became clear that the diesel would not be ready, so the center engine room—which had been left empty in Prinzregent Luitpold—was reconfigured to accept a third turbine. Only one significant change was introduced for the new ship, which became , was a larger tubular foremast that was capable of supporting a heavier fire direction top. This was later retrofitted to the other members of the class. General characteristics The König-class ships were long at the waterline, and long overall. They had a beam of , a forward draft of , and a rear draft of . As designed, the Königs displaced normally, but at full load, they displaced . The hulls were constructed with transverse and longitudinal steel frames, over which the outer hull plates were riveted. The ships' hulls each contained eighteen watertight compartments and were equipped with a double bottom that ran for 88% of the length of the hull. A long forecastle deck ran from the stem to the aft superfiring barbette. The ships' superstructure was minimal, consisting of a set of forward and aft conning towers, though König was built as a squadron flagship and accordingly received a larger bridge to accommodate an admiral's staff. In 1917, Markgraf received an enlarged bridge similar to Königs as well. The first three ships were fitted with a pair of pole masts to support their spotting tops, though Kronprinz received a heavier tubular mast. Steering was controlled by a pair of rudders placed side by side. German naval historian Erich Gröner said the German navy considered the ships to be "very good sea-boats", and that they possessed a gentle motion. They suffered a slight loss of speed in a swell, and with the rudders hard over, the ships lost up to 66% speed and heeled over 8 degrees. The battleships had a transverse metacentric height of . König, Grosser Kurfürst, Markgraf, and Kronprinz each had a standard crew of 41 officers and 1095 enlisted men; König, which became the flagship of III Battle Squadron, had an additional crew of 14 officers and another 68 sailors. While serving as a deputy command flagship, the ships carried an additional 2 officers and 24 enlisted men. The ships carried several smaller boats, including one picket boat, three barges, two launches, two yawls, and two dinghies. Propulsion The ships of the class were equipped with three sets of steam turbines, each set consisting