Beowulf was built by the AG Weser shipyard between and , and was armed with a main battery of three centimeter 9. She served in the German fleet throughout the s and was rebuilt in — Beowulf was demobilized in and used as a target ship for U-boats thereafter. She was ultimately broken up for scrap in In the late s, the German Kaiserliche Marine Imperial Navy grappled with the problem of what type of capital ship to build in the face of limited naval budgets owing to parliamentary objections to naval spending and the cost of dredging the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal.
Caprivi ordered ten coastal defense ships to guard the entrances to the canal, since even opponents of the navy in the Reichstag Imperial Diet agreed that such vessels were necessary. The first six of these, the Siegfried class , were based on the smallest proposal. Beowulf was 79 meters ft long overall and had a beam of She displaced 3, t 3, long tons normally and up to 3, t 3, long tons at full load.
Her hull had a long forecastle deck that extended most of the vessel's length. She was also fitted with a pronounced ram bow. Beowulf had a crew of 20 officers and enlisted men.
Her propulsion system consisted of two vertical 3-cylinder triple-expansion engines , each driving a screw propeller. Steam for the engines was provided by four coal-fired fire-tube boilers that were vented through a single funnel. The ship's propulsion system provided a top speed of The ship was armed with a main battery of three 24 cm 9. Two were placed side by side forward, and the third was located aft of the main superstructure.
They were supplied with a total of rounds of ammunition. For defense against torpedo boats , the ship was also equipped with a secondary battery of eight 8. Beowulf also carried four 35 cm One was at the bow, another at the stern, and two amidships. The ship was protected by an armored belt that was mm 9.
