Construction
Schleswig-Holstein was intended to fight in the line of battle with the other battleships of the High Seas Fleet. She was laid down on 18 August 1905 at the Germaniawerft dockyard in Kiel. She was launched on 17 December 1906, the last pre-dreadnought battleship of the German navy. However, the British battleship HMS Dreadnought—armed with ten 12-inch (30.5 cm) guns—had already been commissioned nearly two years prior, in December 1906. Dreadnought's revolutionary design rendered every ship of the German navy obsolete, including Schleswig-Holstein.
Schleswig-Holstein was 127.6 m (418 ft 8 in) long, had a beam of 22.2 m (72 ft 10 in), and a draft of 8.21 m (26 ft 11 in). She had a full-load displacement of 14,218 metric tons (13,993 long tons; 15,673 short tons). She was equipped with triple expansion engines that produced a rated 16,000 indicated horsepower (12,000 kW) and a top speed of 19.1 kn (35.4 km/h; 22.0 mph). In addition to being the fastest ship of her class, Schleswig-Holstein was the second most fuel efficient. At a cruising speed of 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph), she could steam for 5,720 nautical miles (10,590 km; 6,580 mi).
The ship's primary armament consisted of four 28 cm SK L/40 guns in two twin turrets. She was also equipped with fourteen 17 cm (6.7 in) guns mounted in casemates and twenty 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns in pivot mounts. The ship was also armed with six 45 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes, all submerged in the hull.
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