The four "Sachsen"-class ships were transferred to II Division before the winter cruise of 1894–1895, following the completion of the four s. The German fleet now possessed two homogenous squadrons of four ships each. The two divisions steamed to Orkney and the Shetland Islands in the spring of 1895. "Bayern" joined a massive fleet review on 21 July 1895 for the opening of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, which connected Kiel to the North Sea. The Autumn 1895 maneuvers simulated a high-seas battle between I and II Divisions in the North Sea, followed by combined maneuvers with the rest of the fleet in the Baltic.