A large-scale picture showing several ships of the German High Seas Fleet. The ship on the right is the 'Wittelsbach', which was a pre-Dreadnought battleship built in 1899. That on the left is also one of a pre-Dreadnought-battleship class, either the 'Wettin', 'Zähringen', 'Mecklenburg', or 'Schwaben'. The mast of another ship is in the far distance. All are shown manoeuvring and the ship on the left is firing guns. Brown and grey smoke billows from the funnels as they plough through the waves. The crest of Kaiser Wilhelm II is clearly visible in the stern of the 'Wittelsbach', which flies the German Imperial ensign.

In 1900 the German government created the German High Seas Fleet with a view to threatening the British fleet anywhere in the world. Admiral von Tirpitz, Secretary of State for the 'Reichsmarineamt ', 1897-1916, was responsible for building up the German fleet and developed what became known as the Tirpitz Plan to do so.

The artist was a German professor of naval painting who had been a pupil of Hermann Eschke. He painted large-scale marine works in a vigorous style, accompanied Prince Henry of Prussia on a voyage around the world in 1878 and ten years later made a similar voyage with Kaiser Wilhelm II. He was therefore an obvious choice for this commission. The painting is signed 'C.Saltzmann' bottom left.