Of the Helgoland-class consisting of the Helgoland, Ostfriesland, Thüringen and Oldenburg. Preceded by the Nassau-class and succeeded by the Kaiser-class. Originally to be built at the Schichau Werke, Danzig, Germany with yard number 828 but her building was not earlier ordered as in 1909 although before approval of the 1909 budget. Laid down on the Kaiserliche Werft, Wilhelmshaven as the Ersatz Frithjof on 1 March 1909, Launched on 30 June 1910, incomplete transported to Kiel, Germany to be completed, commissioned on 1 May 1912, stricken from the navy list on 5 November 1919, handed over to Japan according to the Treaty of Versailles as the “M” to compensate the German warships scuttled at Scapa Flow on 13 May 1920, of no use for the Japanese navy was she sold to a British breaking firm in June 1920 although broken up at Dordrecht, Netherlands in 1921. Building costs 45.801.000 gold marks.
General technical specifications of this class. Displacement 22.808 tons/22.448 long tons (design)-24.700 tons/24.300 long tons (full load) and as dimensions 167,20 (over all) x 28,50 x 8,94 metres or 548.7 x 93.6 x 29.4 feet. The 3 shaft 4 cylinder vertical triple engines divided over 3 engine rooms and 12 boilers supplied 27.617-35.104 (trials) ihp allowing a speed of 20,5 -21,3 (trials) knots and with a speed of 10 knots a range of 5.500 nautical miles. Originally a bunker capacity of 3.200 ton/3.150 long tons coal increased later with 197 tons/194 long tons oil which was sprayed over the coal to obtain a higher burn rate. The crew numbered 1.1113 men. The armament consisted of 6x2-30,5cm/12.0” L/50 quick firing guns, 14-15cm/5.9” L/45 quick firing guns, 14-8,8cm/3.5” L/45 quick firing guns (after 1914 were 2 of these guns replaced by 2-8,8cm Flag guns and between 1916-1916 were the another 1 guns removed) and 6-50cm/20” submerged torpedo tubes (1x bow, 1x stern, 2 each broadside). The armour consisted of a 30cm/12” thick belt, 6,3cm/2.5” thick deck with the barbettes and gun turrets protected by 30cm thick armour.
