 SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, c. 1903
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| History | |
|---|---|
 German Empire | |
| Name | Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse |
| Namesake | Wilhelm I |
| Builder | Germaniawerft, Kiel |
| Laid down | 22 January 1898 |
| Launched | 1 June 1899 |
| Commissioned | 5 May 1901 |
| Stricken | 6 December 1919 |
| Fate | Scrapped in 1920 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Kaiser Friedrich III-class pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 125.3 m (411 ft 1 in) (oa) |
| Beam | 20.4 m (66 ft 11 in) |
| Draft | 7.89 m (25 ft 11 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph) |
| Range | 3,420 nmi (6,330 km; 3,940 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 651 |
| Armament |
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| Armor |
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SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse ("HMS Emperor William the Great")[a] was a German pre-dreadnought battleship of the Kaiser Friedrich III class, built around the turn of the 20th century. The ship was one of the first battleships built by the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) as part of a program of naval expansion under Kaiser Wilhelm II. Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse[b] was built in Kiel at the Germaniawerft shipyard. She was laid down in January 1898, launched in June 1899, and completed in May 1901. The ship was armed with a main battery of four 24-centimeter (9.4 in) guns in two twin turrets.
Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse served in the main fleet—the Heimatflotte (Home Fleet) and later the Hochseeflotte (High Seas Fleet)—for the first seven years of her career. She participated in several of the fleet's training cruises and maneuvers, primarily in the North and Baltic Seas. Her peacetime career was relatively uneventful and she suffered no accidents. She was decommissioned for a major reconstruction in 1908–10, after which she was assigned to the Reserve Division with her four sister ships, all of which were essentially obsolete by that time.
At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the battleship and her sisters were placed back in active service as V Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet and deployed to coastal defense in the North Sea. They were also deployed briefly to the Baltic but saw no action. In 1915, the ships were again withdrawn from service and relegated to secondary duties. Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was used as a depot ship in Kiel and eventually a torpedo target ship. After the war, the Treaty of Versailles greatly reduced the size of the German Navy. The vessel was sold for scrap to a German company and broken up in 1920.
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