List of unprotected cruisers of Germany
In the 1880s and 1890s, Germany built nine unprotected cruisers in three classes. These ships proved to be transitional designs, and experience gathered with them and a series of avisos helped to produce the first light cruisers of the German Navy.[1] The unprotected cruisers, generally designed for service in Germany's colonial empire, required great endurance and relatively heavy firepower. The first ships of the type, the two Schwalbe-class cruisers, were acquired in an effort to modernize an aged cruiser force that relied primarily on old sail frigates.[2] The new ships were primarily steam-powered but retained auxiliary sailing rigs. The second design, the Bussard class, was larger than the Schwalbe class and mounted newer, quick-firing guns, but was otherwise generally similar in capabilities.[3] SMS Gefion, the final cruiser of the type, represented an attempt to merge the requirements for a colonial cruiser with those for a fleet scout as a result of Germany's chronically small naval budget; the design was unsatisfactory, and rather than continuing to build unprotected cruisers, German naval designers began work on the Gazelle class, the first modern light cruiser of the German Navy.[4]
All nine cruisers served extensively in Germany's colonies and foreign interests, particularly in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. They participated in the suppression of numerous rebellions, including the
Armament | The number and type of the primary armament |
---|---|
Displacement | Ship displacement at full combat load[a] |
Propulsion | Number of shafts, type of propulsion system, and top speed generated |
Service | The dates work began and finished on the ship and its ultimate fate |
Laid down | The date the keel began to be assembled |
Commissioned | The date the ship was commissioned |
Schwalbe class
Prior to the mid-1880s, the German
Both ships served abroad for the majority of their careers, primarily in Germany's African colonies and in Asia and the Pacific. Their service lives were generally uneventful, apart from the normal routine of colonial policing. They were both sent to
Ship | Armament[11] | Displacement[11] | Propulsion[11] | Service[10][12] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Laid down | Commissioned | Fate | ||||
Schwalbe | 8 × 10.5 cm (4.1 in) K L/35 guns | 1,359 t (1,338 long tons; 1,498 short tons) | 2 × 2-cylinder double-expansion marine steam engines, 13.5 kn (25.0 km/h; 15.5 mph)
|
April 1886 | 8 May 1888 | Scrapped, 1922 |
Sperber | September 1887 | 2 April 1889 | Scrapped, 1922 |
Bussard class
The Kaiserliche Marine designed the Bussard class in 1888 as an improved version of the Schwalbe class; like their predecessors, the Bussards were intended purely for colonial duty and were named for birds. They were larger and faster, with a comparable cruising radius and the same number and caliber of guns, though all but the first ship were equipped with new quick-firing models. The Bussard class was also the last cruiser design to incorporate a sailing rig in the German Navy.[13][14]
All five ships served extensively in Germany's colonial possessions in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. Seeadler participated in the suppression of the Boxer Uprising in 1900,
Ship | Armament[20] | Displacement[20] | Propulsion[20] | Service[21] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Laid down | Commissioned | Fate | ||||
Bussard | 8 × 10.5 cm K L/35 guns | 1,868 t (1,838 long tons; 2,059 short tons) | 2 × 2-cylinder double-expansion steam engines, 15.5 kn (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph) | 1888 | 7 October 1890 | Scrapped, 1913 |
Falke | 8 × 10.5 cm SK L/35 guns | 1890 | 14 September 1891 | Scrapped, 1913 | ||
Seeadler | 1890 | 17 August 1892 | Destroyed, 19 April 1917 | |||
Condor | 1891 | 9 December 1892 | Scrapped, 1921 | |||
Cormoran | 1890 | 25 July 1893 | Scuttled, 28 September 1914 | |||
Geier | 1893 | 24 October 1895 | Captured, 6 April 1917, sunk 21 June 1918 |
Gefion
Gefion was the last unprotected cruiser built for the Kaiserliche Marine; she was in fact a smaller version of contemporary protected cruisers like Kaiserin Augusta.[22] The designers attempted to build a hybrid vessel that could serve as a fleet scout and as an overseas cruiser, mainly due to a smaller naval budget, which limited the navy's ability to acquire ships optimized for each role. The resulting design was unsatisfactory, since the requirements for the roles were contradictory. For example, powerful engines necessary for the high top speeds needed in a fleet scout were also very coal hungry, which reduced the ship's endurance; a long cruising radius was mandatory for ships intended to police Germany's far-flung colonial empire, however.[23]
Construction of the ship was extended due to ventilation problems discovered during
Ship | Armament[25] | Displacement[25] | Propulsion[25] | Service[25] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Laid down | Commissioned | Fate | ||||
Gefion | 10 × 10.5 cm SK L/35 guns | 4,275 t (4,207 long tons; 4,712 short tons) | 2 × 3-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines , 20.5 kn (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph)
|
1892 | 5 June 1895 | Converted to freighter, 1920, scrapped 1923 |
Notes
Footnotes
- ^ Historian Erich Gröner states that full load was defined as "[equal to] type displacement plus full load fuel oil, diesel oil, coal, reserve boiler feed water, aircraft fuel, and special equipment."[5]
Citations
- ^ Lyon, p. 249.
- ^ Sondhaus, p. 166.
- ^ Gröner, pp. 93–97.
- ^ Gröner, pp. 98–100.
- ^ Gröner, p. ix.
- ^ Sondhaus, pp. 166–167.
- ^ Nottelmann, pp. 102–103.
- ^ Gröner, p. 93.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 7, pp. 145–147.
- ^ a b Gröner, p. 94.
- ^ a b c Gröner, pp. 93–94.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 7, pp. 145–148.
- ^ Gröner, pp. 93–99.
- ^ Lyon, p. 253.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 7, p. 154.
- ^ Marley, pp. 924–925.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 2, p. 191.
- ^ a b Gröner, p. 98.
- ^ Schurz.
- ^ a b c Gröner, p. 97.
- ^ Gröner, pp. 97–98.
- ^ Lyon, pp. 249, 254.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 3, p. 194.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 3, pp. 194–196.
- ^ a b c d Gröner, p. 99.
References
- ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6.
- 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. 2. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8364-9743-5.
- 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. 3. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0211-4.
- 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. 7. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0267-1.
- Lyon, Hugh (1979). "Germany". In Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
- Marley, David (2008). Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the Western Hemisphere, 1492 to the Present. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-100-8.
- Nottelmann, Dirk (2020). "The Development of the Small Cruiser in the Imperial German Navy". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2020. Oxford: Osprey. pp. 102–118. ISBN 978-1-4728-4071-4.
- "Schurz". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence (1997). Preparing for Weltpolitik: German Sea Power Before the Tirpitz Era. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-745-7.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-1-84832-229-5.
- ISBN 978-1-68247-745-8.