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
Kaiser-class ironclad from the naval register in 1906; "Deutschland" was used as a target ship before being sold for scrap in 1908, though "Kaiser" served on as a floating barracks until she was sold in 1920. The "Kaiser"-class design was prepared in 1869 by Sir Edward Reed; their construction was awarded to the Samuda Brothers shipyard in London. The ships were the last German capital ships to be built abroad. All subsequent German capital ships were built by German shipbuilders. "Kaiser" and "Deutschland" were laid down in 1871 and 1872, respectively. "Kaiser" was launched on 19 March 1874 and commissioned into the