The Brandenburgs were among Germany's earliest battleships and already had serious limitations by 1914. Two Ottoman examples had performed poorly against the Greek cruiser Georgios Averof, while the German survivors could no longer be assumed to reach their original 16.5-knot design speed. Assigning the ships to the Fifth Battle Squadron for North Sea coastal defence asked them to intercept British warships that could simply outrun them. Modern missile interception provides a contrast: World War I visual detection did not give a slow battleship the long warning and calculated intercept point available to a modern missile defender. Baltic bombardment against Russian land forces better matched the old ships' guns and reduced the importance of speed. Reserve hulls are useful when planners give them missions they can physically perform.
Chapter · 42:08-47:24
The Brandenburg class shows why reserve roles must fit the ship
The slow Brandenburg-class battleships were poor North Sea interceptors but became more useful when reassigned to Baltic bombardment.