SMS Grille

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For the later aviso, see German aviso Grille.
Grille in her original configuration
Class overview
Operators
Preceded byNix class
Succeeded bySMS Loreley
Completed1
Retired1
History
Prussia
NameGrille
BuilderChantiers et Ateliers Augustin Normand
Laid down1856
Launched9 September 1857
Commissioned3 June 1858
Stricken7 January 1920
FateBroken up
General characteristics [a]
Class and typeUnique aviso
Displacement
  • Design: 350 t (340 long tons)
  • Full load
    : 491 t (483 long tons)
Length56.86 m (186 ft 7 in) o/a
Beam7.38 m (24 ft 3 in)
Draft2.84 m (9 ft 4 in)
Installed power
Propulsion
Sail planSchooner
Speed13 kn (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement
  • 5 officers
  • 65 enlisted men
Armament2 × 12-pound guns

SMS Grille was an

screw propeller-driven steamship to be built for Prussia; all earlier steam-powered vessels had been paddle steamers
.

Initially operated without armament, she received a battery of two guns in 1864 during the

Swinemünde
.

She returned to yacht duties after the war before being replaced by the new yacht

naval register in January 1920 and later broken up for scrap
. With an active career that spanned sixty-two years, she was the longest-serving vessel in the Prussian and later German fleet.

Design

The

screw propeller rather than the paddle wheels of earlier vessels.[3]

General characteristics

Grille was 52.5 m (172 ft 3 in)

deck house forward and a larger one aft. During a refit in 1889, the forward deck house was removed and a smaller structure was erected further aft, behind the fore mast.[2]

The ship's crew initially consisted of five officers and sixty-five enlisted men; this later increased to six and seventy-two, respectively, and finally seven officers and sixty-eight enlisted. The vessel carried four smaller boats: two

head sea or in turns. Steering was controlled by a single rudder. Between 1880 and 1902, she carried a searchlight atop the aft deck house.[2]

Machinery

Grille was propelled by a horizontal, single-expansion, 2-cylinder

metric horsepower (690 ihp) for a top speed of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph); on speed trials, she reached 738 metric horsepower (728 ihp) for 13.2 knots (24.4 km/h; 15.2 mph). To supplement the steam engine, she was fitted with a three-masted schooner rig that had a total sail area of 436 m2 (4,690 sq ft). Fuel storage and cruising range figures for her original power plant have not survived.[2]

In 1886, the original engine was replaced with a horizontal, 2-cylinder

Stettin, along with new coal-fired fire-tube boilers also built by AG Vulcan. A shorter funnel, moved further forward, replaced the original one. The new machinery increased her maximum power to 760 metric horsepower (750 ihp) and her top speed to 14.4 knots (26.7 km/h; 16.6 mph). After this refit, she was capable of storing 65 t (64 long tons) of coal; at a speed of 7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph), the ship had a cruising radius of 3,230 nautical miles (5,980 km; 3,720 mi). When cruising at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), her range fell to 2,160 nmi (4,000 km; 2,490 mi). She was modernized again in 1897–1898, receiving new boilers from Borsig. Her sailing rig was cut down to auxiliary sails only. At various points in her career, she received electric generators that produced 2.3 to 5 kW (3.1 to 6.7 hp).[2]

Armament

The ship initially carried no armament, but following the outbreak of the

Hotchkiss revolving cannon were added in 1882, with three more being installed in 1898; the larger guns were removed at this time. In her final configuration, from around 1900 or 1901, she carried just two of the Hotchkiss guns.[2][4]

Service history

Illustration of Grille early in her career

Early career

Grille was

sea trials that lasted until 22 October when she was decommissioned.[2][5]

The ship was recommissioned in early May 1859 due to increased tensions between Denmark and Prussia over the

disputed ownership of Schleswig and Holstein, though the war scare passed quickly. Her commander during this period, from May to June, was Leutnant zur See (LzS—Lieutenant at Sea) Heinrich Köhler, and Grille only conducted a tour of the Prussian coast with Prince Adalbert aboard before being decommissioned. She was briefly reactivated a second time that year, from August to October; apart from her commander having been Kapitänleutnant (KL—Lieutenant Captain) Ludwig von Henk, nothing is known about this period in commission. The ship was recommissioned in June 1860, commanded by Korvettenkapitän (KK—Corvette Captain) Hans Kuhn, with the intention to send the vessel on a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea, but the ship was still without armament and the plan was abandoned. Kuhn left the ship in August, being replaced by LzS Hermann Przewisinski, though the ship was once again decommissioned in October. She remained out of service for the next two years and on 16 January 1862, she was re-designated as a royal yacht. Grille was recommissioned under the command of LzS Franz Kinderling in July 1863 for use by Crown Prince Friedrich and his family to make short trips.[6]

Second Schleswig War

screw frigate Sjælland
that engaged Grille on 14 April

With tensions again on the rise between Prussia and Denmark by the end of the year, Grille was allocated as the

Swinemünde, where the gunboats of the 1st Flotilla and Jachmann's squadron covered her approach. As it was nearing dark, the Danish commander, Admiral Edvard van Dockum, chose to break off the pursuit.[5][7][8]

Grille, now accompanied by the gunboats of the Reserve Division, sortied again on 24 April. For this operation, Grille served as the flagship of now

naval review in the mouth of the Oder river on 6 June.[9][10]

Crown Prince Friedrich, a frequent passenger aboard Grille

With the war over, Grille joined the main Prussian squadron that visited a number of ports in the newly-acquired provinces in the western Baltic in August. While cruising in the Trave, she accidentally ran aground on 24 August. The gunboats Comet and Cyclop assisted the stranded aviso, which was ultimately re-floated after considerable lightening of the ship. Grille proceeded to the Schweffel & Howaldt shipyard in Kiel for repairs before resuming the tour with the Prussian squadron, which concluded on 18 September in Kiel. Prince Adalbert held another naval review there in October; he observed the fleet from Grille. The aviso thereafter returned to Dänholm on 1 December, where she was decommissioned and disarmed to return to yacht duties.[11]

Royal yacht

Grille was recommissioned on 1 May 1865 to take Crown Prince Friedrich and his family on a cruise; the ship's captain from June to September that year was KL

Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire.[12]

After stopping in

harbor pilots until 15 November. Grille's captain, KK Ratzeburg, was to have secured the pilots in advance of the ships' arrival, but he failed to do so. Instead, the British admiral directed the vessels to a safe anchorage for the night. For his failure to carry out his responsibility, Ratzeburg was confined to his quarters for twenty-four hours. The Crown Prince passed through the canal aboard Grille as part of the ceremony on 20 November. The squadron left Port Said on 1 December, proceeding to Alexandria, where they waited for Friedrich to return from an expedition to the Nile. Grille left on 9 December, Friedrich having boarded Elisabeth for the voyage to Italy. Grille remained in Naples until 29 January 1870, thereafter resuming the voyage home; while on the way, she stopped in Britain and was visited by Prince Edward and Princess Alexandra. The ship finally arrived in Kiel on 26 April and proceeded to Dänholm where she was decommissioned on 5 May.[13][14]

Franco-Prussian War

Grille (right distance) engaging the French squadron (left foreground)

Following the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War on 19 July 1870, Grille was reactivated on the 24th to serve as the flagship of the gunboat Flotilla Division that was stationed in Stralsund. The unit was placed under the command of KK

Sjælland as their base. Waldersee sortied with Grille and three gunboats on 17 July to attack the French squadron; he encountered three frigates and an aviso. The inconclusive action that followed ended when Grille entered water too shallow for the French to continue their pursuit. Though neither side inflicted damage on the other, Waldersee's attack had disrupted French plans for an attack on Swinemünde, for which he was later awarded the Iron Cross. On 10 September, Grille was assigned to the command of Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Eduard Heldt, the commander of naval forces in the Baltic. Grille conducted a reconnaissance sweep around Bornholm and into the Little Belt, which revealed that the French had already left the Baltic.[15][16]

Grille, Elisabeth, and some gunboats passed through the

Geestemünde for the winter. By the time the winter ice had receded in March 1871, the war had already ended, so Grille returned to the Baltic in company with Elisabeth and the ironclad turret ship Arminius. After arriving in Kiel, she was decommissioned on 17 April.[15]

1870s

After recommissioning on 2 July 1872, Grille returned to service as the royal yacht for the Crown Prince and his family for a summer cruise through August. She was used for a tour of the coasts of

Oscar II, the king of Sweden and Norway. Two days later, she rendezvoused with the German training squadron and the ships entered Christiana for the ceremonies. Grille departed the port on 9 May and steamed to Malmö, where she embarked Prince Friedrich on 19 May to return him to Kiel on the 22nd. While on the way back, Friedrich accepted an invitation from Christian IX of Denmark to visit the country; this was the first time a member of the Prussian House of Hohenzollern had visited Denmark since the Second Schleswig War.[15][17]

The navy did not initially plan to recommission Grille during 1874, but after the gunboat

Danzig Bay and Grille was decommissioned on 25 September.[18]

1880s

Illustration of the fleet conducting maneuvers; Grille is at right in the background, along with several ironclads and the Kaiser's yacht Hohenzollern (foreground)

Grille returned to service in early 1880 and she joined the training squadron for exercises from 3 to 25 May with Prince Friedrich aboard. The ship was present for the launching of the ironclad

shot across the bow of a Norwegian merchant ship that failed to fly a flag in accordance with international law. Grille served with the fleet from 22 April to 5 September 1884 under the command of KL Oscar von Schuckmann, and during the annual fleet maneuvers at the end of that period, she served as the flagship of the armored gunboat division, commanded by KzS Karl August Deinhard.[19]

In 1885, Grille was used for surveying work off the coast of Mecklenburg, the bay at Aarøsund, and around Rügen, covering a distance of some 104 nautical miles (193 km; 120 mi). The ship was thoroughly overhauled at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Danzig in 1886. She received significant improvements, including a new propulsion system and new planking for her decks. The work was completed in late 1888, and on 1 January 1889 she was assigned to the recently created Reserve Division of the Baltic Sea. On 2 May, she began a series of cruises along the coast with naval officers aboard to familiarize them with various locations along Germany's Baltic coast. She also took part in the training maneuvers with the rest of the fleet, including participating in a preparatory cruise in the western Baltic and into the Elbe river before the annual fleet exercises in September.[20]

1890s–1920

Grille continued the same activities in the early 1890s; in 1890, under the command of KK

regatta in 1896, while under the command of KL Karl Dick. The next year followed a similar pattern, with no incidents of note. She was reconstructed again in late 1898 at the Kaiserliche Werft in Kiel, that included a reduction in her rigging and the removal of her deck house. The next year, the coastal cruises began to include members of the newly created Admiralstab (Admiralty Staff). From May to September 1899, KK Wilhelm Becker served as her commander.[21]

The protected cruiser Freya, the vessel for which Grille ended her career as a tender

Grille's coastal cruises were interrupted on 2 September 1902 by leaking boiler tubes that necessitated repairs. Once those were completed, she joined I Squadron as the aviso and headquarters ship, serving in those roles until the end of April 1903. She was also used as a fleet tender, and for the first time she remained in commission through the winter of 1903–1904. Periodic maintenance was carried out in Danzig from 28 November 1904 to 5 March 1905, thereafter serving as a tender and headquarters vessel. For much of this period, she was stationed in Kiel. Another overhaul followed from 4 March to 10 April 1906 in Danzig; she thereafter resumed her normal routine of cruises and was assigned to the Training Inspectorate later that year. She became the headquarters ship for the fleet flagship, Deutschland, beginning on 21 September. She returned to Danzig on 14 November, where she was decommissioned on 26 March 1907 for repairs to her boilers. Grille resumed coastal cruises in 1908, and on 3 June the crew held a celebration of the ship's fiftieth year in service; Kaiser Wilhelm II issued a cabinet order to mark the occasion.[22]

The ship carried out the same routine of training cruises and tender and headquarters duties from 1909 to 1913, with no events of note during that period. She was stationed at the

naval register 7 January 1920; by that time, she had been in service for nearly sixty-two years, the longest career of any vessel in the Imperial fleet. She was thereafter sold for scrap and was broken up in Hamburg.[2][22]

Notes

Footnotes

  1. ^ Figures are in the ship's original configuration

Citations

  1. ^ Sondhaus, pp. 37–46, 55.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Gröner, p. 84.
  3. ^ Sondhaus, p. 58.
  4. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 24.
  5. ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 26.
  6. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 25–26.
  7. ^ Sondhaus, pp. 72, 76.
  8. ^ Embree, pp. 278–279.
  9. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 26–27.
  10. ^ Embree, p. 279.
  11. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 27.
  12. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 25, 27.
  13. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 25, 27–28.
  14. ^ Sondhaus, p. 92.
  15. ^ a b c Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 28.
  16. ^ Sondhaus, pp. 93, 95.
  17. ^ Sondhaus, p. 121.
  18. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 28–29.
  19. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 25, 29.
  20. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 29.
  21. ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 25, 29–30.
  22. ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 30.

References

  • Embree, Michael (2007). Bismarck's First War: The Campaign of Schleswig and Jutland 1864. Solihull: Helion & Co.
    ISBN 978-1-906033-03-3
    .
  • 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. 4. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag.
    ISBN 978-3-8364-9743-5
    .
  • Sondhaus, Lawrence (1997). Preparing for Weltpolitik: German Sea Power Before the Tirpitz Era. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.
    ISBN 978-1-55750-745-7
    .
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