Service History
Following their commissioning beginning in 1906, the ships joined the II Battle Squadron of the Heimatflotte (Home Fleet), which also included the Braunschweig class ships. Deutschland replaced Kaiser Wilhelm II as the flagship of the fleet. Once the II Battle Squadron was complete, the fleet was reorganized as the Hochseeflotte (High Seas Fleet). The five ships conducted several training cruises and fleet maneuvers every year until 1914; these included cruises into the Atlantic Ocean and the Baltic Sea and annual tours of Norway. In 1913, Deutschland was replaced as fleet flagship by the new dreadnought Friedrich der Grosse. The five ships were in Norway for the annual fleet visit in July 1914. The threat of war forced the cruise to be cut short, and all of the ships were back in German ports by the end of the month.
Read more about this topic: Deutschland Class Battleship
Famous quotes containing the words service and/or history:
“The masochist: “I send my tormentor hurrying hither and thither in the service of my suffering and desire.””
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“You that would judge me do not judge alone
This book or that, come to this hallowed place
Where my friends’ portraits hang and look thereon;
Ireland’s history in their lineaments trace;
Think where man’s glory most begins and ends
And say my glory was I had such friends.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)