SMS Moltke (1877)
school ship
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History | |
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German Empire | |
Name | SMS Moltke |
Namesake | Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder |
Builder | Danzig |
Laid down | July 1875 |
Launched | 18 October 1877 |
Completed | 16 April 1878 |
Fate | Sold for scrap, 7 July 1920 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Bismarck-class corvette |
Displacement | Full load: 2,994 t (2,947 long tons ) |
Length | 82 m (269 ft) |
Beam | 13.7 m (44 ft 11 in) |
Draft | 5.2 m (17 ft 1 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 13.9 knots (25.7 km/h; 16.0 mph) |
Range | 2,380 nmi (4,410 km; 2,740 mi) at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) |
Complement |
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Armament |
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SMS Moltke was a
Moltke went on one major overseas deployment in the 1880s to South America. There, she visited ports in several South American countries in the aftermath of the
Design
The six ships of the Bismarck class were ordered in the early 1870s to supplement Germany's fleet of cruising warships, which at that time relied on several ships that were twenty years old. Moltke and her sister ships were intended to patrol Germany's colonial empire and safeguard German economic interests around the world.[1]
oltke was 82 meters (269 ft)
Moltke was armed with a
Service history
Moltke was the first member of the
Deployment to South America
Moltke was formally activated on 1 April 1881 for an overseas deployment to South America, which she began on 17 April. After arriving in
In Montevideo, Moltke embarked the scientific expedition Germany contributed to the first
After leaving South George Island, Moltke sailed to
Training ship
1885–1889
Moltke returned to service on 15 April 1885 for use as a
Moltke rejoined the Training Squadron on 1 October, and the ships embarked on the next training cruise on 11 October, sailing to the West Indies. While on the way, the squadron stopped in São Vicente, Cape Verde from 13 to 30 November, during a period of tension between Germany and Spain over competing claims to the Caroline Islands in the central Pacific. After the conflict was resolved, the ships were ordered to continue their voyage. While in the West Indies, Moltke visited Port of Spain. The ships arrived back in Wilhelmshaven on 27 March 1886, where the squadron was dissolved. Moltke went into the Kaiserliche Werft in Kiel for an overhaul in April, after which the squadron was reformed for the 1886 training year. During the fleet maneuvers in August and September, the ships served as the II Division. On 14 October, the squadron began the winter training cruise, which again went to the West Indies and concluded in Wilhelmshaven on 30 March 1887.[9]
Moltke went to Kiel on 3 June to take part in a celebration marking the beginning of construction on the
1889–1897
The ship was taken into the Kaiserliche Werft in Kiel for an extensive reconstruction, which included new boilers, new quick-firing guns, and housing arrangements for up to 50 cadets and 210 Schiffsjungen (apprentice seamen). Her rigging was also reduced. On 1 January 1891, she was formally assigned to the list of training ships, and she returned to service on 7 April; the ship's namesake and Wilhelm II attended this recommissioning ceremony. Moltke had to send a delegation to
Moltke returned to service on 5 April 1893 and she conducted training in the Baltic Sea, which lasted until 8 June. During this period, she suffered a serious accident on 24 May, when the steamship
While Moltke was in Corfu, she received orders to sail to
Moltke began individual training thereafter, though this was interrupted in June by a celebration marking the opening of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal. Moltke then went on a cruise in the Baltic that lasted until 12 July, after which she visited
The training program for 1896 began on 12 May with a cruise in the Baltic, followed by a visit to Britain and Ireland that began on 26 June. While touring the country, Moltke accidentally ran aground lightly off the
1898–1920
The ship remained out of service until 5 April 1898, when she was recommissioned; training cruises in the Baltic had to be stopped on 16 June due to an outbreak of
Moltke embarked on another cruise in the Baltic on 24 May 1899, followed by another cruise to the West Indies on 5 July. This voyage included a tour of South American ports, including Rio de Janeiro. From 22 to 29 December, she stayed in Charlotte Amalie on the island of Saint Thomas. She visited New Orleans from 10 to 20 January 1900, the first time a German warship stopped in the city, before returning to Germany, arriving in Kiel on 25 March. Several Baltic cruises followed between 25 May and 28 July, and then again from 11 August to 12 September, the latter period including visits to Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Stavanger. She embarked on another cruise to the Mediterranean on 17 September, and while in Gibraltar from 9 to 14 October, 200 men of the crew organized a commemoration ceremony at the cemetery where crew from the corvette Danzig who had been killed at the Battle of Tres Forcas in 1856. Moltke stopped in Beirut on 7 December, where her commander participated in a ceremony at the tomb of Saladin. She visited other ports in the region, and on 24 January 1901, entered the Dardanelles after having received permission from Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire. She left the straits on 30 January, and arrived back in Kiel on 24 February.[13]
The ship was overhauled on returning to Germany before beginning a
A training cruise in the Baltic followed from 17 May to 17 June, after which Moltke embarked on the next major overseas cruise, with stops in Stockholm, Drontheim, and Funchal on the way to the Mediterranean. She cruised in the western end of the Mediterranean Sea beginning on 1 January 1903, and arrived back in Kiel on 24 March. A fire broke out aboard the ship on 6 April, necessitating repairs at the Kaiserliche Werft in Kiel that lasted approximately five weeks. She then went on a cruise in the Baltic, before departing for another Mediterranean cruise on 7 August. Stops during this voyage included Fiume, Corfu, and Constantinople; heavy storms forced her to stop in Santander, Spain. The ship returned to Kiel on 21 March 1904. As was typical, a cruise in the Baltic followed on 16 May, after which she went on another cruise to the West Indies and the United States that ended on 17 March 1905. She was decommissioned in Kiel on 31 March for an overhaul.[15]
Moltke remained out of service until 4 April 1907 when she was recommissioned for the last time. She made a cruise in the Baltic, followed by a voyage to South American waters, which included a visit to Rio de Janeiro and a tour of the West Indies. This proved to be the last time Moltke went to sea; she arrived back in Kiel on 23 March 1908, where she was decommissioned on 7 April, her place in the Training Squadron having been taken by the
Notes
- ^ Sondhaus, pp. 116–117, 136–137.
- ^ a b Gröner, p. 44.
- ^ a b Lyon, p. 251.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 106.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 106–107.
- ^ "USGS GNIS: Moltke Harbour". Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 107.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 107–108.
- ^ a b c Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 108.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 108–109.
- ^ a b c Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 109.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 109–110.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 110.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 110–111.
- ^ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 111.
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. 6. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 3-7822-0237-6.
- 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.