SMS Kaiser Barbarossa with of armor plating, and the secondary casemates received of armor protection. Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Emperor of Germany, believed that a strong navy was necessary for the country to expand its influence outside continental Europe. As a result, he initiated a program of naval expansion in the late 1880s; the first battleships built under this program were the four "Brandenburg"-class ships. These were immediately followed by the five "Kaiser Friedrich III"-class battleships, of which "Kaiser Barbarossa" was a member. "Kaiser Barbarossa"s keel was laid down on 3 August 1898, at the Schichau-Werke in Danzig, under construction number 640. She
SMS Kaiser (1911) . A week later, on 24 June, the Detached Division was dissolved and "Kaiser" returned to the III Squadron. "Kaiser" then participated in squadron exercises in July. "Kaiser" joined the High Seas Fleet for its annual summer cruise to Norway in July 1914, about two weeks after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. As a result of rising international tensions, the cruise was cut short and the German fleet was back in Wilhelmshaven by 29 July. At midnight on 4 August, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany. The High Seas Fleet, including "Kaiser", conducted a number of