were placed on the broadside above water , and the fourth was located in the stern , also above water . She carried ten torpedoes . " Oldenburg " s armor consisted of compound steel backed with teak ; the steel was fabricated by the Dillinger Works . The main armored belt was composed of two strake s ; the steel upper strake was thick amidships , where it protected the ship ' s vitals . The belt was reduced on either end of the central portion to . The lower strake was thick in the central section and on either end . The entire belt was backed with 250 mm of teak amidships and 300 mm of teak on either end . The sides of the armored casemate s for the main battery were thick . The ship ' s deck was thick . Her forward conning tower had thick sides and a thick roof . The rear conning tower was given only splinter protection , with thick sides and a thick roof . Service history . " Oldenburg " was laid down in 1883 at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin , under construction number 132 . She was launched on 20 December 1884 , after which fitting - out work commenced . She was completed by April 1886 and commissioned into the German Navy on 8 April . She immediately joined the I Division of the fleet , alongside , , and , for the annual fleet maneuvers . " Bayern " and " Württemberg " suffered from engine troubles throughout the exercises , but " Oldenburg " performed satisfactorily . In June 1887 , Germany dedicated the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal ; " Oldenburg " was among the ships present during the celebrations . " Oldenburg " was assigned to the training squadron for the maneuvers in August – September 1887 , along with and . The majority of the exercises were focused in the Baltic , but the fleet did conduct maneuvers in the North Sea for eight days in September . " Oldenburg " also participated in the visit to Great Britain in August 1889 , where Wilhelm II took part in the Cowes Regatta . The ship was assigned to the I Division with " Sachsen " , , and the new cruiser . " Oldenburg " and the rest of the fleet joined the Royal Navy in a fleet review for Queen Victoria . " Oldenburg " participated in the ceremonial transfer of the island of Helgoland from British to German control in the summer of 1890 . She was present during the fleet maneuvers in September , where the entire eight - ship armored squadron simulated a Russian fleet blockading Kiel . She remained with the I Division in 1891 ; the year ' s maneuvers simulated a two - front war against Russia and either France or Denmark . In 1892 , however , " Württemberg " replaced " Oldenburg " in the I Division , and the latter went into reserve . The ship remained out of service for the next five years . She returned to active duty in 1897 to join an international naval demonstration off the island of Crete , which had been annexed by Greece . The ship remained in the demonstration until March 1898 , when Germany and Austria - Hungary withdrew their naval contingents in a show of dissatisfaction over the compromise solution , which left Crete under Ottoman control , but with a Greek prince . In 1900 , " Oldenburg " was reduced to serve as a harbor guard ship . She was later used as a depot ship before being stricken from the naval register on 13 January 1912 . The vessel was then used as a target ship by the High Seas Fleet until after the German defeat in World War I . " Oldenburg " was sold to Hattinger Company , a ship - breaking firm , on 5 May 1919 . The ship was dismantled for scrap in Wilhelmshaven that year .