Braunschweig-class battleship

The Braunschweig class was a group of five pre-dreadnought battleships built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the early 1900s: Braunschweig, Elsass, Hessen, Preussen and Lothringen. They were the first battleships authorized under the Second Naval Law and improved on the Wittelsbach class with a heavier armament of 28 cm and 17 cm guns. Three-shaft triple-expansion steam engines drove them at about 18 knots. Preussen was built by AG Vulcan at Stettin, while the rest were built at Kiel and Danzig. Less than two years after the first ships entered service the British Dreadnought made the class obsolescent, which shortened their careers; they served as flagships of the II Battle Squadron and later as depot ships.