SMS Bayern (1878)

SMS Bayern (1878)

SMS Bayern  was one of four Sachsen-class armored frigates of the German Imperial Navy. Her sister ships were Sachsen, Baden, and Württemberg. Named for Bavaria, Bayern was built by the Imperial Dockyard in Kiel from 1874 to 1881. The ship was commissioned into the Imperial Navy in August 1881. She was armed with a main battery of six 26 cm (10 in) guns in two open barbettes.

After her commissioning, Bayern served with the fleet on numerous training exercises and cruises. She participated in several cruises escorting Kaiser Wilhelm II on state visits to Great Britain and to various cities in the Baltic Sea in the late 1880s and early 1890s. During 1895–1898, the ship was modernized at the Schichau-Werke dockyard in Danzig; she served for another decade with the fleet before being withdrawn from active service in 1910. She was used as a target ship after 1911, until she was sold in 1919 and broken up for scrap.