SMS Gneisenau
"Gneisenau" was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen, Germany in 1904, under construction number 144. She was launched on 14 June 1906, and commissioned into the fleet nearly two years later on 6 March 1908. The ship cost the German government 19,243,000 goldmarks. The ship had been designed for service with the High Seas Fleet, though it was found to be too weak for service with the battle fleet; instead it was deployed overseas, a role in which it performed well.
SMS Hessen
SMS "Hessen" was the third of five pre-dreadnought battleships of the . She was laid down in 1902, was launched in September 1903, and was commissioned into the German "Kaiserliche Marine" (Imperial Navy) in September 1905. Named after the state of Hesse, the ship was armed with a battery of four guns and had a top speed of . Like all other pre-dreadnoughts built at the turn of the century, "Hessen" was quickly made obsolete by the launching of the revolutionary in 1906; as a result, she saw only limited service with the German fleet.