 Preussen was ordered by the Imperial Navy from the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin ; her keel was laid in 1871 under construction number 66 . This was the first time a private German shipbuilder was given a contract to build a large warship for the navy . The ship was launched on 22 November 1873 and commissioned into the German fleet on 4 July 1876 . Preussen cost the German government 7 @,@ 303 @,@ 000 gold marks . Although she was the third and final ship in her class to be laid down , she was the first to be launched and commissioned . This was because her two sisters , Friedrich der Grosse and Grosser Kurfürst , were built by newly established Imperial dockyards , while Preussen was built by an experienced commercial ship builder . 
