Schwalbe-class cruiser
Kaiser Wilhelm Canal
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Preceded by | None |
| Succeeded by | Bussard class |
| Built | 1886–1889 |
| Completed | 2 |
| Scrapped | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Unprotected cruiser |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 66.90 m (219 ft 6 in) |
| Beam | 9.36 m (30 ft 9 in) |
| Draft | 4.40 m (14 ft 5 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h; 15.5 mph) |
| Range | 3,290 nmi (6,090 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
The Schwalbe class of
Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). The class comprised two ships, Schwalbe, the lead ship, and Sperber. They were designed for service in Germany's recently acquired colonial empire
, and were built between 1886 and 1889. They were armed with a main battery of eight 10.5-centimeter (4.1 in) guns and could steam at a speed of 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h; 15.5 mph).
Schwalbe and Sperber spent their active careers abroad, usually in Germany's African colonies or in the Pacific. The two cruisers assisted in the suppression of the
Abushiri Revolt in German East Africa in 1889–1890. By the end of the 1890s, both ships had been overhauled and decommissioned in Germany. They returned to service at the turn of the century for another tour overseas; Schwalbe joined the forces that battled the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900 before being decommissioned a second time in 1902. Sperber remained in Africa until 1911, when she too was decommissioned. Schwalbe was used as a training ship after 1912 and Sperber was used as a target ship during World War I
. Both vessels were sold in 1920 and broken up in 1922.
Design
Through the 1870s and early 1880s,
screw corvettes capable of patrolling the German colonial empire. A pair of new cruisers was authorized under the 1886–1887 fiscal year, intended for the latter purpose.[1] In the early 1880s, the fleet's colonial cruisers consisted of a motley collection of older sailing ships that were suitable only for training purposes. General Leo von Caprivi, the Chief of the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), sought new cruisers that would have strong fighting capabilities in addition to traditional overseas cruiser characteristics.[2] At that time, the navy largely relied on gunboats to patrol the colonies, supported by a flying squadron of cruisers as necessary. As the overseas empire grew in size, it became increasingly untenable to rely on this structure to enforce German claims on its colonies. The two new cruisers were intended to support the colonial gunboats on a permanent basis.[3]
The design was prepared in 1886–1887,sailing rig, while the need to conduct police actions in the colonies required a crew large enough that a landing party could be spared. The Schwalbe class was the first unprotected cruiser design built in Germany, and along with several other small warships, they permitted Caprivi to retire five old sailing frigates and modernized the German cruiser force. They were well-received by the German Navy, and they also provided the basis for the even more successful Bussard-class cruisers.[2][5]
General characteristics
The ships of the Schwalbe class were 62.59 meters (205 ft 4 in)
watertight compartments.[6]
Steering was controlled by a single
head sea. Schwalbe and Sperber each had a crew of 9 officers and 108 enlisted men. They carried a number of small boats, including one picket boat, one cutter, one yawl, and one dinghy.[7]
Propulsion
Their propulsion system consisted of two horizontal 2-cylinder
metric horsepower (1,500 ihp). They had a range of approximately 3,290 nautical miles (6,090 km; 3,790 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). On trials, both ships exceeded their rated speeds, with Schwalbe reaching 14.1 knots (26.1 km/h; 16.2 mph) and Sperber making 14.3 knots (26.5 km/h; 16.5 mph), from 1,558 and 1,595 metric horsepower (1,537 and 1,573 ihp), respectively. At these speeds, the cruising radius fell to 1,630 nmi (3,020 km; 1,880 mi). To supplement the steam engines, the ships were fitted with a barquentine rig. Schwalbe was fitted with one electricity generator rated at 5 kilowatts (6.7 hp) at 67 volts during her modernization in 1903.[6][8]
Armament
Since Caprivi sought overseas cruisers that would still have significant combat power, the ships were armed with a relatively heavy
amidships on a trainable mount, which could be fired to either side at a fixed angle.[9]
Ships
| Name | Builder[6] | Laid down[6] | Launched[6] | Commissioned[6] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schwalbe | Kaiserliche Werft, Wilhelmshaven
|
1886 | 16 August 1887 | 8 May 1888 |
| Sperber | Danzig
|
1887 | 23 August 1888 | 2 April 1889 |
Service history
Schwalbe and Sperber spent the majority of their careers on Germany's colonial stations, where they policed the colonies, suppressed unrest, and
German Southwest Africa instead. Sperber finally returned to Germany in late 1897 for her overhaul, which was completed the following year. Both ships were decommissioned after their overhauls were finished.[10]
In April 1898, Schwalbe was recommissioned for another tour abroad. She first returned to German East Africa, where the
Eight Nation Alliance that had formed to crush the Boxers. During her deployment to China, she helped blockade the Yangtze and sent landing parties ashore to control unrest in Ningbo. In mid-1902, she was recalled to Germany for a second time, was overhauled, and was again decommissioned.[11]
Sperber meanwhile had been reactivated in December 1902 in response to the
naval register in 1912 and used as a target ship through World War I. Schwalbe continued on as a training ship during the war until 1918, when she too was employed as a gunnery training target. Both ships were sold for scrapping in August 1920 and were broken up in 1922 in Hamburg.[7][12]
Notes
- ^ Nottelmann, pp. 102–103.
- ^ a b Sondhaus, pp. 166–167.
- ^ Dodson & Nottelmann, p. 64.
- ^ Gröner, p. 93.
- ^ Nottelmann, p. 103.
- ^ a b c d e f g Gröner, pp. 93–94.
- ^ a b Gröner, p. 94.
- ^ a b Lyon, p. 252.
- ^ Dodson & Nottelmann, pp. 64–65.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 145–146, 178–179.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 146–147.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, pp. 147, 179–180.
References
- ISBN 978-1-68247-745-8.
- 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. 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.
- 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.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence (1997). Preparing for Weltpolitik: German Sea Power Before the Tirpitz Era. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-745-7.