Were Deutschland's guns intended to shock other powers?

Were the Deutschland class's eleven-inch guns chosen to intimidate the other European powers?

Germany was allowed to sustain eleven-inch-gun production for its surviving pre-dreadnoughts, so retained manufacturing capacity explains the choice.

The proposal that gun calibre was intended chiefly as a dramatic signal is rejected. Germany already needed an eleven-inch-gun industry to maintain its permitted pre-dreadnoughts. Other major navies operated battleships with much larger guns, limiting the novelty of another eleven-inch-armed ship.