SMS was the second vessel of the six-member of coastal defense ships () built for the German Imperial Navy. Her sister ships were , , , , and . was built by the AG Weser shipyard between 1890 and 1892, and was armed with a main battery of three guns. She served in the German fleet throughout the 1890s and was rebuilt in 1900 – 1902. She served in the VI Battle Squadron after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, but saw no action. was demobilized in 1915 and used as a target ship for U-boats thereafter. She was ultimately broken up for scrap in 1921.
Design
In the late 1880s, the German (Imperial Navy) grappled with the problem of what type of capital ship to build in the face of limited naval budgets (owing to parliamentary objections to naval spending and the cost of dredging the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal). General Leo von Caprivi, the new (Chief of the Admiralty), requested a series of design proposals, which ranged in size from small coastal defense ships to heavily armed ocean-going battleships. Caprivi ordered ten coastal defense ships to guard the entrances to the canal, since even opponents of the navy in the (Imperial Diet) agreed that such vessels were necessary. The first six of these, the , were based on the smallest proposal.
was long overall and had a beam of and a maximum draft of . She displaced normally and up to at full load. Her hull had a long forecastle deck that extended most of the vessel's length. She was also fitted with a pronounced ram bow. had a crew of 20 officers and 256 enlisted men.
Her propulsion system consisted of two vertical 3-cylinder triple-expansion engines, each driving a screw propeller. Steam for the engines was provided by four coal-fired fire-tube boilers that were vented through a single funnel. The ship's propulsion system provided a top speed of from and a range of approximately at .
The ship was armed with a main battery of three K L/35 guns mounted in three single gun turrets. Two were placed side by side forward, and the third was located aft of the main superstructure. They were supplied with a total of 204 rounds of ammunition. For defense against torpedo boats, the ship was also equipped with a secondary battery of eight SK L/30 guns in single mounts. also carried four torpedo tubes, all in swivel mounts on the deck. One was at the bow, another at the stern, and two amidships. The ship was protected by an armored belt that was in the central citadel, and an armored deck that was thick. The conning tower had thick sides.
Modifications
In 1897, the ship had her anti-torpedo nets removed. was extensively rebuilt between 1900 and 1902 in an attempt to improve her usefulness. The ship was lengthened to , which increased displacement at full load. The lengthened hull space was used to install additional boilers; her old fire-tube boilers were replaced with more efficient water-tube boilers, and a second funnel was added. The performance of her propulsion machinery increased to from , with a maximum range of at 10 knots. Her secondary battery was increased to ten 8.8 cm guns, and the 35 cm torpedo tubes were replaced with three tubes. Her crew increased to 20 officers and 287 enlisted men. Work was completed by 1900.
Service history
Construction – 1894
was laid down in January 1890 at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen. She was launched on 8 November 1890, christened after the legendary Geatish hero Beowulf by (KAdm—Rear Admiral) Hans von Koester. She was completed in late 1891 and began sea trials thereafter, before being formally commissioned on 1 April 1892. Her first captain was (KzS—Captain at Sea) Prince Heinrich of Prussia, the brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The ship's trials were interrupted by the need for the ship to join the maneuver squadron to replace her sister ship after the latter vessel suffered a boiler explosion that necessitated lengthy repairs. She joined I Division of the fleet for its annual training exercises, along with the three ironclads , , and . At this time, the capital ships of the fleet were organized into a maneuver squadron for training exercises each year, spending the winter out of commission. In April, she embarked Wilhelm II, Frederick Augustus II, Grand Duke of Oldenburg, and (Vice Admiral) Friedrich von Hollmann, the chief of the (Imperial Navy Office), for a voyage from Wilhelmshaven to the island of Helgoland in the German Bight and back.