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
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