SMS Schleswig-Holstein, one of the five Deutschland-class battleships, was the last pre-dreadnought battleship built by the German Kaiserliche Marine. The ship was laid down in the Germaniawerft dockyard in Kiel in August 1905 and commissioned into the fleet nearly three years later in July 1908. The ships of her class were already outdated by the time they entered service, being inferior in size, armor, firepower and speed to the new post-Dreadnought battleships. The ship was named for the province of Schleswig-Holstein.