This class of battleships is the first modern dreadnought built by the German Navy to confront the Royal Navy USS Fearless battleship. There are four ships, named after the four major industrial provinces belonging to the Kingdom of Prussia - Nassau (in central Germany), Westfalen, Rheinland, and Posen (now Poznania region of Poland).

The service of the Fearless in 1906 led to a new round of shipbuilding competition among naval powers. Before the emergence of the Fearless, the German Navy was not fully prepared for this, but had already begun to transform the old battleships of the 1901 type and strengthen armor protection. Referring to the new Fearless ships of the German Royal Navy, the first batch of new battleships of the Royal German Navy were quickly designed. Unlike the Fearless, it uses a 6-seater twin 11-inch main gun, which is smaller than the 12-inch caliber of the Fearless, but the firing rate is much faster than the British Navy's naval guns, and it can ensure that eight main guns are fired at the same time in each ship's side direction, which is stronger than the firepower of the Fearless. However, in terms of power, the Germans have no confidence in the large steam turbine used by the Fearless, and the Nassau class still uses the old three-cylinder reciprocating steam engine.

In 1907, the German Navy placed an order to build new battleships to the shipyard. The Royal Shipyard in Wilhelmshaven built the Nassau; the other three were built by the Weiser Shipyard in Bremen, the Vulgan Shipyard in Stettin and the Germanic Shipyard in Kiel. All four ships were included in the First Battleship Fleet.

As the German and British shipbuilding competition entered a state of fanaticism, the Nassau-class design quickly became behind. During World War I, they both participated in the Battle of Jutland and were both slightly injured. During the rest of the war, due to the excellent blockade of the German high seas by the British Navy, they did nothing and only tried to break through from the North Sea many times. The battleship Westflon once participated in the Finnish War of Independence and supported the German army to occupy the declared independence of the Grand Duchy of Finland.

After World War I, the Allies stipulated the dissolution of the German Navy in the Treaty of Versailles and confiscated their main ships as compensation. The old Nassau class was not on the extradition compensation list, and the Allies allowed Germany to retain these battleships. However, with the collective sinking of the German main fleet in Scapa Bay, the Allies announced the extradition of these four relatively intact battleships to compensate for compensation. On November 5, 1919, four Nassau class battleships were removed from the German Navy list. The Nassau was compensated to Japan, and the remaining three were compensated to Britain. The Nassau was also sold to Britain in 1920. All four ships were dismantled and demolished in the early 1920s.

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Ship name: Nassau (construction code ErsatzBayern) | Westphalon (construction code ErsatzSachsen) | Rhineland (construction code ErsatzWuettemberg) | Possen (construction code ErsatzBaden)

Shipyard: Royal Shipyard/Wilhelmshaven|Wissel Shipyard/Bremen|Vulgan Shipyard/Stedin|Germanian Shipyard/Kier

Starting 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

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

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

Dimensions (meters): 146.1 (full length) x26.9x8.76

Power: 12 Sulzer-Sunnycroft boilers (coal burning), three-seater and three-cylinder reciprocating steam engine, 22,000 horsepower

3-axis, 2-rudder parallel configuration

Maximum speed is 20 knots, with a battery life of 9400 nautical miles/10 knots; 2800 nautical miles/19 knots

Main gun: 12 280mm/45 diameter Krupp SKL/45 cannons, 6 double turrets

Secondary gun: 12 150mm/45 caliber guns, single-mounted side

Anti-torpedo boat/anti-air gun: 16 single-mounted 88mm/45 caliber gun

Torpedo: 6 450mm torpedo launch tubes (underwater installation, one door in front and one door on both sides of the A turret and D turret)
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