"Kaiser Friedrich III"s keel was laid on 5 March 1895, at the "Kaiserliche Werft" (Imperial Shipyard) in Wilhelmshaven, under construction number 22. Kaiser Wilhelm II, the son of the ship's namesake, hammered the first rivet into the keel. She was ordered under the contract name "Ersatz Preussen", to replace the elderly armored frigate "Preussen". "Kaiser Friedrich III" was launched on 1 July 1896 and Wilhelm II was again present, this time to give the launching speech. The ship was commissioned on 7 October 1898 and began sea trials in the Baltic Sea. Of major concern was how the three-shaft arrangement would perform on a ship the size of "Kaiser Friedrich III"; the preceding "Brandenburg" class had used two shafts. After the trials were completed in mid-February 1899, "Kaiser Friedrich" returned to Wilhelmshaven and was decommissioned so defects identified during the trials could be remedied. The work lasted longer than originally planned, and the ship remained out of service for much of the year. In addition, her main battery guns had not been delivered.