The Zähringen was an old pre-WWI battleship that was converted into a radio controlled target ship. Being the third ship of the Wittelsbach class, the ship was too old to be used as an active warship after World War I, the Zähringen was the only ship of its class that was not scrapped in the early 1920s. Instead it was modified into a target ship in 1926/27.

Most of the superstructure was removed only the command tower and one funnel was kept. The old engines were replaced with an automatically controlled, oil fired triple expansion steam engine, the number of the ships shafts were reduced to two. To increase to boyocacy of the ship, many of the empty spaces inside were filled up with cork.

The ship was used as a target ship before and during World War II. On 18.12.1944 it burned out after hit by bombs during an air attack on Gotenhafen (Gdynia). On 26.02.1945, the wreck was scuttled at the harbor entrance in Gotenhafen (Gdynia) where it was broken down between 1949 and 1950.