"Nassau" was long, wide, and had a draft of . She displaced with a normal load, and fully laden. The ship had a crew of 40 officers and 968 enlisted men. "Nassau" retained three-shafted triple expansion engines with twelve coal-fired water-tube boilers instead of more advanced turbine engines. Her propulsion system was rated at and provided a top speed of . She had a cruising radius of at a speed of . This type of machinery was chosen at the request of both Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz and the Navy's construction department; the latter stated in 1905 that the "use of turbines in heavy warships does not recommend itself." This decision was based solely on cost: at the time, Parsons held a monopoly on steam turbines and required a 1 million gold mark royalty fee for every turbine engine made. German firms were not ready to begin production of turbines on a large scale until 1910.