The SMS Markgraf was a battleship type Konig class of 25'388 tonnes for a length of 175m, 30m at the beam and a draught of 9m. She was powered by three turbines developing 46'000hp acting each on a propeller bringing her to a maximum speed of 22 knots. Her armament consisted of ten 305mm canons, fourteen 150mm canons, six 85mm canons and five 500mm torpedo tubes. She needed a crew of 1136 men and officers.

Built at the Weser AG shipyard at Bremen, she was launched on the 4th of June 1913 and officially completed on the 1st of October 1914. She served in the Third Battle Squadron and took part in the battle of Jütland on the 31st of May 1916. The SMS Markgraf was the third ship of König class to be built and had a budget of 2.5mio£ which in those days was a colossal amount. In 1913, estimation where that 90% of the national budget national was spent on defense. Once the König class finished, the budget was much reduced. In 1916, SMS Markgraf was fitted with a new mast of a much superior diameter than her original one to fit a new stereoscopic long base rangefinder. During the war SMS Markgraf took part in the same operations than SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm. Her last bloody events where during the scuttling. A handful of British Marines shot dead the officer in command, the corvette captain Walter Schumann and the officer chief Hermann Dittman while trying to prevent the access aboard of the British troops. On the 21st of June 1919, SMS Markgraf vanished under the surface.

The wreck of SMS Markgraf lies nearly upside down pulled down by the weight of her armament. Her port side is the most interesting and the most accessible side of the ship and she is the deepest of the three battleships. The dive is similar to the SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm, except that both ships lie on different sides. Penetration is possible in the crews spaces by working your way up from the decks in the middle of the ship where their is enough space to get in completely equipped. Its important to have a good light for this, natural light is left out.

The main difficulty lies in the depth. The gas of choice would be a blend of helitrox or if not available a Nitrox 28. Their is usually a little bit of current on the wreck and the visibility is usually less than 10m. The visibility can however fall much lower due to the presence of sediments during penetration.