 The ships ' armament was nearly identical to the preceding Kaiser Friedrich III class . The primary armament consisted of a battery of four 24 cm ( 9 @.@ 4 in ) SK L / 40 guns in twin gun turrets , one fore and one aft of the central superstructure . The guns were mounted in Drh.L. C / 98 turrets , which allowed elevation to 30 ° and depression to − 5 ° . At maximum elevation , the guns could hit targets out to 16 @,@ 900 meters ( 18 @,@ 500 yd ) . The guns fired 140 @-@ kilogram ( 310 lb ) shells at a muzzle velocity of 690 m / s ( 2 @,@ 263 ft / s ) . They had a rate of fire of three to four shots per minute . Each gun was supplied with 85 shells , for a total of 340 . 
