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 (1874) ran aground on an uncharted rock. "Arcona" and "Cormoran" arrived to tow "Kaiser" off the rocks, after which Diederichs sent her back to Hong Kong for repairs. "Kaiser" remained overseas until 1899, when she returned to Germany. She was reduced to a harbor ship on 3 May 1904 and renamed "Uranus" on 12 October 1905. The ship was stricken from the naval register on 21 May 1906 and used as a barracks ship for in Flensburg. "Uranus" was ultimately broken up in 1920 in Harburg. SMS Kaiser (1874) SMS "Kaiser" was the lead ship of the s; was her sister