SMS Wörth SMS " Wörth " was one of four German pre - dreadnought battleship s of the , built in the early 1890s . The ships were the first ocean - going battleships built by the Kaiserliche Marine ( ) . " Wörth " was laid down at the Germaniawerft dockyard in Kiel in May 1890 . The ship was launched on 6 August 1892 and commissioned into the fleet on 31 October 1893 . " Wörth " and her three sisters were unique for their time in that they carried six heavy guns instead of the standard four in other navies . She was named for the Battle of Wörth at the start of the Franco - Prussian War of 1870 – 71 . " Wörth " took part in the German naval expedition to China in 1900 to suppress the Boxer Rebellion , though by the time the fleet reached China the siege of Peking had already been lifted . As a result , the ship saw little direct action in China . Obsolete by the start of World War I , " Wörth " , along with her sister ship , served in a limited capacity in the Imperial German Navy , primarily as barracks ships . Following the end of the war , the " Wörth " was scrapped in the port of Danzig . Construction . " Wörth " was ordered as battleship " B " , and was laid down at Germaniawerft in Kiel in 1890 . Initial work on the ship proceeded the slowest of all four vessels of the class ; her hull was not launched until 6 August 1892 , more than two - thirds of a year after the other three ships . However , fitting out work proceeded quickly , and she was commissioned on 31 October 1893 , the first ship of the class to enter active duty . The ship was long , with a beam of and a draft of . " Wörth " displaced as designed , and up to at full combat load . She was equipped with two sets of 3 - cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engines that produced and a top speed of on trials . Steam was provided by twelve transverse cylindrical boilers . She had a maximum range of at a cruising speed of . " Wörth " was armed with a main battery of six 28 cm ( 11 in ) guns of two types . The forward and rear turret guns were 40 calibers long , while the amidships guns were only 35 calibers ; this was necessary to allow them to train to either side of the ship . Her secondary armament initially consisted of seven 10 . 5 cm ( 4 . 1 in ) guns , though an additional gun was added during the modernization in 1901 . She also carried eight 8 . 8 cm ( 3 . 45 in ) guns and six torpedo tubes . Service history . " Wörth " was assigned to the I Division of the I Battle Squadron upon her commissioning , alongside her three sisters . The squadron was completed with the four older s , though by 1901 – 2 , the " Sachsen " s were replaced by the new s . After she joined the fleet , " Wörth " was commanded by Prince Heinrich . The senior watch officer aboard the ship in 1894 was Franz von Hipper , who went on to command the German battlecruiser squadron during World War I and later the entire High Seas Fleet . " Wörth " represented Germany during the Fleet Review for Queen Victoria in 1897 . On 25 November 1899 , " Wörth " was conducting gunnery training in the Bay of Eckernförde when she struck a rock . The rock tore a wide hole in the hull which flooded three of her watertight compartments . The ship was sent to Wilhelmshaven for repair work . Before repairs could be begun , about of coal had to be unloaded to lighten the ship . Temporary steel plates were riveted to cover the hole on the starboard side , while the hull plates on the port side had to be re - riveted . The work was completed in time for the ship to join the fleet for the annual training cruise to Norway one week later . Boxer Rebellion . During the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 , Chinese nationalists laid siege to the foreign embassies in Peking and murdered Baron Clemens von Ketteler , the German minister . The widespread violence against Westerners in China led to a creation of an alliance between Germany and seven other Great Powers : the United Kingdom , Italy , Russia , Austria - Hungary , the United States , France , and Japan . Those soldiers who were in China at the time were too few in number to defeat the Boxers ; in Peking there was a force of slightly more than 400 officers and infantry from the armies of the eight European powers . At the time , the primary German military force in China was the East Asia Squadron , which consisted of the protected cruiser s , , and , the small cruisers and , and the gunboats and . There was also a German 500 - man detachment in Taku ; combined with the other nations ' units the force numbered some 2 , 100 men . These 2 , 100 men , led by the British Admiral Edward Seymour , attempted to reach Peking but due to heavy resistance were forced to stop in Tientsin . As a result , the Kaiser determined an expeditionary force would be sent to China to reinforce the East Asia Squadron . " Hela " was part of the naval expedition , which included the four pre - dreadnought battleship s , sent to China to reinforce the German flotilla there . Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz opposed the plan , which he saw as unnecessary and costly . The force was sent in spite of von Tirpitz ' s objections ; it arrived in China in September 1900 . By that time , the siege of Peking had already been lifted . As a result , the task force suppressed local uprisings around Kiaochow . In the end , the operation cost the German government more than 100 million marks . Reconstruction and later service . Following her return from China in 1901 , " Wörth " was taken into the drydocks at the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven for a major reconstruction . Her sisters followed suit : " Weißenburg " went in 1902 , " Brandenburg " in 1903 , and " Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm " entered the shipyard in 1904 . During the modernization , a second conning tower was added in the aft superstructure , along with a gangway . " Wörth " and the other ships had their boilers replaced with newer models , and also had the hamper amidships reduced . After emerging from the dry dock after modernization , " Wörth " and the other " Brandenburg " - class battleships were assigned to the II Battle Squadron of the fleet and replaced the old s and the armored frigates and . The s , which began to enter service in 1906 , replaced " Wörth " and her three sister - ships in the battle fleet . " Wörth " and " Brandenburg " were put into reserve , joining the " Siegfried " - class ships . " Wörth " s other sisters , " Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm " and " Weissenburg " , were sold to the Ottoman Empire in 1910 . World War I . At the outbreak of World War I in 1914 , " Wörth " was assigned to coastal defense duties along with " Brandenburg " . Due to the age of the ships , this lasted only until 1915 , when they were withdrawn from active service . That year , both ships were put into service as barracks ships ; " Wörth " was stationed in Danzig while " Brandenburg " was placed in Libau . Both " Wörth " and " Brandenburg " were struck from the naval register on 13 May 1919 and sold for scrapping . The two ships were purchased by " Norddeutsche Tiefbauges " , a shipbreaking firm headquartered in Berlin . " Wörth " was then broken up for scrap in Danzig .