SMS Preussen (1873)

Preussen was ordered by the Imperial Navy from the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin; her keel was laid in 1871 under construction number 66.[2] This was the first time a private German shipbuilder was given a contract to build a large warship for the navy.[5] The ship was launched on 22 November 1873 and commissioned into the German fleet on 4 July 1876.[4] Although she was the third and final ship in her class to be laid down, she was the first to be launched and commissioned. This was because her two sisters, Friedrich der Grosse and Grosser Kurfürst, were built by newly established Imperial dockyards, while Preussen was built by an experienced commercial ship builder.[6]

After her commissioning in July 1876, Preussen served with the fleet.[4] She joined a squadron sent to the Mediterranean Sea in 1877 in response to unrest in the Ottoman Empire related to the Russo-Turkish War; the violence threatened German citizens living there. The squadron, which also included the two Kaiser-class ironclads, the armored frigate Friedrich Carl, and the aviso Falke, was commanded by Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Carl Ferdinand Batsch. The ships steamed to the ports of Haifa and Jaffa in July 1877, but found no significant tensions ashore. Batsch then departed and cruised the Mediterranean for the remainder of the summer, returning to Germany in October.[7][8]

Illustration of the fleet conducting maneuvers, including Preussen and several other ironclads and other vessels

In April 1878, Preussen participated in the fleet maneuvers, again under Batsch's command. By this time, she was joined by her two sister ships, Friedrich der Grosse and Grosser Kurfürst. While steaming in the English Channel on 31 May, the armored frigate König Wilhelm accidentally rammed Grosser Kurfürst; the latter quickly sank with the loss of 276 men.[9] After assisting in the rescue attempt, Preussen escorted the damaged König Wilhelm to Portsmouth, where the Royal Navy made available a dry dock for emergency repairs. Albrecht von Stosch, the chief of the Kaiserliche Marine, ordered Batsch and his staff to return to Germany immediately aboard Preussen and the dispatch vessel Falke.[10] The annual summer maneuvers for 1878 were canceled within a week of the sinking.[11]

In May 1879, the armored squadron was reactivated, composed of Preussen, her sister Friedrich der Grosse, and the old armored frigates Kronprinz and Friedrich Carl. The annual summer training cruise was primarily conducted in just the Baltic Sea, apart from a short voyage in June to the coast of Norway. The four ships returned to Kiel in September, where they were demobilized for the winter. The new armored corvette Sachsen replaced Kronprinz in the squadron in 1880. Wilhelm von Wickede, a former Austrian naval officer, replaced Batsch as the squadron commander. Again, the squadron remained in the Baltic for the summer cruise, with the exception of a short visit to Wilhelmshaven and Cuxhaven in August.[11][12]

The summer cruise in 1881 followed the same pattern as the year previous, though Kronprinz returned in place of Sachsen, which was plagued with engine problems.[13] Wickede again served as the commander. In July, the ships hosted a visit by the British reserve squadron, which by this time included the first British ironclad, HMS Warrior. Preussen and the rest of the squadron visited Danzig in September during a meeting between Kaiser Wilhelm I and the Russian Tsar Alexander III. The 1882 summer cruise included the same four ironclads from the previous year, and was again commanded by Wickede, who had by then been promoted to Konteradmiral. Preussen was kept in reserve during the annual summer maneuvers starting in 1883, as new ships, including the rest of the Sachsen-class ironclads entered service.[14][15] From 1883 to 1885, the ship underwent a modernization that included new boilers and a reconstructed poop deck. Two 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss guns and five submerged torpedo tubes were added in the hull.[16]

Preussen sometime after 1890

In August 1889, Preussen was reactivated to participate in Kaiser Wilhelm II's visit to Great Britain. The ship was assigned to II Division, along with her sister Friedrich der Grosse and the central battery ironclads Kaiser and Deutschland, under command of Konteradmiral Friedrich Hollmann. The fleet then conducted maneuvers in the North Sea before returning to Germany. Preussen and the rest of II Division became the training squadron for the fleet in 1889–1890, the first year the Kaiserliche Marine maintained a year-round ironclad force. The squadron escorted Wilhelm II's imperial yacht to the Mediterranean; the voyage included state visits to Italy and the Ottoman Empire. The squadron remained in the Mediterranean until April 1890, when it returned to Germany.[17]

Preussen participated in the ceremonial transfer of the island of Helgoland from British to German control in the summer of 1890. She was present during the fleet maneuvers in September, where the entire eight-ship armored squadron simulated a Russian fleet blockading Kiel. II Division, including Preuseen, served as the training squadron in the winter of 1890–1891. The squadron again cruised the Mediterranean, under the command of Konteradmiral Wilhelm Schröder.[18] Preussen saw one final round of fleet maneuvers with II Division in 1891.[19] She was removed from fleet duty to serve as a harbor guard ship at the end of 1891.[4][19]

She was based in Wilhelmshaven as a harbor ship starting on 16 November 1896. She was renamed Saturn on 12 November 1903,[4] so her name could be reused on the new battleship Preussen.[6] The ship was formally stricken from the naval register on 21 May 1906. She was subsequently used as a coal hulk for torpedo boats. After being converted for this use, Saturn could hold up to 5,000 t (4,900 long tons; 5,500 short tons) of coal. She was eventually sold for scrapping on 27 June 1919 and broken up that year in Wilhelmshaven. Her figurehead is on display in the Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr in Dresden, while her bow ornament is located in the Deutsches Museum in Munich.[4]