SMS Arcona (1885)
 Arcona in Nagasaki, Japan, c. 1897
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 German Empire | |
| Name | Arcona |
| Namesake | Cape Arkona |
| Builder | Kaiserliche Werft Danzig |
| Laid down | 1881 |
| Launched | 7 May 1885 |
| Commissioned | 1 December 1886 |
| Renamed | Mercur, 1902 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 1906 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Carola-class corvette |
| Displacement | ) |
| Length | 81.2 m (266 ft 5 in) |
| Beam | 12.6 m (41 ft 4 in) |
| Draft | 5 m (16 ft 5 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 14.1 knots (26.1 km/h; 16.2 mph) |
| Range | 4,180 nautical miles (7,740 km; 4,810 mi) at 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h; 9.8 mph) |
| Crew |
|
| Armament |
|
SMS Arcona was a member of the
Arcona was kept in reserve after completion until 1892, when she was activated for an extended deployment abroad. She protected German interests in Venezuela in 1892 before joining the Cruiser Division in German East Africa the following year. Later in 1893, she was sent to Brazil when a naval revolt threatened German nationals in the country. The outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894 prompted the transfer of Arcona and two of her sister ships to East Asia as the nucleus of the East Asia Division, of which Arcona served as the flagship.
The ship was under repair when
Design
The six ships of the Carola class were ordered in the late 1870s to supplement Germany's fleet of cruising warships, which at that time relied on several ships that were twenty years old. Arcona and her sister ships were intended to patrol Germany's colonial empire and safeguard German economic interests around the world.[1] The last two ships to be built, Arcona and Alexandrine, were built to a slightly larger design, being slightly longer and slightly heavier than their sisters.[2]
Arcona was 81.2 meters (266 ft 5 in)
Arcona was armed with a
Service history
Construction to 1894
Arcona was
She remained laid up for five years, until she was recommissioned on 20 April 1892 for service with the Germany's overseas cruiser division. The unit was tasked with securing German interests in East Asia, but before she had left Germany, Arcona was temporarily sent to Venezuela, where unrest threatened German businesses in the country. She left Wilhelmshaven on 4 May and arrived in
Arcona then proceeded to Port Said and transited the Suez Canal, stopping at Aden. From there, she steamed to Zanzibar, where she rejoined the cruiser division on 6 February 1893. At the time, the division also included her sister ship Alexandrine and the corvette Leipzig, and it was commanded by Konteradmiral (KAdm—Rear Admiral) Friedrich von Pawelsz. Arcona's time with the division was short-lived, as the three corvettes proceeded to Cape Town, Cape Colony, where on 6 April the division was disbanded. Arcona was assigned to German South West Africa; that day, she left Cape Town to take a pair of small field guns to strengthen the local Schutztruppe (Protection force) unit there. On 10 April, she arrived in Walvis Bay, a small British enclave on the coast of German South West Africa. There, she disembarked the two guns, but British authorities initially refused to allow their transfer to the Schutztruppe, though by September German protests had forced the local government to send the guns inland.[5]
Arcona left African waters in mid-May to re-cross the Atlantic, initially stopping in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 1 June, and then Montevideo, Uruguay, where she remained from 25 June to 8 July. She joined Alexandrine in São Francisco do Sul, Brazil on 27 July. That year, the Brazilian Navy mutinied, and Arcona and Alexandrine were tasked with protecting German interests in the country. Rebels had seized the Hamburg Süd steamship SS Santos on 3 November, which had been carrying a cargo of rifles, and Arcona's commander went in her steam pinnace to secure the vessel's release. On 31 January 1894, Arcona went to Buenos Aires to allow her crew to rest and to avoid an outbreak of Yellow fever. While there, she and Alexandrine were joined by their sister Marie. The three vessels went to Rio de Janeiro on 22 April, and then continued on to Cabo Frio.[9]
Service with the East Asia Division
As tensions between Japan and China over Korea rose in early 1894, Arcona, Alexandrine, and Marie were transferred to East Asia. On 7 March, they rounded
For the remainder of the war, which ended in April, Arcona patrolled the Chinese coast with the rest of the division and individually. China's defeat led to riots against foreigners in the country, so Arcona and the rest of the division had to remain in Chinese waters to protect Europeans. In December, Arcona went to Manila in the Philippines, where unrest from the local Filipinos against the Spanish colonial government threatened other Europeans in the country. Arcona then returned to China, where on 27–28 July, she assisted in the salvage of the gunboat Iltis, which had run aground off the coast of the Shandong Peninsula. By early November, the civil disturbances in the Philippines had continued to increase, necessitating Arcona's return to the islands. She sent a detachment of marines ashore, along with contingents from British and French warships, to protect the European consulates in Manila. On 28 November, Irene arrived to relieve Arcona.[10]
In June 1897, KAdm
Shortly after the Germans seized Jiaozhou, with its port at Qingdao, the Chinese commander of the local army garrison attempted to launch a counterattack on 18 November, but the German soldiers in the port advanced and captured the Chinese general. While they were away, Diederichs ordered Arcona and Cormoran to send marines ashore to defend the town in the event that a Chinese force arrived, but no attack materialized. The men from the two ships remained in Qingdao until 21 November, when they returned to their vessels. Arcona was thereafter ordered to serve as a guard ship in the port.[10][13] In July 1898, Diederichs sent Irene to relieve Arcona, which he sent to conduct surveys of the Caroline Islands and the Mariana Islands in the central Pacific. While in the Carolines, she stopped at Pohnpei to punish locals who had murdered a crewman from a German schooner. She completed this mission in October, when she steamed to the Philippines to relieve Prinzess Wilhelm, which had been stationed there to protect German nationals in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War earlier that year. She remained there for just a month, however, being replaced by Irene in November.[10][14]
On 15 November, Kaiser ran aground in
Notes
- ^ Sondhaus, pp. 116–117, 136–137.
- ^ a b c Gröner, p. 90.
- ^ a b Lyon, p. 252.
- ^ Gröner, pp. 90–91.
- ^ a b c d e Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 246.
- ^ Gröner, p. 91.
- ^ Sondhaus, p. 155.
- ^ Departement van Marine 1893, pp. 423, 427, 432.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 246–247.
- ^ a b c d e f Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 247.
- ^ Gottschall, pp. 146, 150.
- ^ Gottschall, pp. 153, 157, 165.
- ^ Gottschall, pp. 167–169, 185.
- ^ Gottschall, pp. 204, 218.
- ^ Gottschall, p. 220.
References
- Departement van Marine (1893), Jaarboek van de Koninklijke Nederlandsche Zeemagt 1891-1892, The Hague: De Gebroeders van Cleef
- Gottschall, Terrell D. (2003). By Order of the Kaiser. Annapolis: ISBN 978-1-55750-309-1.
- 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. 1. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0237-4.
- 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.
- 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 978-1-68247-745-8.
- Nottelmann, Dirk (2022). Wright, Christopher C. (ed.). "From "Wooden Walls" to "New-Testament Ships": The Development of the German Armored Cruiser 1854–1918, Part II: "The Iron-Cruisers"". Warship International. LIX (3): 197–241. ISSN 0043-0374.