Up until the Kothar class, the Greenlandian Navy had been following the Royal Navy with its 4x12" gunned battleships. The Greenland Navy knew the Royal Navy was pursuing a policy of it being as big as the next two navies. It was also in a race with the new Germanic States Navy that had come into being with the gathering of all the German States under one banner. While the Royal Navy went to the Semi-Dreadnoughts for their next to classes (King Edward, and Lord Nelson) the Greenland navy kept with a 6" secondary armament but raised the number of guns aboard by fitting a triple 12" turret fore and aft for a six gun broadside. These ships were a step in the right direction but were outclassed by the speed of the Dreadnought that was completed just two years later.
The ships were of a size with the King Edward VII class ships. Where they differed the most was in the breadth of the ship that was required for the triple turrets. This also increased the overall displacement of the ships. The Kothar and its sistership were the last of the Greenlandian ships to be fitted with triple expansion engines. This led to their early retirement in the 1920's.
Both ships were seconded to the Mediterranean Fleet with the rest of the Pre-Dreadnoughts that were supporting the Gallipoli landings and the Strait of Otranto Fleet that was keeping the Austro-Hungarian Fleet bottled up in the Adriatic Sea. Neither ship received any damage during this service.
