Germany 
Germany "Kaiserliche Marine" 1872-1918 / "Vorläufige Reichsmarine" 1919-1921 / "Reichsmarine" 1921-1933 / "Kriegsmarine" 1933-1945
Following WWI, Germany was forced to surrender
all of her dreadnought battleships to the
victorious Allies. The Treaty of Versailles
prevented the construction of new ones for
many years, but allowed the retention of
some pre-dreadnoughts. As a result, these
vessels had extremely long service lives.
Germany had five pre-dreadnought battleships
still in service for WWII, two as training
vessels that saw extensive combat, two as
radio-controlled target vessels, and one
as an unpowered hulk. During the First World
War, the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German
Navy) used the prefix "SMS", "Seine
Majestäts Schifffor" for their ship
names, meaning "His Majesty's Ship",
while the following Reichsmarine and WWII
era Kriegsmarine did not use a prefix.
CLICK ON A SHIP'S NAME TO SEE A HISTORY AND
PICTURES OF THAT VESSEL.
ZAHRINGEN
HESSEN
HANNOVER
SCHLESIEN
SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN
