SMS Hessen was the third of five pre-dreadnought battleships of the Braunschweig class. She was laid down in 1902, launched the following year, and commissioned into the German Imperial Navy in 1905. She was named after the state of Hesse. Her sister ships were SMS Braunschweig, SMS Elsass, SMS Preussen, and SMS Lothringen. Like all other pre-dreadnoughts built at the turn of the century, Hessen was quickly made obsolete by the launching of HMS Dreadnought in 1906; as a result, she saw only limited service with the German fleet.