SMS Deutschland (His Majesty's Ship Germany)[a] was the first of five Deutschland-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy).

The latter, armed with ten large-caliber guns, was the first of a revolutionary new standard of "all-big-gun" battleships that rendered Deutschland and the rest of her class obsolete.

With the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, she and her sister ships were tasked with defending the mouth of the Elbe and the German Bight from possible British incursions.

After the battle, in which pre-dreadnoughts proved too vulnerable against more modern battleships, Deutschland and her three surviving sisters were assigned to coastal defense duties.

The passage of the Second Naval Law in 1900 under the direction of Vizeadmiral (VAdm—Vice Admiral) Alfred von Tirpitz secured funding for the construction of twenty new battleships over the next seventeen years.

[5] Powered by three triple expansion steam engines that each drove a screw propeller, Deutschland was capable of a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) from 15,781 indicated horsepower (11,768 kW).

Heavy armor in the citadel amidships protected her magazines and machinery spaces, while thinner plating covered the ends of the hull.

Deutschland replaced the battleship Kaiser Wilhelm II as the flagship of the Active Battle Fleet on 26 September, when Admiral Prince Heinrich hoisted his flag aboard.

Her first commander was Kapitän zur See (KzS—Captain at Sea) Wilhelm Becker, though he served aboard the ship for just a month and was replaced by KzS Günther von Krosigk [de] in September.

[10] Fleet maneuvers in the North Sea followed, in early 1907, with a cruise to Skagen, Denmark, followed by mock attacks on the main naval base at Kiel.

After returning from Norway, Deutschland went to Swinemünde in early August, where Czar Nicholas II of Russia met the German fleet in his yacht Standart.

This year, the maneuvers were delayed to allow for a large fleet review, including 112 warships, for Kaiser Wilhelm II in the Schillig roadstead.

Prince Heinrich had pressed for such a cruise the previous year, arguing that it would prepare the fleet for overseas operations and would break up the monotony of training in German waters, though tensions with Britain over the developing Anglo-German naval arms race were high.

Holtzendorff's tenure as fleet commander was marked by strategic experimentation, owing to the increased threat the latest underwater weapons posed and the fact that the new Nassau-class battleships were too wide to pass through the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal.

[17] In November, Deutschland, accompanied by the aviso Hela and the dispatch boat Sleipner, hosted Wilhelm II during the celebration of the opening of the Naval Academy Mürwik in Flensburg.

Another fleet review was held during the exercises for a visiting Austro-Hungarian delegation that included Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Admiral Rudolf Montecuccoli.

[18][8] In mid-1912, due to the Agadir Crisis, the summer cruise was confined to the Baltic, to avoid exposing the fleet during the period of heightened tension with Britain and France.

The resulting damage necessitated dry-docking, and repairs were completed by November, allowing the ship to take part in the winter cruise in the Baltic.

[20] On 30 January 1913, Holtzendorff was relieved as the fleet commander, owing in large part due to Wilhelm II's displeasure with his strategic vision.

[21] Deutschland returned to Wilhelmshaven on 21 January, where, two days later, Ingenohl temporarily made the ship his flagship while Friedrich der Grosse was transferred to the Baltic for training exercises.

During this period, the Battle of Dogger Bank took place, where the German armored cruiser Blücher was sunk and the battleships of the High Seas Fleet failed to intervene.

Afterward, Deutschland returned to the Elbe for guard duty, and on 14 March she became the II Squadron flagship under Konteradmiral (KAdm—Rear Admiral) Felix Funke, though he was replaced by KAdm Franz Mauve [de] on 12 August.

On 24–25 April 1916, Deutschland and her four sisters joined the dreadnoughts of the High Seas Fleet—which was now commanded by VAdm Reinhard Scheer—to support the battlecruisers of I Scouting Group on a raid of the English coast.

[30] By this time, the German battlecruisers were steaming south to draw the British ships toward the main body of the High Seas Fleet.

[32] The German fleet's maneuverability was severely hampered by the presence of the pre-dreadnoughts; if Scheer ordered an immediate turn towards Germany, he would have to sacrifice the slower ships to make good his escape.

Mauve considered moving his ships to the rear of the line, astern of the III Battle Squadron dreadnoughts, but decided against it when he realized the movement would interfere with the maneuvering of Admiral Franz von Hipper's battlecruisers.

[39] Late on the 31st, the fleet organized for the night march back to Germany; Deutschland, Pommern, and Hannover fell in behind König and the other dreadnoughts of III Battle Squadron towards the rear of the line.

[44] The German fleet reached Wilhelmshaven a few hours later, where the undamaged dreadnoughts of the Nassau and Helgoland classes took up defensive positions while the damaged ships and the survivors of II Squadron retreated within the harbor.

[21] The experience at Jutland demonstrated that pre-dreadnoughts had no place in a naval battle with dreadnoughts, and they were thus left behind when the High Seas Fleet sortied again on 18 August.

The ship's bow ornament is on display at the Eckernförde underwater weapons school, and her bell is in the mausoleum of Prince Heinrich at the Hemmelmark estate.