 SMS Kaiser was the lead ship of the Kaiser @-@ class ironclads ; SMS Deutschland was her sister ship . Named for the title " Kaiser " ( German : Emperor ) , held by the leader of the then newly created German Empire , the ship was laid down in the Samuda Brothers shipyard in London in 1871 . The ship was launched in March 1874 and commissioned into the German fleet in February 1875 . Kaiser mounted a main battery of eight 26 cm ( 10 in ) guns in a central battery amidships . 
