The ships' top speed was rated at . During trials, however, the engines produced between , and a top speed between . The ships of the class could steam at a cruising speed of , with the exception of "Hessen". "Hessen" suffered from unstable steering, which increased fuel consumption and shortened her operational range to at . The first two ships—"Braunschweig" and "Elsass"—had four generators that produced 230 kW (74 V), while three following ships—"Hessen", "Preussen", and "Lothringen"—had four turbo-generators that provided 260 kW (110 V).