This class of battleships was the first modern dreadnought built by the German Navy to confront the Royal Navy Dreadnought. There were four of them, named after the four major industrial provinces that belonged to the Kingdom of Prussia – Nassau/Nassau (in central Germany), Westfalen, Rheinland, and Posen (in present-day Poznania, Poland).

The commissioning of the Dreadnought in 1906 led to a new round of shipbuilding competition among naval powers. Before the appearance of the Dreadnought, the German Navy was not fully prepared for this, but it had already begun work on renovating the old battleships of the 1901 model to strengthen their armor protection. Referring to the new British dreadnoughts, the first new battleships of the German Royal Navy were quickly designed. Unlike the Dreadnought, it uses 6 twin 11-inch guns, although the caliber is smaller than the 12-inch of the Dreadnought, but the rate of fire is much faster than the British Navy's naval guns, and it can guarantee that there are eight main guns fired at the same time in each side direction, which is stronger than the Dreadnought's firepower. But in terms of power, the Germans did not have confidence in the kind of large steam turbines used by the Intrepid, and the Nassau class still used the old-fashioned three-cylinder reciprocating steam engine.

In 1907, the German Navy placed an order with the shipyard for the construction of new battleships. the Royal Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven to build the Nassau; The other three were built by the Wiesel shipyard in Bremen, the Vulcan shipyard in Stettin and the Germania shipyard in Kiel. All four ships were assigned to the First Battlefleet.

As the German and British shipbuilding races went into a frenzy, the design of the Nassau-class soon fell behind. In the First World War, they all took part in the Battle of Jutland, and both were slightly wounded. For the rest of the war, due to the excellent blockade of the German High Seas Fleet by the British Navy, they did nothing but make several attempts to break through from the North Sea direction. The battleship Vister **** fought in the Finnish War of Independence, supporting German forces in the occupation of the declared independent Grand Duchy of Finland.

After the end of World War I, the Allies stipulated in the Treaty of Versailles that the German navy be disbanded and its capital ships confiscated as compensation. The old Nassau-class was not on the list of extradition reparations, and the Entente allowed Germany to keep the battleships. However, with the collective self-sinking of Germany's main fleet at Scapa Bay, the Allies announced the extradition of these four relatively intact battleships to pay reparations. On November 5, 1919, four Nassau-class battleships were removed from the list of the German Navy. The Nassau was compensated to Japan, and the remaining three ships were compensated to the British. The Nassau was also sold to Britain in 1920. All four ships were dismantled and dismantled in the early 20s.

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Ship Name: Nassau (built code Ersatz Bayern) | West**** (built by code name Ersatz Sachsen) | Rhineland (built under the code name Ersatz Wuettemberg) | Posen (built under the name Ersatz Baden)

Shipyard: Royal Dockyards/Wilhelmshaven | Wiesel Shipyard/Bremen | Vulcan Shipyard / Stettin | Germania Shipyard / Kiel

Commencement Date: 7/22/1907 | 8/12/1907 | 6/1/1907 | 6/11/1907

Date of launch: 3/7/1908 | 7/1/1908 | 9/26/1908 | 12/12/ 1908

Date of service: 10/1/1909 | 11/16/1909 | 4/30/1910 | 3/31/1910

Displacement: 18,873 tons (design) / 20,535 tons (maximum)

Size (m): 146.1 (overall length) x 26.9 x 8.76

Power: 12 Sulzer-Sannikrovt boilers (coal-fired), three three-cylinder reciprocating steam engines, 22,000 hp

3-axis, 2-rudder parallel configuration

The maximum speed is 20 knots, and the cruising range is 9400 nautical miles / 10 knots; 2800 nautical miles / 19 knots

Main guns: 12 x 280mm/45x diameter Krupp SK L/45 guns, 6 twin turrets

Secondary guns: 12 x 150mm/45x guns, single mounted on the side of the gun

Anti-torpedo boats/anti-aircraft guns: 16 single-mounted 88mm/45x diameter guns

Torpedoes: 6 450mm torpedo tubes (underwater mounted, one front and rear, one on each side of A and D turrets)

Crew: 1,008 (40 officers)