SMS Kaiser Wilhelm II was the second ship of the
Kaiser Friedrich III class of
pre-dreadnought battleships. Commissioned into the German fleet in 1902, she was armed with a main battery of four 24-centimeter (9.4 in) guns and powered by
triple expansion engines. Initially the
flagship, she was replaced by the
SMS Deutschland in 1906 and decommissioned. With the outbreak of
World War I in August 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm II was brought back into active duty as a coastal defense ship, but was withdrawn in February 1915. The ship was stricken from the navy list in 1918 and sold for scrap in the early 1920s.Lithograph: Hugo Graf; restoration:
Adam Cuerden
SMS Kaiser Wilhelm II was the second ship of the
Kaiser Friedrich III class of
pre-dreadnought battleships. Commissioned into the German fleet in 1902, she was armed with a main battery of four 24-centimeter (9.4 in) guns and powered by
triple expansion engines. Initially the
flagship, she was replaced by the
SMS Deutschland in 1906 and decommissioned. With the outbreak of
World War I in August 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm II was brought back into active duty as a coastal defense ship, but was withdrawn in February 1915. The ship was stricken from the navy list in 1918 and sold for scrap in the early 1920s.Lithograph: Hugo Graf; restoration:
Adam Cuerden