Kaiser - class ironclad The " Kaiser " class of ironclad warship s was a pair of vessels built for the German Imperial Navy in the early 1870s . The lead ship , , was laid down in 1871 and launched in 1874 . was laid down in 1872 and launched in 1874 ; both ships were built by the Samuda Brothers shipyard in London . They were the last German capital ship s built by a foreign shipyard . Built as armored frigates , the ships were armed with a main battery of eight guns in a central armored battery and were capable of a top speed of . Both ships served with the fleet following their commissioning in 1875 , though they spent a significant part of their career in reserve , as Germany maintained only a small number of ships on active duty for training cruises in the period . The ships were substantially rebuilt in the 1890s into armored cruiser s and stationed in Asia for three years . " Kaiser " was the flagship of Otto von Diederichs ' s East Asia Squadron during the Kiautschou Bay concession seizure in November 1897 . Following their return to Germany in 1899 – 1900 , the ships were used in several secondary roles , including as harbor and barracks ships . The ships were stricken from the naval register in 1906 ; " Deutschland " was used as a target ship before being sold for scrap in 1908 , though " Kaiser " served on as a floating barracks until she was sold in 1920 . Design . The " Kaiser " - class design was prepared in 1869 by Sir Edward Reed ; their construction was awarded to the Samuda Brothers shipyard in London . The ships were the last German capital ship s to be built abroad . All subsequent German capital ships were built by German shipbuilders . " Kaiser " and " Deutschland " were laid down in 1871 and 1872 , respectively . " Kaiser " was launched on 19 March 1874 and commissioned into the fleet on 13 February 1875 . " Deutschland " was launched on 12 September 1874 and joined her sister in the fleet on 20 July 1875 . General characteristics . The ' Kaiser " - class ships were long at the waterline and long overall . They had a beam of and a draft of . At the designed displacement , the vessels displaced . When the vessels were fully loaded , they displaced . Their hulls were built with transverse bulkheads and double longitudinal iron frames ; iron plating covered teak backing . The ships had nine watertight compartments and a double bottom that ran for 59 percent of the hull length . 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 moderate turning radius and were very stable . Their standard complement consisted of 32 officers and 568 enlisted men , and while serving as a squadron flagship , this could be augmented by an additional nine officers and 47 sailors . When serving as the second flagship , the crew was increased by six officers and 35 enlisted men . After their reconstruction in the 1890s , the ships ' crews were significantly increased , to 36 officers and 620 enlisted men . The size of the command staffs grew as well , to 11 officers and 57 enlisted for the squadron flagship and nine officers and 48 men for the second flagship . 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 a two - cylinder single expansion engine built by J . Penn & Sons of Greenwich . The ships ' engines drove a single four - bladed screw that was in diameter . The engines were supplied with steam by eight coal - fired trunk boilers , which were also provided by J Penn & Sons . The eight boilers were trunked into two large , retractable funnels . They were also equipped with a full ship rig with a total surface area of . Three generators provided 30 kilowatts of electrical power . The ships ' designed speed was , at over . The ships were designed to store of coal , though " Deutschland " was modified to carry up to . " Kaiser " was able to steam for at a cruising speed of , though due to her significantly greater fuel capacity , " Deutschland " could steam for at that speed . At maximum speed , the ships ' ranges were reduced to and , respectively . Armament and armor . The " Kaiser " - class ships were armed with eight L / 20 guns mounted in a central armored battery amidships . These guns were supplied with 768 rounds of ammunition . They could depress to −4° and elevate to 9° ; this enabled a maximum range of . As built , the ships were also equipped with one L / 22 gun . The 21 cm weapon had a maximum range of . Between 1891 – 1897 , " Kaiser " and " Deutschland " were rebuilt and their armament was significantly altered . " Kaiser " was equipped with one L / 30 gun , six SK L / 30 quick - firing guns , and nine SK L / 30 quick - firing guns , while eight 15 cm L / 30 and eight 8 . 8 cm SK L / 30 guns were installed on " Deutschland " . Four auto - cannon were added as well . Both ships also had five torpedo tube s added : " Deutschland " s tubes were installed in the hull , underwater , while " Kaiser " s tubes were placed above water . Both ships had a stock of 13 torpedo es . The ships ' armor was made of wrought iron and backed with teak . The armored belt ranged in thickness from and was backed with of teak . Their decks were thick . " Kaiser " s conning tower was protected with a thick roof and thick sides , while " Deutschland " s had a 30 mm thick roof and thick sloped side armor . The central battery , which housed the ships ' main armament , was thick on the broadside and thick on the sloped ends . This was backed with and thick sections of teak , respectively . Service history . After their commissioning in 1875 , both ships served with the fleet . They formed half of 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 . " Kaiser " and " Deutschland " were placed in reserve after the 1878 maneuvers were cancelled and remained there for a decade , with the exception of the 1883 maneuvers . During the maneuvers , both ships ' steam engines proved troublesome , and indeed forced a temporary halt to the training exercises when they simultaneously broke down . 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 . Between 1891 and 1897 , the two ships were heavily rebuilt as armored cruiser s . They were significantly rearmed with a large number of medium and smaller caliber guns . " Kaiser " served in Asian waters from 1897 to 1899 , while her sister was on the Asia station from 1898 to 1900 . Admiral Otto von Diederichs , then the commander of the East Asia Squadron , used " Kaiser " for his flagship . The ship was involved in the Kiautschou Bay concession seizure in November 1897 and was later deployed to protect German interests in the Philippines during the Spanish - American War in 1898 . " Kaiser " and " Deutschland " were reduced to harbor ships on 3 May 1904 . " Kaiser " was renamed " Uranus " on 12 October 1905 and " Deutschland " became " Jupiter " on 22 November of that year . The ships were stricken from the naval register on 21 May 1906 ; " Deutschland " was used briefly as a target ship in 1907 while " Kaiser " was used as a barracks ship for in Flensburg . The Kaiserliche Marine sold " Deutschland " in 1908 for 120 , 000 marks ; she was broken up for scrap the following year in Hamburg - Moorburg . " Kaiser " was ultimately broken up in 1920 in Harburg . Endnotes . Notes Citations