SMS Frithjof SMS " Frithjof " was the third vessel of the six - member " Siegfried " class of coastal defense ship s ( " Küstenpanzerschiffe " ) built for the German Imperial Navy . Her sister ships were , , , , and . " Frithjof " was built by the AG Weser shipyard between 1890 and 1893 , 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 . " Frithjof " was demobilized in 1915 and used as a barracks ship thereafter . She was rebuilt as a merchant ship in 1923 and served in this capacity until she was broken up for scrap in 1930 . Design . " Frithjof " 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 . " Frithjof " 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 . " Frithjof " 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 . Service history . " Frithjof " was laid down in 1890 at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen . She was launched on 21 July 1891 , and completed on 23 February 1893 . Following her commissioning , " Frithjof " joined the 1893 annual training exercises , alongside her sister ship . On the first set of maneuvers , " Frithjof " and the other capital ship s performed as the hostile French fleet , which was " attacked " by torpedo boat s in the North Sea . The second set of maneuvers took place in the Baltic Sea , and " Beowulf " and the ironclads again simulated a French fleet . In 1897 , " Frithjof " again participated in the annual summer maneuvers , now in the IV Division , along with and . Her other three sisters were assigned to the III Division . During the 1900 summer maneuvers , " Frithjof " served in the squadron that simulated the German navy , alongside the new battleship and the coastal defense ship . " Frithjof " served on active duty with the fleet until 1902 , 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 1903 . She then returned to service with the fleet . In 1905 – 1906 , Erich Raeder served aboard the ship has her navigation officer . By 1908 , she was assigned to the gunnery training squadron and tasked with training the fleet ' s gunners . She remained with 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 " Frithjof " s crew was transferred to other warships . She was then used as a barracks ship in Danzig . On 17 June 1919 , she was stricken from the naval register . She was sold to A . Bernstein in Hamburg . " Frithjof " was rebuilt as a merchant ship in 1923 at Deutsche Werke ; she only served in this capacity for seven years , and was dismantled for scrap in Danzig in 1930 .