Hollmann requested the first Kaiser Friedrich III-class pre-dreadnought battleship in 1892, but the Franco-Russian Alliance, signed the year before, put the government's attention on expanding the Army's budget.

Parliamentary opposition forced Hollmann to delay until the following year, when Caprivi spoke in favor of the project, noting that Russia's recent naval expansion threatened Germany's Baltic Sea coastline.

In June 1897, Hollmann was replaced by Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Alfred von Tirpitz, who quickly proposed and secured approval for the first Naval Law in early 1898.

Kaiser Karl der Grosse's powerplant was rated at 13,000 metric horsepower (12,822 ihp; 9,561 kW), which generated a top speed of 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph).

[2] German Emperor (Kaiser) Wilhelm II believed that a strong navy was necessary for the country to expand its influence outside continental Europe.

In October 1901, a shipyard crew took the ship to the naval base at Wilhelmshaven, though while en route she ran aground in the lower Elbe river.

[5] Kaiser Karl der Grosse was assigned to II Division of I Squadron on 19 February, the last member of her class to enter active service.

[11] Kaiser Karl der Grosse participated in exercises in the Skagerrak from 11 to 21 January 1904, with her squadron from 8 to 17 March, and with the fleet in the North Sea in May.

The German fleet departed on 13 July, bound for the Netherlands; I Squadron anchored in Vlissingen the following day, where the ships were visited by Queen Wilhelmina.

Departing on 20 July for a cruise in the northern North Sea with the rest of the fleet, the squadron stopped in Molde, Norway, nine days later while the other units went to other ports.

The fleet moved to the North Sea on 3 September, where it took part in a major landing operation, after which the ships took the ground troops from IX Corps that participated in the exercises to Altona for a parade for Wilhelm II.

[15] While on the cruise on 18 July, Kaiser Karl der Grosse was detached to visit Antwerp to represent Germany during the celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the Belgian Revolution.

[5] The rest of the fleet then cruised through the Kattegat and stopped in Copenhagen and Stockholm; Kaiser Karl der Grosse rejoined them on 3 August in Karlskrona.

The summer cruise ended on 9 August, though the autumn maneuvers that would normally have begun shortly thereafter were delayed by a visit from the British Channel Fleet that month.

The first exercise presumed a naval blockade in the German Bight, and the second envisioned a hostile fleet attempting to force the defenses of the Elbe.

Kaiser Karl der Grosse and I Squadron anchored in Molde, where they were joined on 21 July by Wilhelm II aboard the steamer Hamburg.

The German ships departed the following day for Helgoland to join exercises being conducted there, arriving back in Kiel by 15 August, where preparations for the autumn maneuvers began.

During the autumn maneuvers, which lasted from 26 August to 6 September, the fleet conducted landing exercises in northern Schleswig with IX Corps.

[22] Following the conclusion of these maneuvers, Kaiser Karl der Grosse was decommissioned in Kiel on 18 September and assigned to the Reserve Division in the Baltic.

[2] By this time, the new "all-big-gun" battleships, which rendered pre-dreadnoughts like Kaiser Karl der Grosse obsolete, began to enter service.

[24] As a result of the outbreak of World War I, Kaiser Karl der Grosse and her sisters were brought out of reserve and mobilized as V Battle Squadron on 5 August 1914.

Instead, V Squadron was to carry the landing force, but this too was cancelled after Heinrich received false reports of British warships having entered the Baltic on 25 September.

[25] Kaiser Karl der Grosse and her sisters returned to Kiel the following day, disembarked the landing force, and proceeded to the North Sea, where they resumed guard ship duties.

Shortages of trained crews in the High Seas Fleet, coupled with the risk of operating older ships in wartime, necessitated the deactivation of Kaiser der Grosse and her sisters.

[26] Starting in October, she served briefly as a training ship for engine room personnel, though on 19 November she was decommissioned in Kiel and disarmed.