Wittelsbach-class battleship

The Wittelsbach class was a group of five pre-dreadnought battleships built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the early 1900s, the first battleships ordered under the First Navy Law of 1898 and Admiral Tirpitz's fleet expansion. The ships were Wittelsbach, Wettin, Zähringen, Schwaben and Mecklenburg. They looked much like the preceding Kaiser Friedrich III class but had a more extensive armor belt and a flush main deck, and each carried four 24 cm guns in two twin turrets. Each ship had three 3-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines. Mecklenburg was built by AG Vulcan at Stettin, the other four at yards in Wilhelmshaven, Danzig and Kiel. By 1910 the arrival of the first dreadnoughts pushed the class into training and reserve roles.