SMS Prinzregent Luitpold[a] was the fifth and final vessel of the Kaiser class of dreadnought battleships of the Imperial German Navy.

Along with her four sister ships, Kaiser, Friedrich der Grosse, Kaiserin, and König Albert, Prinzregent Luitpold participated in all of the major fleet operations of World War I, including the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916.

After Germany's defeat in the war and the signing of the Armistice in November 1918, Prinzregent Luitpold and most of the capital ships of the High Seas Fleet were interned by the Royal Navy in Scapa Flow.

The German 1909 construction program included the last two members of the Helgoland-class battleships, along with two additional dreadnoughts to be built to a new design.

Despite the rising international tensions following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June, the High Seas Fleet began its summer cruise to Norway on 13 July.

During the last peacetime cruise of the Imperial Navy, the fleet conducted drills off Skagen before proceeding to the Norwegian fjords on 25 July.

[9] War between Austria-Hungary and Serbia broke out the following day, and in the span of a week all of the major European powers had joined the conflict.

That evening, the German battle fleet of some twelve dreadnoughts—including Prinzregent Luitpold and her four sisters—and eight pre-dreadnoughts came to within 10 nmi (19 km; 12 mi) of an isolated squadron of six British battleships.

Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer, the commander of III Squadron, lowered his flag on 24 January and transferred it to König.

[14] The Kaiser removed Ingenohl from his post on 2 February, following the loss of the armored cruiser SMS Blücher at the Battle of Dogger Bank the month before.

On 24 April, Prinzregent Luitpold ran aground in the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, though she was freed without causing significant damage.

[14] A series of advances into the North Sea were conducted throughout the rest of 1915; Prinzregent Luitpold was present for the sweeps on 17–18 May, 29–30 May, 10 August, 11–12 September, and 23–24 October.

[16] Scheer proposed a more aggressive policy designed to force a confrontation with the British Grand Fleet; he received approval from the Kaiser in February.

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

[22][d] Prinzregent Luitpold engaged the nearest target her gunners could make out, one of the Lion-class battlecruisers, at a range of some 22,300 yd (20,400 m), though her shots fell short.

[25] The British destroyers Nestor and Nomad, which had been disabled earlier in the engagement, lay directly in the path of the advancing High Seas Fleet.

[14] In early August, Prinzregent Luitpold and the rest of the operational III Squadron units conducted divisional training in the Baltic.

[14] On the approach to the English coast during the action of 19 August 1916, Scheer turned north after receiving a false report from a zeppelin about a British unit in the area.

[43] As a result, the bombardment was not carried out, and by 14:35, Scheer had been warned of the Grand Fleet's approach and so turned his forces around and retreated to German ports.

The ship's officers relented and agreed to form a Menagekommission, a council that gave the enlisted men a voice in their ration selection and preparation.

The Admiralstab (the Navy High Command) planned an operation to seize the Baltic island of Saaremaa (Ösel), and specifically the Russian gun batteries on the Sworbe Peninsula.

[48] On 18 September, the order was issued for a joint operation with the army to capture Ösel and Moon Islands; the primary naval component was to comprise the flagship, Moltke, along with III and IV Battle Squadrons of the High Seas Fleet.

[49] Opposing the Germans were the old Russian pre-dreadnoughts Slava and Tsesarevich, the armored cruisers Bayan, Admiral Makarov, and Diana, 26 destroyers, and several torpedo boats and gunboats.

[51] Two days later, Vice Admiral Wilhelm Souchon left Tagga Bay with Prinzregent Luitpold, Friedrich der Grosse, and Kaiserin to support German ground forces advancing on the Sworbe Peninsula.

[54] Prinzregent Luitpold and her four sisters were to have taken part in a final fleet action at the end of October 1918, days before the Armistice was to take effect.

[58] Following the capitulation of Germany in November 1918, most of the High Seas Fleet, under the command of Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, was interned in the British naval base in Scapa Flow.

[57] Prior to the departure of the German fleet, Admiral Adolf von Trotha made clear to Reuter that he could not allow the Allies to seize the ships, under any circumstances.

Reuter believed that the British intended to seize the German ships on 21 June 1919, which was the deadline for Germany to have signed the peace treaty.

On the morning of 21 June, the British fleet left Scapa Flow to conduct training maneuvers, and at 11:20 Reuter transmitted the order to his ships.

[59] Prinzregent Luitpold sank at 13:30; she was subsequently raised on 9 July 1931 and broken up by 1933 in Rosyth,[2] as with several other vessels, upside-down having capsized in the scuttling.