With the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm II and her sisters were brought back into active duty as coastal defense ships in V Battle Squadron.

Following the end of the war in November 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II was stricken from the navy list and sold for scrap in the early 1920s.

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.

A second member of the class, Kaiser Wilhelm II, was delayed until early 1896, when the Reichstag approved the ship for the 1896–1897 budget.

Steam was provided by four marine-type and eight cylindrical water-tube boilers, all of which burned coal and were vented through a pair of tall funnels.

Kaiser Wilhelm II's powerplant was rated at 12,822 indicated horsepower (9,561 kW), which generated a top speed of 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph).

Her secondary armament consisted of eighteen 15 cm (5.9 inch) SK L/40 guns carried in a mix of turrets and casemates.

Close-range defense against torpedo boats was provided by a battery of twelve 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/30 quick-firing guns all mounted in casemates.

During the launching ceremony, Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Prince Heinrich christened the ship for his brother, Kaiser Wilhelm II.

[4] In early July 1900, the four Brandenburg-class battleships, which were assigned to I Division of I Squadron, were ordered to East Asian waters to assist in the suppression of the Boxer Uprising.

[9] While the ship was laid up, Admiral Hans von Koester replaced Hoffmann as the fleet commander, a position he would hold until the end of 1906.

The squadron then went on a cruise to Spain, and while docked in Cádiz, rendezvoused with the Brandenburg-class battleships returning from East Asian waters.

A major fleet exercise took place in the North Sea in May, and Kaiser Wilhelm II was again present at Kiel Week in June, where she was visited by Britain's King Edward VII, Lord William Palmer, and Prince Louis of Battenberg.

During its cruise in the North Sea, the fleet experimented with wireless telegraphy on a large scale and searchlights at night for communication and recognition signals.

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.

The fleet then cruised through the Kattegat and stopped in Copenhagen, where Kaiser Wilhelm II was visited by the Danish King Christian IX.

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.

[19][20] As a result of the British visit, the 1905 autumn maneuvers were shortened considerably, from 6 to 13 September, and consisted only of exercises in the North Sea.

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.

[21] During October, Kaiser Wilhelm II conducted individual training and, in November, joined the rest of I Squadron for a cruise in the Baltic.

Starting on 13 May, major fleet exercises took place in the North Sea and lasted until 8 June with a cruise around the Skagen into the Baltic.

[24] On 26 September 1906, now-Großadmiral (Grand Admiral) Koester lowered his flag aboard Kaiser Wilhelm II, ending her tenure as the fleet flagship; the new battleship Deutschland replaced her in this role.

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

Together with the North Sea reserve division, Kaiser Wilhelm II and her sister ships went on a training cruise to Norway, starting on 8 June.

The following day, III Squadron was disbanded and Kaiser Wilhelm II returned to service with the Baltic reserve division.

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.

[30] Kaiser Wilhelm II and her sisters returned to Kiel the following day, disembarked the landing force, and then 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 Wilhelm II and her sisters.

The following month, on 5 March, her crew was reduced and she steamed to Wilhelmshaven, where she was converted into the headquarters ship for the commander of the High Seas Fleet, commencing on 26 April.

[33] The naval clauses of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the war, limited the capital ship strength of the re-formed Reichsmarine to eight pre-dreadnought battleships of the Deutschland and Braunschweig classes, of which only six could be operational at any given time.