Abdication of Wilhelm II and the Dutch government, however, refused the Allies' requests to extradite him. King George V wrote that his cousin was "the greatest criminal in history", but opposed Prime Minister David Lloyd George's proposal to "hang the Kaiser". U.S. President Woodrow Wilson also opposed extradition, arguing that punishing 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 of both the Prussian and imperial thrones. He also released his soldiers and officials in both Prussia and the empire from their oaths of loyalty to him. Wilhelm
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.