German Kurfuerst Friedrich Wilhelm Battleship, 1894

SMS Kurfurst Friedrich Wilhelm was one of the first ocean-going battleships of the German Imperial Navy. The ship was named for Friedrich Wilhelm, a 17th century Prussian Duke. She was the fourth pre-dreadnought of the Brandenburg class, along with her sister ships Brandenburg, Weißenburg, and Worth. She was laid down in 1890 in the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven, launched in 1891, and completed in 1893. The Brandenburg class battleships were unique for their era in that they carried six large-caliber guns in three twin turrets, as opposed to four guns in two turrets, as was the standard in other navies.

Kurfurst Friedrich Wilhelm saw limited active duty during her service career with the German fleet. She, along with her three sisters, saw one major overseas deployment, to China in 1900–01, during the Boxer Rebellion. The ship underwent a major modernization in 1904–1905. In 1910, Kurfurst Friedrich Wilhelm was sold to the Ottoman Empire and renamed Barbaros Hayreddin, where she saw heavy service during the Balkan Wars, taking part in two lost naval engagements with the Greek navy in December 1912 and January 1913 and providing artillery support to Ottoman ground forces in Thrace. On 8 August 1915, during World War I, the ship was torpedoed and sunk off the Dardanelles by the British submarine HMS E11 with heavy loss of life.