As part of his program to fortify the German navy, Kaiser William himself once designed a battleship. The completed plans were sent to the Italian minister of the marine (Admiral Brin, then considered the world's leading naval architect) whose remarkable assessment was duly relayed to the kaiser:

The ship's firepower, range, and speed were all unrivaled by existing vessels. Moreover, so well designed were its inner spaces that everyone -- from commander to cabin boy -- would herald it a miracle of modern convenience and efficiency. The only problem, the report concluded, was that, should the ship ever actually find itself on the water, it would sink like an immense brick.