SMS Bayern ( 1878 ) SMS " Bayern " was one of four armored frigates of the German Imperial Navy . Her sister ships were , , and . Named for Bavaria , " Bayern " was built by the Imperial Dockyard in Kiel from 1874 to 1881 . The ship was commissioned into the Imperial Navy in August 1881 . She was armed with a main battery of six guns in two open barbette s . After her commissioning , " Bayern " served with the fleet on numerous training exercises and cruises . She participated in several cruises escorting Kaiser Wilhelm II on state visits to Great Britain and to various cities in the Baltic Sea in the late 1880s and early 1890s . During 1895 – 1898 , the ship was modernized at the Schichau - Werke dockyard in Danzig ; she served for another decade with the fleet before being withdrawn from active service in 1910 . She was used as a target ship after 1911 , until she was sold in 1919 and broken up for scrap . Construction . " Bayern " was ordered by the Imperial Navy under the contract name " A , " which denoted that the vessel was a new addition to the fleet . She was built at the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven ; her keel was laid in 1874 under construction number 3 . The ship was launched on 13 May 1878 and commissioned into the German fleet on 4 August 1881 . Along with her three sisters , " Bayern " was the first large , armored warship built for the German navy that relied entirely on engines for propulsion . The ship was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of forward . " Bayern " was powered by two 3 - cylinder triple expansion engines , which were supplied with steam by eight coal - fired Dürr boilers . The ship ' s top speed was , at Her standard complement consisted of 32 officers and 285 enlisted men , though while serving as a squadron flagship this was augmented by another 7 officers and 34 men . She was armed with six guns , two of which were single - mounted in an open barbette forward of the conning tower and the remaining four mounted amidships , also on single mounts in an open barbette . As built , the ship was also equipped with six L / 24 guns and eight Hotchkiss revolver cannons . " Bayern " s armor was made of wrought iron , and was concentrated in an armored citadel amidships . The armor ranged from on the armored citadel , and between on the deck . The barbette armor was 254 mm of wrought iron backed by 250 mm of teak . Service history . After her commissioning in August 1881 , " Bayern " was placed in reserve . She was not activated for service with the fleet until 1884 ; this in part had to do with the poor performance of her sister in the fleet maneuvers of 1880 . Among the problems associated with the " Sachsen " - class ships was a tendency to roll dangerously due to their flat bottoms , which greatly reduced the accuracy of their guns . The ships were also poorly armored , compared to their contemporaries . In addition , they were slow and suffered from poor maneuverability . Nevertheless , " Bayern " and her three sisters served as the I Division in the 1884 fleet maneuvers , under the command of Rear Admiral Alexander von Monts . " Bayern " remained with the fleet for the 1885 maneuvers , though she was joined only by the older ironclads and . The maneuvers were begun with a visit to Ålesund , Norway , after which the fleet went to the Baltic Sea for training exercises . " Bayern " was demobilized at the close of maneuvers . In October 1885 , August von Thomsen , who had been appointed chief gunner , set up the first long range gunnery experiments on " Bayern " . He went on to gain fame as " the father of German naval artillery . " " Bayern " s three sisters and the new ironclad comprised the training squadron for 1886 . " Bayern " returned to active duty in 1888 , when she participated in a tour of the Baltic by the newly crowned Kaiser Wilhelm II . The fleet stopped in St . Petersburg , Stockholm , and Copenhagen on the seventeen - day cruise . " Bayern " participated in the ceremonial transfer of the island of Helgoland from British to German control in the summer of 1890 . She was present during the fleet maneuvers in September , where the entire eight - ship armored squadron simulated a Russian fleet blockading Kiel . She remained with the I Division in 1891 ; the year ' s maneuvers simulated a two - front war against Russia and either France of Denmark . " Bayern " participated in the 1892 fleet maneuvers as well . Three separate simulations were conducted , which included French blockades of the German North Sea coast and a Russian attack on Kiel . Vice Admiral Wilhelm Schröder commanded the fleet maneuvers of 1893 , which simulated a protracted campaign against a superior French fleet . " Bayern " and her three sisters served as the Russian Baltic Fleet during the 1894 maneuvers . The four " Sachsen " - class ships were transferred to the II Division before the winter cruise of 1894 – 1895 , following the completion of the four s . The German fleet now possessed two homogenous squadrons of four ships each . The two divisions steamed to Orkney and the Shetland Islands in the spring of 1895 . " Bayern " joined a massive fleet review on 21 July 1895 for the opening of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal , which connected Kiel to the North Sea . The Autumn 1895 maneuvers simulated a high - seas battle between the I and II Divisions in the North Sea , followed by combined maneuvers with the rest of the fleet in the Baltic . After the conclusion of the 1895 maneuvers , " Bayern " was taken into drydock at the Schichau - Werke in Danzig for reconstruction . The ship ' s old wrought iron and teak armor was replaced with new Krupp nickel - steel armor . The four funnels were trunked into a single large funnel and new engines were also installed , which increased the ship ' s speed to . The ship ' s 8 . 7 cm guns were replaced with quick - firing SK L / 30 guns and four autocannons . Work was completed in 1898 . " Bayern " s three sisters were similarly modified between 1896 and 1899 . " Bayern " remained with the fleet until 19 February 1910 , when the ship was stricken from the naval register . She was converted into a target ship for the fleet and served in this capacity off Stollergrund after 1911 . On 5 May 1919 , " Bayern " was sold for scrapping and broken up in Kiel .