Between the mid-1860s and the early 1880s, the Prussian and later Imperial German Navies purchased or built sixteen ironclad warships.[1][a] In 1860, however, the Prussian Navy consisted solely of wooden, unarmored warships. The following year, Prince Adalbert and Albrecht von Roon wrote an expanded fleet plan that included four large ironclads and four smaller ironclads. Two of the latter were to be ordered from Britain immediately,[8] as German shipyards were at the time incapable of building such vessels.[9] The rival Danish fleet had three ironclads in service by the time the Second Schleswig War broke out in 1864;[10] as a result, Prussia purchased the ironclads Arminius and Prinz Adalbert, then under construction in Britain and France, respectively. The British, sympathetic to the Danish cause, delayed delivery of both Arminius and Prinz Adalbert until after the combined Austro-Prussian victory. Both ships entered service by 1865.[7][11]
The Prussian Navy had acquired three more ships—Friedrich Carl, Kronprinz, and König Wilhelm—by the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. A fourth was ordered from Prussian shipbuilders, but would not be completed in time to see service during the war.[12] In the aftermath of the war in 1871, the various Germanic states were unified under Prussian dominance as the German Empire; the Prussian Navy became the core of the Imperial Navy.[13] The three turret ships of the Preussen class were built in Germany in the early 1870s, followed by two Kaiser-class vessels in the middle of the decade, the last capital ships ordered from foreign yards by Germany.[14] A different strategic plan affected the next design, the four Sachsen-class ships. These vessels were intended to operate from fortified bases against a naval blockade, not on the high seas.[15] The last ironclad built by Germany, Oldenburg, was originally to have been a fifth member of the Sachsen class, but dissatisfaction with those ships led to a new design.[16] The German Navy temporarily ceased construction of capital ships in the 1880s, due to the poor performance of the Sachsen class and the rise of the Jeune École; instead, concentration was focused on creating a large force of torpedo boats for coastal defense.[17][b]
| Armament | The number and type of the primary armament |
|---|---|
| Armor | The maximum thickness of the armored belt |
| Displacement | Ship displacement at full combat load[c] |
| Propulsion | Number of shafts, type of propulsion system, and top speed generated |
| Cost | Cost of the ship's construction |
| Service | The dates work began and finished on the ship and its ultimate fate |
| Laid down | The date the keel assembly commenced |
| Commissioned | The date the ship was commissioned |
- ^ Gröner, pp. 1–9.
- ^ Lyon, p. 261.
- ^ Greene & Massignani, p. 12.
- ^ Canney, Introduction.
- ^ Gröner, p. 1.
- ^ Lyon, p. 242.
- ^ a b Sullivan, p. 17.
- ^ Sondhaus 1997, p. 66.
- ^ Sondhaus 1997, p. 73.
- ^ Sondhaus 1997, p. 74.
- ^ Greene & Massignani, p. 199.
- ^ Lyon, pp. 243–244.
- ^ Lyon, p. 240.
- ^ Lyon, pp. 244–245.
- ^ Sondhaus 1997, p. 113.
- ^ Sondhaus 1997, p. 135.
- ^ Sondhaus 1997, pp. 160–165.
- ^ Gröner, pp. 10–13.
- ^ Gröner, p. ix.
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