In August 1894, the navy settled on an ship armed with four 24 cm guns and eighteen 15 cm guns. The decision was a gamble, as Krupp had not actually designed a 24 cm gun, and if the tests had proved to be a failure, the ship would not have had a main battery gun, since her turrets could not be reworked to accommodate the 28 cm gun. The advent of Krupp cemented armor allowed a significant saving of weight, as it was much more effective than traditional Krupp armor, so less armor could be used to achieve the same level of protection. They retained the same armor layout of the Brandenburgs, although the weight savings would have allowed the adoption of a more comprehensive layout that would be used in the subsequent . The propulsion system was improved with the adoption of water-tube boilers and reorganized to incorporate a third propeller shaft, which became standard for German capital ships. The navy had concerns about the reliability of the water-tube Thornycroft boilers, so the first vessel, , was completed with just four of the new types, with the remaining eight being older fire-tube boilers.
