SMS Bayern[a] was one of four Sachsen-class armored frigates of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy).

She participated in several cruises escorting Kaiser Wilhelm II on state visits to Great Britain and to various cities in the Baltic Sea in the late 1880s and early 1890s.

During 1895–1898, the ship was modernized at the Schichau-Werke dockyard in Danzig; she served for another decade with the fleet before being withdrawn from active service in 1910.

The Sachsen class was the first group of capital ships built under the tenure of General Albrecht von Stosch, the first Chief of the Imperial Admiralty.

They proved to be controversial in service, as critics pointed out their poor seakeeping, tendency to roll in heavy seas, and low speed compared to earlier armored frigates.

[2] Along with her three sisters, Bayern was the first large, armored warship built for the German navy that relied entirely on engines for propulsion.

She was built at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Wilhelmshaven; her keel was laid down in June 1874 under yard number 3.

[4][8] Bayern remained out of service for the first two years of her career; this in part had to do with the poor performance of her sister Sachsen in the fleet maneuvers of 1880.

[9] Among the problems associated with the Sachsen-class ships was a tendency to roll dangerously due to their flat bottoms, which greatly reduced the accuracy of their guns.

[12] During the exercises, Bayern ran aground in the Great Belt and was laid up for repairs at the Kaiserliche Werft in Kiel.

After the work was completed, Bayern and Grille embarked on a training cruise in the Baltic along the German coast, as far as Memel.

[7] In October 1885, August von Thomsen, who had been appointed chief gunner, set up the first long range gunnery experiments on Bayern,[13] which took place off the Curonian Spit.

She was towed to the construction site of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal on 3 June 1887 to be present for the beginning of work on the waterway that was to link Kiel with the North Sea.

[7][15] The ship served with the Panzergeschwader (Armored Squadron) from 23 May 1888, including during the annual fleet maneuvers, commanded by KzS Gustav von Senden-Bibran.

[8][16] Bayern spent the next year out of service, and during this period, Korvettenkapitän August Gruner and then KzS Otto von Diederichs were briefly assigned to command the ship in February and March, respectively.

The next month, she contributed her landing party for a parade held in Kiel in honor of Field Marshall Helmuth von Moltke.

On 16 June 1892, the ship ran aground in the Kieler Förde, and she had to be drydocked at the Kaiserliche Werft in Kiel to repair her leaking hull.

[24] She acted as the temporary flagship of Vizeadmiral (vice admiral) Hans von Koester from September to November.

[22] Bayern joined a very large fleet review on 21 July 1895 for the opening of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, which connected Kiel to the North Sea.

She temporarily served as the flagship of I Squadron from 3 to 16 November and then from 17 December to 28 February 1899, which was at that time commanded by now-Vizeadmiral Thomsen.

[17] Bayern was moved to Kiel in late 1903, where she served as part of the Baltic Sea Naval Station from 2 January 1904.

In 1913, during the first Kiel flight week, Bayern was used as a target for aircraft; one of the planes scored two hits on the ship during their fourth and fifth passes, once on the upper deck and the second on her conning tower.