SMS Kaiser Wilhelm Der Grosse

SMS Kaiser Wilhelm Der Grosse

For the liner of the same name, see SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse

SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse ("HMS Emperor William the Great") was a German pre-dreadnought battleship of the Kaiser Friedrich III class, built around the turn of the 20th Century. The ship was one of the first battleships built by the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) as part of a program of naval expansion under Kaiser Wilhelm II. Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was built in Kiel, at the Germaniawerft shipyard. She was laid down in 1898 and completed in May, 1901. The ship was armed with a main battery of four 24-centimeter (9.4 in) guns in two twin gun turrets.

Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse served in the active fleet for ten years, during which time she participated in a number of the fleet's training maneuvers. By the early 1910s, however, the new dreadnought battleships had begun to come into service. As a result, the ship was decommissioned and placed in reserve. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the battleship and her sisters were placed back in active service as the V Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet and tasked with coastal defense. In 1915, the ships were again withdrawn from service and relegated to secondary duties. Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was used as a depot ship in Kiel and eventually a torpedo target ship. After the end of the war, the vessel was sold for scrapping to a German company and broken up in 1920.