List of avisos of Germany

At the start of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the Prussians purchased Falke and requisitioned Pommerania. Grille engaged French forces in the Baltic during the war, but the rest of the fleet's avisos saw little activity in the conflict. Zieten, the first torpedo-armed aviso to be built for what was now the German Imperial Navy, was also the last major warship to be built abroad for the Imperial German fleet. The 1880s saw a significant aviso construction program that included two Blitz-class avisos, Greif, two Wacht-class avisos, and two Meteor-class avisos. The latter two classes were disappointments in service owing to their small size, insufficient speed, and in the case of the Meteors, excessive vibration from their engines. SMS Hela, the last vessel of the type to be built for the Imperial fleet, was completed in 1895. The Germans thereafter built light cruisers that fulfilled the roles occupied by the avisos; the first of these, the Gazelle class, combined the best features of Hela with those of contemporary unprotected cruisers. Hela was herself sunk in September 1914 during World War I; the other vessels still in service saw little active use during the war and were all broken up afterward.

One final vessel, Grille, was built in the mid-1930s for use as a yacht for Adolf Hitler. During World War II, she was used as a minelayer, a training ship, and a stationary headquarters ship in Norway before being seized by Britain. She was sold after the war to a private owner and was ultimately scrapped in 1951.

Kaiserliche Marine

Preussischer Adler

Preussischer Adler was an iron-

The two Nix-class avisos were ordered in the immediate aftermath of the First Schleswig War as part of a program intended to strengthen the Prussian fleet. Prince Adalbert of Prussia, one of the leading advocates for a larger navy, initially sought to have the ships built in Prussia, but domestic shipbuilders had little experience with steam ships, and so contracted with a British firm to build the vessels in 1850.^[5][6] The ships' careers in Prussian service proved to be short and uneventful, apart from repeated boiler fires aboard Nix. The Prussians were not satisfied with the ships, in part a result of Nix's fires and general unfamiliarity with operating steamships. They sold the vessels to Britain in exchange for the sail frigate Thetis in 1855; Nix and Salamander became HMS Weser and Recruit, respectively. The former saw action during the Crimean War at the Battle of Kinburn later that year, but both ships thereafter saw little use in the Royal Navy. Both were out of service by the mid-1860s, with Recruit being sold for scrap in 1869 and Weser following her to the breaker's yard in 1873.^[7][8][9]

Grille

Grille was ordered in 1855 as part of Adalbert's fleet expansion program; she was the first steam ship to use a

With Grille serving as a yacht in the 1850s, the Prussian Navy decided it needed another aviso to serve as a flagship for the gunboat flotillas defending the country's Baltic coast. The designers reverted to paddle wheels and a wooden hull, as they were not convinced of the long-term utility of iron hulls or screw propulsion. The ship went to the Mediterranean in 1860 to protect Prussian nationals in Italy during the Second Italian War of Independence. She served in her intended role during the Second Schleswig War, and saw action at the Battle of Jasmund against the Danish blockade squadron in March 1864, where she was hit only once. She was decommissioned after the war and saw no further service for the rest of the decade.^[18]

In poor condition by the late 1860s, Loreley was heavily rebuilt in 1869–1873, leading some historians to treat the vessel as two different ships. In 1879, the ship was sent to

Falke was originally built as a speculative project by her British constructors, who intended to sell the vessel to the

Pommerania was built for the Prussian postal service as a packet steamer, though the exact nature of her design and construction is uncertain. The navy's chief designer prepared the plans for the ship and the navy subsidized construction costs, which led the naval historians Hans Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, and Hans-Otto Steinmetz to suggest that the navy wanted to have a steamship it could requisition when needed but would not have to maintain. The navy brought the ship into commission during the Franco-Prussian War but crew shortages delayed conversion until after the war. She was used for fishing surveys in 1871 and 1872, with this work providing the scientific basis for the German Fisheries Act passed in 1874. She went to the Mediterranean with the

Beginning in 1869, the North German Federal Navy, under the direction of

Future admiral Otto von Diederichs served aboard the ship during her first year in service, which involved tests of the bow torpedo tubes that demonstrated that the bow tube, located in the hull below the waterline, was not satisfactory; Diederichs arranged for the tube to be moved to a swivel mount on the deck. Another future admiral, Alfred von Tirpitz, took command of the vessel in 1878; during training exercises in 1880, Tirpitz arranged a demonstration of the vessel's effectiveness by sinking the old paddle steamer Barbarossa. Zieten went to the Mediterranean during the 'Urabi revolt in 1882 along with several other vessels. She saw limited service in the 1890s, including as a fisheries vessel until the start of World War I in 1914, after which she was used as a guard ship. She was ultimately sold for scrap in 1921.^[32][33][34]

Blitz class

The Blitz-class ships were the first modern avisos built for the German fleet; they were the first German vessels of any type with steel hulls, and they abandoned traditional sailing rigs. They provided the basis for future developments that ultimately produced the light cruisers of the Gazelle class.^[35][36] The ships were initially armed with a 12.5 cm (4.9 in) gun and a 35 cm (13.8 in) torpedo tube, though their armament was improved in the early 1890s, including the addition of two more torpedo tubes.^[37]

The ships had extensive careers, remaining in active service for more than thirty years. Blitz spent much of her career as a flotilla leader for torpedo boats, while Pfeil served with the training squadron and the main fleet. Pfeil was deployed to German East Africa in 1889 to suppress the Abushiri revolt, returning to Germany in 1890. Throughout the 1890s, the ships served with the fleet, conducting a yearly routine of exercises and training cruises. They served in a variety of additional roles during the 1890s and 1900s, including as tenders, fishery protection vessels, and training ships. They operated as dedicated tenders to the battle squadrons of the High Seas Fleet by the mid-1900s, filling that role through the start of World War I. Blitz took part in Operation Albion in the Baltic Sea in late 1917 and Pfeil was later used as a training ship for U-boat crews. Both ships were discarded in the early 1920s.^[38][39]

Greif

Greif was designed at a time when torpedoes had become effective weapons and spurred the development of the

Completed in 1887, Greif was not commissioned until 1889. She remained in service with the fleet only until October 1890, when she was tasked with torpedo testing, a role she filled until 1894 when she was decommissioned. Recommissioned in May 1897, she served as a fleet scout for the next two years, thereafter being reduced to secondary roles once again, including as a training ship, before being decommissioned for the last time in September 1900. Greif was struck from the naval register in 1912,

ship breakers in 1921 and dismantled in Hamburg.^[42]

Summary of the Greif class

Ship	Armament[43]	Displacement[43]	Propulsion[43]	Service[43]
				Laid down	Commissioned	Fate
Greif	2 × 10.5 cm (4.1 in) L/35 guns	2,266 t (2,230 long tons)	2 × screws, 2 × marine steam engines, 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)	1885	9 July 1887	Broken up, 1921

Wacht class

Main article: Wacht-class aviso

Following the appointment of General Leo von Caprivi as the German admiralty chief in 1883, the navy began to experiment more seriously with torpedo boats. Caprivi embraced some of the ideas of the Jeune École doctrine, mostly importantly the theory that cheap torpedo boats could be used for coastal defense instead of larger, more expensive ironclads. This strategy found favor in the Reichstag (Imperial Diet), which generally opposed expanding the naval budget. Caprivi ordered the next pair of avisos—the Wacht class—with characteristics that would allow them to operate offensively with the torpedo boat flotillas. Their high speed came at the expense of gun armament and size (and thus seakeeping), discarding the more balanced Blitz design. As a result, the Wachts were disappointments in service.^[44][45]

The two ships spent most of their careers with the main fleet. Wacht went on a major cruise to the Mediterranean Sea in 1889. Jagd was the first ship to pass through the

Kaiser Wilhelm Canal in 1895 before the canal officially opened. Badly worn out by mid-1901, Jagd was decommissioned in August. The following month, Wacht was accidentally rammed and sunk by the ironclad Sachsen, though her entire crew was safely evacuated. Jagd was struck from the register in 1910 and used as a torpedo training platform until 1920, when she was sold for scrap.^[46][47]

Summary of the Wacht class

Ship	Armament[48]	Displacement[48]	Propulsion[48]	Service[48]
				Laid down	Commissioned	Fate
Wacht	3 × 10.5 cm L/35 guns 3 × 35 cm torpedo tubes	1,499 t (1,475 long tons)	2 × screws, 2 × marine steam engines, 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)	1886	9 August 1888	Sunk in collision, 1901
Jagd				1887	25 June 1889	Broken up, 1920

Meteor class

Main article: Meteor-class aviso

Unlike earlier avisos built for the fleet, which were designed to fill a variety of roles, the Meteor class was intended to protect the fleet's capital ships from torpedo boat attacks. They were armed with a battery of four 8.8 cm (3.5 in) quick-firing guns. Both vessels suffered from serious problems that rendered them unfit for service, namely poor seakeeping and excessive vibration of their propeller shafts. As a result, they saw little service, with Comet's only periods in commission being to test what were unsuccessful attempts to correct the problems. Meteor had a somewhat more active career, serving with the fleet in 1893–1894 and then as a fishery protection ship in 1895–1896, but she, too, spent most of her existence laid up. Both vessels were decommissioned in 1896 and struck from the naval register in 1911. Meteor was then used as a barracks ship, while Comet became a storage hulk; the two ships were broken up in 1919 and 1921, respectively.^[49][50]

Summary of the Meteor class

Ship	Armament[51]	Displacement[51]	Propulsion[51]	Service[51]
				Laid down	Commissioned	Fate
Meteor	4 × 8.8 cm guns 3 × 35 cm torpedo tubes	1,078 t (1,061 long tons)	2 × screws, 2 × marine steam engines, 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph)	1888	19 May 1891	Broken up, 1919
Comet		1,117 t (1,099 long tons)		1890	29 April 1893	Broken up, 1920

Hela

lithograph

of Hela

Main article: SMS Hela

Hela's design was intended to correct many of the deficiencies in the Wacht and Meteor classes, mainly through an increase in size that would produce improved seaworthiness. She was also a knot faster, which increased her usefulness as a fleet scout. She nevertheless proved to be too weakly armed for fleet service, and the next cruising-type vessels to be built in Germany were the Gazelle-class light cruisers; they were the first vessels of that type to be built, and they incorporated the best aspects of Hela and the unprotected cruisers that had been built in the 1880s and 1890s.^[52][53]

The ship served with the fleet from 1898 to 1902, and during this period, from mid-1900 to mid-1901, she was deployed as part of an expeditionary force sent to help suppress the

Helgoland, though only two men were lost in the sinking.^[54]

Summary of the Hela class

Ship	Armament[55]	Displacement[55]	Propulsion[55]	Service[55]
				Laid down	Commissioned	Fate
Hela	4 × 8.8 cm guns 3 × 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes	2,082 t (2,049 long tons)	2 × screws, 2 × triple-expansion steam engines , 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)	1893	3 May 1896	Sunk, 13 September 1914

Kriegsmarine

Grille

Main article: German aviso Grille

Grille, the last aviso built in Germany, was ordered as a state yacht for dictator

Nazi regime. She was fitted with experimental high-pressure steam turbines to evaluate them for future warships. The ship was used in a variety of roles during her career with the Kriegsmarine (War Navy); in the late 1930s, in addition to her duties as a yacht, she was employed as a training ship and a target for torpedo training. After the start of World War II, she was used as an auxiliary minelayer, and was briefly assigned to participate in Operation Sea Lion in that capacity before it was cancelled in September 1940. She was also used to lay minefields during the German invasion of the Soviet Union—Operation Barbarossa—in mid-1941. She was then used as a training ship until March 1942, when she was reduced to a headquarters ship for naval forces in Norway. She filled that role until the end of the war in May 1945, when she was seized by British forces. Grille was then sold to a Lebanese businessman, and, after arriving in Beirut, was attacked by Jewish commandos in 1947 because they incorrectly suspected that it would be used against Jewish forces during the ongoing civil war in Palestine. Grille was ultimately sold to ship-breakers in the United States and dismantled in 1951.^[56][57][58]

Summary of the Grille class

Ship	Armament[57]	Displacement[57]	Propulsion[57]	Service[57]
				Laid down	Commissioned	Fate
Grille	3 × 12.7 cm (5 in) SK C/34 guns	3,430 long tons (3,490 t)	2 × screws, 2 × geared turbines , 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph)	June 1934	19 May 1935	Sold for private use, 1946; broken up, 1951

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Gröner, p. 79.
2. ^ Sondhaus, p. 37.
3. ^ ^{a b} Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 7, pp. 17–23.
4. ^ Embree, pp. 280–286.
5. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 6, p. 162.
6. ^ Sondhaus, p. 43.
7. ^ ^{a b} Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 6, pp. 162–163.
8. ^ ^{a b} Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 7, pp. 98–99.
9. ^ Heathcote, p. 53.
10. ^ ^{a b c} Gröner, p. 82.
11. ^ Sondhaus, pp. 55, 58.
12. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 4, p. 26.
13. ^ Sondhaus, pp. 72, 76.
14. ^ Embree, pp. 278–279.
15. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 4, pp. 27–30.
16. ^ ^{a b c d} Gröner, p. 84.
17. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 4, pp. 26–30.
18. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, p. 225.
19. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 227–229.
20. ^ ^{a b c} Gröner, pp. 84–85.
21. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 5, pp. 224–229.
22. ^ Gröner, pp. 87–88.
23. ^ ^{a b} Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 3, pp. 74–76.
24. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Gröner, p. 88.
25. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 6, pp. 235–236.
26. ^ Sondhaus, p. 93.
27. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 6, pp. 234–236.
28. ^ Gottschall, p. 48.
29. ^ ^{a b} Lyon, p. 256.
30. ^ Ropp, pp. 130–131, 136.
31. ^ Bilzer, pp. 21–22.
32. ^ Gottschall, pp. 51–52.
33. ^ Sondhaus, pp. 141, 143.
34. ^ ^{a b c d e} Gröner, p. 89.
35. ^ Sondhaus, p. 137.
36. ^ Lyon, p. 258.
37. ^ ^{a b c d e} Gröner, p. 91.
38. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 2, pp. 91–93.
39. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 6, pp. 225–226.
40. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 4, p. 18.
41. ^ Sondhaus, pp. 158–160.
42. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 4, pp. 18–19.
43. ^ ^{a b c d} Gröner, p. 93.
44. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 8, p. 60.
45. ^ Sondhaus, pp. 158–159.
46. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 4, p. 217.
47. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 8, pp. 60–61.
48. ^ ^{a b c d} Gröner, pp. 95–96.
49. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 2, p. 188.
50. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 6, pp. 81–82.
51. ^ ^{a b c d} Gröner, p. 96.
52. ^ Lyon, pp. 249, 256–258.
53. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 4, p. 109.
54. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 4, pp. 109–110.
55. ^ ^{a b c d} Gröner, p. 99.
56. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 4, pp. 31–33.
57. ^ ^{a b c d e} Sieche, p. 253.
58. ^ Friedman.

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• Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart [The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in German). Vol. 5. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag.
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