SMS Gefion
 1902 lithograph of Gefion
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Preceded by | Bussard class |
| Succeeded by | None |
| History | |
 German Empire | |
| Name | SMS Gefion |
| Namesake | SMS Gefion |
| Builder | Danzig |
| Laid down | 28 March 1892 |
| Launched | 31 March 1893 |
| Commissioned | 5 June 1895 |
| Decommissioned | 1 October 1901 |
| Renamed | Adolf Sommerfeld, 1920 |
| Stricken | 5 November 1919 |
| Fate | Broken up in 1923 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Unprotected cruiser |
| Displacement | 4,275 t (4,207 long tons; 4,712 short tons) |
| Length | 110.4 m (362 ft) |
| Beam | 13.2 m (43 ft) |
| Draft | 6.47 m (21.2 ft) |
| Installed power | 6 coal-fired water-tube boilers, 9,000 ihp (6,700 kW) |
| Propulsion | 2 triple-expansion engines |
| Speed | 19.5 knots (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph) |
| Range | 3,500 nmi (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
| Armor | Deck: 25 mm (0.98 in) |
SMS Gefion ("His Majesty's Ship Gefion")
Gefion initially served with the main German fleet and frequently escorted
Background
In the mid-1880s, the German
Hollmann submitted a memorandum to the
At the time, cruisers were divided between two broad types: vessels suitable for long-distances cruising and those optimized for fleet service. Germany lacked the financial resources to build dedicated vessels for each role, and like many navies of the time, the German fleet was forced to build ships that could fill both roles. Any new cruisers would have to be capable of patrolling the German colonial empire and serve as a scout for the main battle fleet. The former task included policing German holdings and suppressing native unrest during peacetime, and in times of war she would act as a commerce raider. These tasks necessitated a long cruising radius and relatively heavy armament. Cruisers optimized for fleet service instead needed high top speeds to effectively scout, and heavy armor to survive fleet battles. The German naval command and its design staff had not only to reconcile the confused strategic thinking of the time with the need to combine both types of cruisers into a single vessel, and the rapidly advancing state of naval technology.[3][4][5]
Design
With funding to begin work on the new ship secured, senior naval officers began the process of sketching out requirements for the new design in 1889. Admiral
Arguments over the caliber of the main battery continued into 1890; Goltz pointed to contemporary French cruisers to justify heavier armament, since these would be the most likely enemies in a future war. The 15 cm gun was necessary to penetrate the heavy armor carried by the armored cruisers Dupuy de Lôme and Amiral Charner. Chief Constructor Alfred Dietrich pointed out that the desired battery of 15 cm guns would require a displacement greatly in excess of 6,000 t (5,900 long tons; 6,600 short tons) to mount such a battery, a significant increase in size and cost over Kaiserin Augusta. Other officers, including a group led by Thomsen, preferred a battery of up to twenty 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/35 guns. The Military-Technical Commission finally decided in December that the weight issue mandated the 10.5 cm gun, and its chief, Vizeadmiral (VAdm—Vice Admiral) Hans von Koester, submitted a proposal for a ship armed with ten of the guns. In addition, due to the difficult budget situation, the size of the ship would be reduced from around 6,000 tons to around 3,700 t (3,600 long tons; 4,100 short tons) as designed.[7]
Gefion, classified as a cruiser-corvette, was authorized in the 1890–1891 budget and named for the earlier sail frigate Gefion. The contract for her construction was awarded to Schichau-Werke in late 1891.[8] She was the last unprotected cruiser built by the Kaiserliche Marine; thereafter, the Germans built the Gazelle class of light cruisers to fill the need for small, overseas cruisers.[9] As a result of the competing design requirements, the resulting design for Gefion was unsatisfactory.[4]
General characteristics and machinery
Gefion was 109.2 meters (358 ft)
She was fitted with a fore and main pole mast with
Gefion was powered by two vertical, 3-cylinder
Armament and armor
Gefion was armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm SK L/35 guns, which were carried individually in pivot mounts. Two were placed side by side forward, another pair side by side aft, and two more pairs were placed between the funnels and the main mast, all on the upper deck with gun shields. The remaining two guns were placed lower in embrasures abreast the first funnel. These guns were supplied with a total of 807 rounds of ammunition, and they had a maximum range of 10,800 m (35,400 ft). She was also equipped with six 5 cm (2.0 in) SK L/40 guns, with 1,500 rounds. These were also mounted individually; two were placed in the bow in embrasures abreast the second funnel. They had a range of 6,200 m (20,300 ft). The ship was also fitted with two 45 cm (18 in) deck-mounted torpedo tubes with a total of five torpedoes.[10][11]
The ship was protected with a light armored deck consisting of steel, though it only covered the propulsion machinery spaces. The deck was 25 mm (0.98 in) thick, with 30 mm (1.2 in) thick sloped sides. Above the engines themselves, a glacis that was 100 mm (3.9 in) thick, backed with 180 mm (7.1 in) of teak, covered the engine cylinders. A small section of 25 mm armor plate covered the steering gear at the stern. At the bases of the funnels, coamings that were 40 mm (1.6 in) thick protected the uptakes from the boilers.[10][11]
Service history
The keel for the new cruiser was laid down on 28 March 1892 at the Schichau-Werke shipyard in
In July, she escorted Wilhelm II's yacht
In February 1896, she was assigned as the watch ship in Kiel. From 24 to 30 May, she joined maneuvers in the
On 30 July, Gefion was back in Kiel, though she escorted Hohenzollern to
Deployment to the China Station
Shortly before the arrival of the II Division, the United States Navy destroyed the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War. Diederichs detached Gefion to investigate the situation in Manila in an attempt to maneuver Germany into a position to secure colonial possessions in the Philippines, or even to obtain a German prince on the Philippine throne outright.[17] In late March 1899, Gefion was sent to Kiaotschou in response to mistreatment of German missionaries there; Kapitänleutnant (Captain Lieutenant) Franz Grapow went ashore with a landing party of 132 marines and artillerymen to punish the offenders.[13]
In April, Prince Heinrich replaced Diederichs as the squadron commander. That same month, Gefion had to leave the harbor at
By the end of May 1900, the unrest that sparked the
Later service
She was decommissioned for a major reconstruction the day she returned to Germany.
She was thereafter sold to Norddeutsche Tiefbaugesellschaft, converted into a diesel-powered freighter, and renamed Adolf Sommerfeld in 1920.[21] She had been purchased along with the old pre-dreadnought Brandenburg, from which some material was taken for Gefion's conversion. The ship's magazines and most of her machinery spaces were converted into cargo holds.[22] With her new diesel engines, which had come from the unfinished U-boats U-115 and U-116,[23] she could steam at 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) and had a cargo capacity of 2,600 t (2,560 long tons; 2,870 short tons).[20][21] The conversion was not particularly successful, and was only done due to a severe shortage of shipping in the aftermath of the war.[24] This was in large part a result of the narrowness of her hull, and the significant amount of internal compartmentalization, which hampered her use as a freighter.[25] As a result, Adolf Sommerfeld served only very briefly, and was broken up for scrap by Danziger Hoch- und Tiefbau in Danzig in 1923.[21]
Notes
Footnotes
- Seiner Majestät Schiff" (German: His Majesty's Ship).
Citations
- ^ Nottelmann, pp. 120, 129, 135, 145–146.
- ^ Nottelmann, pp. 146–147.
- ^ Campbell & Sieche, pp. 142–143.
- ^ a b c d e f Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 194.
- ^ Nottelmann, pp. 145–150.
- ^ Nottelmann, p. 147.
- ^ Nottelmann, pp. 148–150.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 188, 193–194.
- ^ Gröner, pp. 98–100.
- ^ a b c d e f Gröner, p. 98.
- ^ a b Nottelmann, p. 150.
- ^ Herwig, p. 45.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 195.
- ^ Sondhaus, p. 220.
- ^ Sondhaus, p. 221.
- ^ Gottschall, p. 165.
- ^ Gottschall, p. 184.
- ^ Xiang, p. 282.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 195–196.
- ^ a b c Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 196.
- ^ a b c d Gröner, p. 99.
- ^ Dodson, pp. 143–144.
- ^ Rössler, pp. 69–71.
- ^ Lyon, p. 257.
- ^ Nottelmann, p. 155.
References
- Campbell, N. J. M. & Sieche, Erwin (1986). "Germany". In Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 134–189. ISBN 978-0-85177-245-5.
- ISBN 978-1-8448-6472-0.
- Gottschall, Terrell D. (2003). By Order of the Kaiser. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-309-5.
- ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6.
- Herwig, Holger (1980). "Luxury" Fleet: The Imperial German Navy 1888–1918. Amherst: Humanity Books. ISBN 1-57392-286-2.
- 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.
- 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.
- Nottelmann, Dirk (2023). Wright, Christopher C. (ed.). "From "Wooden Walls" to "New-Testament Ships": The Development of the German Armored Cruiser 1854–1918, Part III: "Armor—Light Version"". Warship International. LX (2): 118–156. ISSN 0043-0374.
- Rössler, Eberhard (1981). The U-boat: The Evolution and Technical History of German Submarines. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-966-9.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence (1997). Preparing for Weltpolitik: German Sea Power Before the Tirpitz Era. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-745-7.
- Xiang, Lanxin (2003). The Origins of the Boxer War: A Multinational Study. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-7007-1563-0.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-1-68247-745-8.