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
King George V-class battleship (1939) and Italy, it was supposed by the designers of these battleships that the treaty might not be renewed and the ships of the "King George V" class were designed with this possibility in mind. All five ships saw combat during World War II, with "King George V" and "Prince of Wales" being involved in the action on 24 May to 27 May 1941 that resulted in the German battleship being sunk. Following this on 25 October 1941, "Prince of Wales" was sent to Singapore arriving on 2 December and becoming the flagship of Force Z. On 10 December, "Prince of