These training maneuvers were nevertheless very important to developing German naval tactical doctrine in the two decades before World War I, especially under the direction of Alfred von Tirpitz.

Though they were the first modern battleships built in Germany, presaging the Tirpitz-era High Seas Fleet, the authorization for the ships came as part of a construction program that reflected the strategic and tactical confusion of the 1880s caused by the Jeune École (Young School).

The fleet then steamed through the Skagerrak to the Baltic; heavy storms caused significant damage to many of the ships and the torpedo boat S41 capsized and sank in the storms—only three men were saved.

[10] The typical routine was interrupted in early August when Wilhelm II and Augusta went to visit the Russian imperial court at Kronstadt; both divisions of I Squadron were sent to accompany the Kaiser.

[13] The exercises started in the Baltic and on 30 August the fleet passed through the Kattegat and Skagerrak and steamed into the North Sea for further maneuvers in the German Bight, which lasted until 7 September.

[15] During the Boxer Uprising in 1900, Chinese nationalists laid siege to the foreign embassies in Beijing and murdered Baron Clemens von Ketteler, the German minister.

[17] Those Western soldiers in China at the time were too few in number to defeat the Boxers;[18] in Beijing there was a force of slightly more than 400 officers and infantry from the armies of the eight European powers.

[21] Led by the British Admiral Edward Seymour, these men attempted to reach Beijing but were forced to stop in Tianjin due to heavy resistance.

The expedition included Weissenburg and her three sisters, six cruisers, ten freighters, three torpedo boats, and six regiments of marines, under the command of Generalfeldmarschall (General Field Marshal) Alfred von Waldersee.

[23] On 7 July, KAdm Richard von Geißler, the expeditionary force commander, reported that his ships were ready for the operation, and they left two days later.

[24] By the time the German fleet had arrived, the siege of Beijing had already been lifted by forces from other members of the Eight-Nation Alliance that had formed to deal with the Boxers.

The plans had initially called for the center 28 cm turret to be replaced with an armored battery of medium-caliber guns, but this proved to be prohibitively expensive.

She was reactivated on 2 August 1910 to participate in the annual maneuvers with III Squadron, though the sale of Weissenburg and Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm to the Ottoman Empire was announced just a few days later.

After lengthy negotiations, including Ottoman attempts to buy one or more of the new battlecruisers Von der Tann, Moltke, and Goeben, the Germans offered to sell the four ships of the Brandenburg class at a cost of 10 million marks.

[40] Turgut Reis, along with Barbaros Hayreddin and the obsolete central battery ironclad Mesudiye had been on a summer training cruise since July, and so were prepared for the conflict.

While off the island of Kos on 1 October, the ships received word of the Italian attack, prompting them to steam at full speed for the safety of the Dardanelles, arriving later that night.

On 7 October, the day before the Balkan League attacked, Turgut Reis and Barbaros Hayreddin were anchored off Haydarpaşa, along with the cruisers Hamidiye and Mecidiye and several torpedo boats.

Both battleships took part in gunnery training in the Sea of Marmara on 3 November, but stopped after firing only a few salvos each, as their main battery mountings were not fully functional.

[53] The Ottoman fleet sortied from the Dardanelles at 09:30; the smaller craft remained at the mouth of the straits while the battleships sailed north, hugging the coast.

The Greek flotilla, which included the armored cruiser Georgios Averof and three Hydra-class ironclads, sailing from the island of Lemnos, altered course to the northeast to block the advance of the Ottoman battleships.

[55] Turgut Reis, Barbaros Hayreddin, and other units of the Ottoman fleet departed the Dardanelles at 08:20 on the morning of 18 January, and sailed toward the island of Lemnos at a speed of 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph).

[55] Georgios Averof, with the three Hydra-class ironclads and five destroyers trailing behind, intercepted the Ottoman fleet approximately 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) from Lemnos.

After Barbaros Hayreddin suffered several hits that reduced her speed to 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph), Turgut Reis took the lead of the formation and Bey decided to break off the engagement.

On 26 March, the barrage of 28 and 10.5 cm shells fired by Turgut Reis and Barbaros Hayreddin assisted in the repelling of advance of the 2nd Brigade of the Bulgarian 1st Infantry Division.

Their advance was supported by both field artillery and the heavy guns of Turgut Reis and the other warships positioned off the coast; the assault gained the Ottomans about 1,500 m (4,900 ft) by nightfall.

[61] On 11 April, Turgut Reis and Barbaros Hayreddin, supported by several smaller vessels, steamed to Çanakkale to provide distant cover for a light flotilla conducting a sweep for Greek warships.

In early November, the Black Sea Raid of the German battlecruiser Goeben, which had been transferred to the Ottoman navy and renamed Yavuz Sultan Selim, resulted in declarations of war by Russia, France, and Great Britain.

Admiral Guido von Usedom, the head of the German naval mission to the Ottoman Empire, sent her and Barbaros Hayreddin to Nagara to support the Dardanelles forts.

[57] On 19 January 1918, Yavuz and the light cruiser SMS Breslau, which had also been transferred to Ottoman service under the name Midilli, sailed from the Dardanelles to attack several British monitors stationed outside.

[57] Two main turrets were removed and installed as a part of the heavy coastal battery Turgut Reis, situated at the Asian coast of the Dardanelles Strait.