 Kaiser and her sister Deutschland remained in reserve for the next six years . They were reactivated in the spring of 1883 for the summer maneuvers under the command of Wilhelm von Wickede . Due to their long period out of service , their engines proved troublesome during the training cruise . Regardless , the 1883 cruise was the first year the German navy completely abandoned the use of sails on its large ironclads . Kaiser went into reserve during the 1884 maneuvers , which were conducted by a homogenous squadron composed of the four Sachsen @-@ class ironclads . The ship did not see active duty again until August 1887 , when she joined König Wihelm and Oldenburg as the I Squadron for three weeks of maneuvers with the rest of the fleet . 
