Preussen - class ironclad The " Preussen " class of armored frigates was a class of three ships built for the German Imperial Navy in the early 1870s . The lead ship , , was laid down in 1871 and launched in 1873 . also was laid down in 1871 and launched in 1874 . , although the first to be laid down , in 1869 , was the last to be completed , launched in 1875 . The ships served in the fleet starting in 1876 , when " Preussen " was commissioned . " Grosser Kurfürst " was lost in 1878 during maneuvers shortly after her commissioning , when a pair of small sailing boats crossed the bows of " Grosser Kurfürst " and , which caused both ships to undertake emergency maneuvers . In the confusion , " König Wilhelm " collided with " Grosser Kurfürst " , causing the latter to sink . Both " Preussen " and " Friedrich der Grosse " served in the fleet until the 1890s , when they were relegated to secondary duties , including serving as harbor ships , and later as coal hulks . The ships were eventually scrapped following the end of World War I , in 1919 and 1920 , respectively . Design . General characteristics . The ships of the " Preussen " class were long at the waterline and long overall . They had a beam of and a draft of forward and aft . At the designed displacement , the vessels displaced . When the vessels were fully loaded , they displaced . Their hulls were built with transverse and longitudinal iron frames ; iron plating covered teak backing . The ships had twelve watertight compartments and a double bottom that ran for 60 percent of the length of the hull . The German navy regarded the ships as good sea boats , very sensitive to commands from the helm , and with a gentle motion . The ships had a tight turning radius , but crank and slow while under sail . Their standard complement consisted of 46 officers and 454 enlisted men . The ships carried a number of smaller boats , including one picket boat , two launches , one pinnace , two cutters , two yawls , and two dinghies . The three ships were powered by one 3 - cylinder single expansion engine ; " Preussen " s engine was built by AG Vulcan , while " Friedrich der Grosse " and " Grosser Kurfürst " were equipped with engines manufactured by F A Egells of Berlin . The ships ' engines drove a single four - bladed screw that was in diameter . The engines were supplied with steam by six coal - fired transverse trunk boilers , which were provided by the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven . The six boilers were trunked into a single large , retractable funnel amidships . She was also equipped with a full ship rig . Three generators provided 30 kilowatts of electrical power . The ships ' top speed was , at . The ships were capable of storing of coal ; this enabled the ships to steam for at a cruising speed of . Armament and armor . The " Preussen " class ships were armed with four L / 22 guns mounted in a pair of gun turret s placed amidships . These guns were supplied with 400 rounds of ammunition . They could depress to −3° and elevate to 11° ; this enabled a maximum range of . As built , the ships were also equipped with two L / 25 guns . Two hundred rounds of ammunition were supplied to these guns . As with the 26 cm guns , the 17 cm weapons could elevate to 11° for a maximum range of 5 , 000 m . Between 1889 – 1891 , " Preussen " and " Friedrich der Grosse " were rebuilt and their armament was significantly augmented . Six and later ten SK L / 30 quick - firing guns were installed , supplied with up to 2 , 500 rounds of ammunition . Two auto - cannon s were added as well . Both ships also had five torpedo tubes added : " Preussen " s tubes were installed in the hull , underwater , while " Friedrich der Grosse " s tubes were placed above water . Both ships had a stock of 13 torpedoes . The ships ' armor was made of wrought iron and backed with teak . The armored belt was arrayed in two strake s . The upper strake was thick ; the lower strake ranged in thickness from . Both were backed with of teak . Their forward conning tower s were protected with thick sides and thick slopes . The gun turrets had thick roofs and sloped sides varying in thickness between backed with thick teak . Construction . The design for this class of ironclads was prepared in 1868 by the " Admiralitätsrat Elbertzhagen " . The original design was for a warship with a main battery mounted in a central battery , and was laid down as such . In the course of 1869 , the design was revised and the main battery was redesigned and two twin gun turret s replaced the central battery . The reworking of the design caused significant delays in construction of " Grosser Kurfürst " . The ship was launched on 17 September 1875 , the last vessel of the class to be completed . The ship was built by the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven , while her sisters , " Preussen " and " Friedrich der Grosse " , were built by AG Vulcan in Stettin and the Imperial Dockyard in Kiel , respectively . " Preussen " and " Friedrich der Grosse " , which were laid down in 1870 and 1869 , respectively , were completed much more quickly than " Grosser Kurfürst " . " Preussen " was launched on 22 November 1873 , while " Friedrich der Grosse " was launched on 20 September 1874 . The former was completed by July 1876 and commissioned into the fleet on 4 July , and the latter joined the fleet 22 November 1877 . " Preussen " s construction process , six years long , was much shorter than either of her sisters ; " Friedrich der Grosse " required eight years to complete , while work " Grosser Kurfürst " lasted for a decade . The delays associated with redesigning " Grosser Kurfürst " contributed to the significantly longer construction process , though this was compounded by the shipbuilders assigned to each ship . " Grosser Kurfürst " and " Friedrich der Grosse " were built by recently created Imperial shipyards , while " Preussen " was built by an established dockyard . Service history . After her commissioning in July 1876 , " Preussen " served with the fleet . She joined a squadron sent to the Mediterranean Sea in 1877 in response to unrest in the Ottoman Empire related to the Russo - Turkish War ; the violence threatened German citizens living there . The squadron , under the command of Rear Admiral Carl Ferdinand Batsch , steamed to the ports of Haifa and Jaffa in July 1877 , but found no significant tensions ashore . Batsch then departed and cruised the Mediterranean for the remainder of the summer , returning to Germany in October . By May 1878 , all three " Preussen " - class ships were ready for the annual summer maneuvers of the armored squadron . The three ships were joined by the large armored frigate , and operated under the command of Rear Admiral Batsch . " Friedrich der Grosse " missed the maneuvers after running aground off Nyborg , leaving Batsch just three vessels . While steaming in the English Channel on 31 May , " König Wilhelm " accidentally rammed " Grosser Kurfürst " ; the latter quickly sank with the loss of between 269 and 276 men . Her loss spurred a series of investigations into the circumstances of the collision , which ultimately resulted in the acquittal of both Rear Admiral Carl Ferdinand Batsch , the squadron commander , and Count Alexander von Monts , the captain of " Grosser Kurfürst " . Political infighting over the affair led to ouster of Rear Admiral Reinhold von Werner from the navy . " Preussen " and " Friedrich der Grosse " remained in the armored squadron for the training cruises starting in 1879 through 1883 , when they were put into reserve and replaced by newer vessels , including the four s . The two ships were reactivated in 1889 to participate in cruises following the coronation of Kaiser Wilhelm II . These included a state visit to Great Britain in August 1889 and a tour of the Mediterranean in the winter of 1889 – 1890 . The two ships resumed their duties in the training cycles into the early 1890s . Although " Preussen " was withdrawn from active service in 1891 , " Friedrich der Grosse " continued to serve until the end of 1894 . Upon leaving active duty , both ships were used in secondary roles as harbor ships and later as coal hulks for torpedo boat s . They were both ultimately sold for scrapping in 1919 following the end of World War I . Both vessels were broken up by 1920 . Footnotes . Notes Citations