Hessen, a 13,208-ton Braunschweig class battleship, was built at Kiel, Germany. Commissioned in September 1905, she served the Imperial German Navy in a combatant capacity until 1916, then as an auxiliary ship for the remainder of the First World War and beyond. As one of the elderly armored warships that Germany was allowed to retain for coastal defense service in the post-World War I era, Hessen was somewhat modernized in the mid-1920s and returned to battleship status. She served in this role until the middle 1930s.

In 1935-37, Hessen was extensively reconstructed at Wilhelmshaven for further service as a radio-controlled target ship. With a longer hull and more powerful engines, but no armament, she was thereafter somewhat lighter and faster than as a battleship. The ship was employed by the German Navy through the Second World War and was surrendered to the USSR in 1946. Renamed Tsel, she subsequently served in the Soviet Navy.