Wilhelm II, German Emperor despite appeals from the Allies. King George V wrote that he looked on his cousin as "the greatest criminal in history", but opposed Prime Minister David Lloyd George's proposal to "hang the Kaiser". President Woodrow Wilson of the United States opposed extradition, arguing that prosecuting Wilhelm would destabilize international order and lose the peace. Wilhelm first settled in Amerongen, where on 28 November he issued a belated statement of abdication from both the Prussian and imperial thrones, thus formally ending the Hohenzollerns' 400-year rule over Prussia. Accepting the reality that he had lost both of his crowns for good, he
SMS Kaiser Wilhelm II for the last time on 10 September 1920. The naval clauses of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the war, limited the capital ship strength of the re-formed "Reichsmarine" to eight pre-dreadnought battleships of the and es, of which only six could be operational at any given time. As a result, "Kaiser Wilhelm II" was stricken from the navy list on 17 March 1921 and sold to shipbreakers. By 1922, "Kaiser Wilhelm II" and her sisters had been broken up for scrap metal. The ship's bow ornament ("bugzier") is preserved at the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden.