SMS Heimdall SMS " Heimdall " was the fourth vessel of the six - member " Siegfried " class of coastal defense ship s ( " Küstenpanzerschiffe " ) built for the German Imperial Navy . Her sister ships were , , , , and . " Heimdall " was built by the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven shipyard between 1891 and 1894 , and was armed with a main battery of three guns . She served in the German fleet throughout the 1890s and was rebuilt in 1900 – 1902 . She served in the VI Battle Squadron after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , but saw no action . " Heimdall " was demobilized in 1915 and used as a barracks ship thereafter . She was ultimately broken up for scrap in 1921 . Design . " Heimdall " was long overall and had a beam of and a maximum draft of . She displaced at full combat load . Her propulsion system consisted of two vertical 3 - cylinder triple expansion engines . Steam for the engines was provided by four coal - fired boilers . The ship ' s propulsion system provided a top speed of and a range of approximately at . " Heimdall " had a crew of 20 officers and 256 enlisted men . The ship was armed with three 24 cm K L / 35 guns mounted in three single gun turret s . Two were placed side by side forward , and the third was located aft of the main superstructure . They were supplied with a total of 204 rounds of ammunition . The ship was also equipped with eight 8 . 8 cm SK L / 30 guns in single mounts . " Heimdall " also carried four torpedo tube s , all in swivel mounts on the deck . One was at the bow , another at the stern , and two amidships . The ship was protected by an armored belt that was amidships , and an armored deck that was thick . The conning tower had thick sides . " Heimdall " s armor consisted of new Krupp steel , a more effective type of armor than the compound steel the other members of the class received . Service history . " Heimdall " was laid down in 1891 at the Kaiserliche Werft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven . She was launched on 27 July 1892 , and completed on 7 April 1894 . In 1897 , " Heimdall " participated in the annual summer maneuvers in the IV Division , along with and . Her other three sisters were assigned to the III Division . " Heimdall " participated in the 1900 summer maneuvers , where she and , , and simulated the hostile fleet . She served on active duty with the fleet until 1901 , when she was taken into drydock at the Kaiserliche Werft shipyard in Kiel for an extensive reconstruction . The ship was lengthened to , which increased displacement to . Her old boilers were replaced with eight new Marine type boilers , and a second funnel was added . Her secondary battery was increased to ten 8 . 8 cm guns , and the 35 cm torpedo tubes were replaced with three tubes . Work was completed by 1902 . After emerging from her modernization , she returned to service with the fleet , assigned to the II Squadron , alongside " Hildebrand " , " Hagen " , and . She remained in the fleet until the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , when she was mobilized into the VI Battle Squadron for coastal defense , along with her sister ships . On 31 August 1915 , the VI Battle Squadron was demobilized , and " Heimdall " s crew was transferred to other warships . She was then used as a barracks ship in for U - boat crews , along with crews for the coastal defense flotillas stationed on the Ems river . On 17 June 1919 , she was stricken from the naval register . The navy planned to convert " Heimdall " into a salvage ship , but the plan fell through and she was instead sold and broken up for scrap in 1921 in Rönnebeck .