Meteor at anchor | |
Class overview | |
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Operators | Imperial German Navy |
Preceded by | Wacht class |
Succeeded by | SMS Hela |
Completed | 2 |
Retired | 2 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Aviso |
Displacement | |
Length | 79.86 m (262 ft 0 in) o/a |
Beam | 9.56 m (31 ft 4 in) |
Draft | 3.68 m (12 ft 1 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion | |
Speed | 19 to 19.5 kn (35.2 to 36.1 km/h; 21.9 to 22.4 mph) |
Range | 960 nmi (1,780 km; 1,100 mi) at 9 kn (17 km/h; 10 mph) |
Complement |
|
Armament |
|
Armor |
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The Meteor class was a pair of two avisos built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the late-1880s and early 1890s. The class comprised two ships: Meteor and Comet. Unlike earlier avisos built for the fleet, which were designed to fill a variety of roles, the Meteor class was intended to protect the fleet's capital ships from torpedo boat attacks. They were armed with a battery of four 8.8 cm (3.5 in) quick-firing guns. Both vessels suffered from serious problems that rendered them unfit for service, namely poor seakeeping and excessive vibration of their propeller shafts. As a result, they saw little service, with Comet's only periods in commission being to test what were unsuccessful attempts to correct the problems. Meteor had a somewhat more active career, serving with the fleet in 1893–1894 and then as a fishery protection ship in 1895–1896, but she, too, spent most of her existence laid up. Both vessels were decommissioned in 1896 and struck from the naval register in 1911. Meteor was then used as a barracks ship, while Comet became a storage hulk; the two ships were broken up in 1919 and 1921, respectively.
The Imperial Navy began building small avisos in the 1880s to serve in the main fleet in German waters. These vessels were intended to support the battle line, as scouts for the fleet, as flotilla leaders for the fleet's torpedo boats, and as a screen against enemy torpedo boats. Unlike the contemporary German unprotected cruisers, their designs emphasized offensive capability and high speed rather than a long cruising radius. In 1888, the German naval command decided that future avisos should be focused solely on defense against hostile torpedo boats. Compared to the earlier Wacht-class avisos, the Meteor design was slightly smaller and displaced around 25 percent less than the earlier vessels. The primary alterations included a more powerful propulsion system, a new gun armament of quick-firing guns, and slightly thicker armor plating. [1] [2]
Meteor and Comet proved to be failures in service. They suffered from severe vibration and their small size rendered them poor sea boats; these defects significantly curtailed their careers, and they spent most of their existence in reserve. [2] [3] The Meteor class was the second to last aviso design produced by the Imperial Navy, followed only by Hela; by the 1890s, German naval designers had taken the best characteristics of the avisos and the contemporary unprotected cruisers and combined them in the Gazelle class of light cruisers, the first vessels of that type of warship. [1]
Meteor and Comet were 79.86 meters (262 ft 0 in) long at the waterline and 79.86 m (262 ft 0 in) long overall. They had a beam of 9.56 m (31 ft 4 in) and a maximum draft of 3.68 m (12 ft 1 in) forward. Meteor displaced 961 metric tons (946 long tons ) as designed and up to 1,078 t (1,061 long tons) at full combat load, while Comet was slightly heavier, at 992 t (976 long tons) and 1,117 t (1,099 long tons), respectively. Their hulls were constructed from transverse steel frames. Meteor was initially fitted with a single pole mainmast, while Comet had the pole mainmast along with a smaller mast further aft for wireless telegraphy. In 1901–1902, Meteor was fitted with the second mast as well. [4]
The Meteor-class ships had a crew of 7 officers and 108 enlisted men. The ships carried several smaller boats, including one yawl, one dinghy, and one cutter. They were poor sea boats; they were very unstable in anything but calm weather. They also vibrated excessively due to severe cavitation, particularly at high speeds. Both ships were, however, very maneuverable vessels. Their metacentric height was .41 m (1 ft 4 in). [4] [5]
Their propulsion system consisted of two vertical 3-cylinder triple expansion engines that drove a pair of 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in) wide, three-bladed screw propellers. Steam for the engines was provided by four coal-fired locomotive boilers that were trunked into two funnels on the centerline. The ships were equipped with a pair of electric generators with a combined output of 20 to 24 kilowatts (27 to 32 hp) at 67 volts. Steering was controlled by a single rudder. [4]
The ships' propulsion system varied slightly in performance. Meteor's engines were rated at 4,500 metric horsepower (4,400 ihp) for a top speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph), though she exceeded both figures on sea trials, reaching a speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph). Comet's engines were rated for 5,000 metric horsepower (4,900 ihp) and 19.5 kn (36.1 km/h; 22.4 mph), which she did not exceed on her trials. Both ships had a range of approximately 960 nautical miles (1,780 km; 1,100 mi) at 9 kn (17 km/h; 10 mph). [4]
The ships were armed with four 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/30 guns placed in single pivot mounts, two side-by-side forward, and two side-by-side aft. The guns were supplied with between 462 and 680 rounds of ammunition, and they had a range of 6,900 m (7,500 yd). They also carried three 35 cm (13.8 in) torpedo tubes, one mounted submerged in the bow and the other two in deck-mounted launchers on the broadside. They were supplied with eight torpedoes. Both ships were protected with steel armor. They had a 15 mm (0.59 in) thick deck with 25 mm (0.98 in) thick sloped sides. The conning tower had 30 mm (1.2 in) thick plating on the sides, with a 15 mm thick roof. [4]
Ship | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Completed |
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Meteor | Germaniawerft, Kiel [6] | December 1888 [6] | 20 January 1890 [6] | 15 May 1891 [6] |
Comet | AG Vulcan, Stettin [2] | November 1891 [2] | 15 November 1892 [2] | 29 April 1893 [2] |
After Meteor entered service, the problems with her design became apparent; attempts to remedy the defects and sea trials to determine the efforts' effectiveness occupied much of the ship's first two years in service. This period also saw the ship take part in training exercises with the rest of the German fleet. By 1893, Comet had also entered service, and she also underwent ultimately ineffective modifications following her initial trials. Meteor was employed as a fisheries protection vessel in 1895–1896, though she proved unsuited to the task, owing to her small size, which limited the amount of coal she could store and thus the amount of time she could remain on patrol in Germany's coastal waters. As a result, she was withdrawn from that service in late 1896. [6]
Comet never saw an extended period of active service; her only periods in commission were to conduct trials after alterations were made to the ship. She, too, was laid up in 1896; both ships were reclassified as light cruisers in 1899 and then reduced to harbor guard ships in 1904. Both were struck from the naval register in 1911, with Meteor becoming a barracks ship in Kiel and Comet being converted into a storage hulk for naval mines. Meteor and Comet were sold for scrapping in 1919 and 1921, respectively. [2] [3] [4]
SMS Ariadne was the fifth member of the ten-ship Gazelle class of light cruisers that were built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the late 1890s and early 1900s. The Gazelle class was the culmination of earlier unprotected cruiser and aviso designs, combining the best aspects of both types in what became the progenitor of all future light cruisers of the Imperial fleet. Built to be able to serve with the main German fleet and as a colonial cruiser, she was armed with a battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and a top speed of 21.5 knots.
SMS Hela was an aviso built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the mid-1890s, the last vessel of that type to be built by the German Empire. As the culmination of the type in German service, she represented significant improvements over earlier vessels, particularly the Wacht and Meteor classes, which had been disappointments in service. She was intended to serve as a fleet scout and as a flotilla leader for torpedo boats. Hela marked a step toward the development of the light cruiser. Armed with a battery of four 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns and three 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, the ship proved to be too weakly-armed for front-line combat.
SMS Arcona was the ninth member of the ten-ship Gazelle class of light cruisers that were built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the late 1890s and early 1900s. The Gazelle class was the culmination of earlier unprotected cruiser and aviso designs, combining the best aspects of both types in what became the progenitor of all future light cruisers of the Imperial fleet. Built to be able to serve with the main German fleet and as a colonial cruiser, she was armed with a battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and a top speed of 21.5 knots. Arcona was a modified version of the basic Gazelle design, with improved armor and additional coal storage for a longer cruising range.
SMS Undine was the last member of the ten-ship Gazelle class of light cruisers that were built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the late 1890s and early 1900s. The Gazelle class was the culmination of earlier unprotected cruiser and aviso designs, combining the best aspects of both types in what became the progenitor of all future light cruisers of the Imperial fleet. Built to be able to serve with the main German fleet and as a colonial cruiser, she was armed with a battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and had a top speed of 21.5 knots. Undine was a modified version of the basic Gazelle design, with improved armor and additional coal storage for a longer cruising range.
The Victoria Louise class of protected cruisers was the last class of ships of that type built for the German Imperial Navy. The class design introduced the combined clipper and ram bow and the blocky sides that typified later German armored cruisers. The class comprised five vessels, Victoria Louise, the lead ship, Hertha, Freya, Vineta, and Hansa. The ships were laid down in 1895–1896, and were launched in 1897–1898 and commissioned into the fleet over the following year.
SMS Danzig was a light cruiser of the Imperial German Navy. Named for the city of Danzig, she was the seventh and last ship of the Bremen class. She was begun by the Imperial Dockyard in her namesake city in 1904, launched on 23 September 1905 and commissioned on 1 December 1907. Armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and two 45 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes, Danzig was capable of a top speed of 22 knots.
SMS Medusa was a member of the ten-ship Gazelle class of light cruisers that were built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the late 1890s and early 1900s. The Gazelle class was the culmination of earlier unprotected cruiser and aviso designs, combining the best aspects of both types in what became the progenitor of all future light cruisers of the Imperial fleet. Built to be able to serve with the main German fleet and as a colonial cruiser, she was armed with a battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and a top speed of 21.5 knots. Medusa served in all three German navies—the Kaiserliche Marine, the Reichsmarine of Weimar Germany, and the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany—over the span of over forty years.
SMS Amazone was the sixth member of the ten-ship Gazelle class of light cruisers that were built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the late 1890s and early 1900s. The Gazelle class was the culmination of earlier unprotected cruiser and aviso designs, combining the best aspects of both types in what became the progenitor of all future light cruisers of the Imperial fleet. Built to be able to serve with the main German fleet and as a colonial cruiser, she was armed with a battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and a top speed of 21.5 knots.
SMS Lübeck was the fourth of seven Bremen-class cruisers of the Imperial German Navy, named after the city of Lübeck. She was begun by AG Vulcan Stettin in Stettin in 1903, launched in March 1904 and commissioned in April 1905. Armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and two 45 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes, Lübeck was capable of a top speed of 22.5 knots.
SMS Zieten was the first torpedo-armed aviso built for the Imperial German Navy. She was built in Britain in 1875–1876, and was the last major warship built for Germany by a foreign shipyard. Ordered as a testbed for the new Whitehead torpedo, Zieten was armed with a pair of 38 cm (15 in) torpedo tubes, and was capable of a top speed of 16 knots, making her the fastest ship in the German fleet at the time. Zieten was the first torpedo-armed vessel in a series of avisos that ultimately developed into the first light cruisers. In addition to her impact in German warship design, Zieten also influenced numerous other navies, who built dozens of similar avisos and torpedo vessels of their own.
SMS Pfeil was an aviso of the Imperial German Navy, the second and final member of the Blitz class. Her primary offensive armament consisted of a bow-mounted torpedo tube, and she was armed with a battery of light guns to defend herself against torpedo boats, a sign of the growing importance of torpedoes as effective weapons in the period. The Blitz class featured a number of innovations in German warship design: they were the first steel hulled warships and the first cruiser-type ships to discard traditional sailing rigs.
The Blitz class was a pair of avisos built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the early 1880s. The ships, Blitz and Pfeil, were the first steel-hulled ships of any kind built by the German Navy, were among the first torpedo cruiser type warships in the world, and were the progenitors of the later light cruisers of the Gazelle class. They were armed with a 12.5 cm (4.9 in) gun and one 35 cm (13.8 in) torpedo tube as their principal armament, and were capable of a top speed in excess of 15 knots. They were very successful warships, remaining in active service for more than three decades.
SMS Meteor was an aviso of the German Kaiserliche Marine built in the late 1880s and early 1890s, the lead ship of her class that include one other vessel, Comet. Intended to screen the main fleet against attacking torpedo boats, Meteor was armed with a battery of four 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns. Her design suffered from several defects, including excessive vibration and poor handling in heavy seas, both of which could not be corrected. These problems limited the ship's career. She served briefly as a guard ship in Kiel in 1892, as an aviso with the main fleet in 1893–1894, and as a fishery protection ship in 1895–1896. Out of service by the end of 1896, Meteor was later used as a harbor defense vessel in 1904 and then as a barracks ship from 1911 to 1919, when she was sold to ship breakers and dismantled.
SMS Comet was an aviso of the German Kaiserliche Marine built in the early 1890s, second and final member of the Meteor class that include one other vessel, Meteor. Intended to screen the main fleet against attacking torpedo boats, Comet was armed with a battery of four 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns. Her design suffered from several defects, including excessive vibration and poor handling in heavy seas, both of which could not be corrected. These problems limited the ship's career to several periods of sea trials as the navy attempted to remedy the problems that plagued the ship. They had no success, and Comet was instead decommissioned in mid-1896 and was later converted into a storage hulk for naval mines. She was ultimately broken up in 1921.
The Wacht class was a pair of avisos built by the German Kaiserliche Marine in the late-1880s; the class comprised two ships, Wacht and Jagd. They were laid down in 1886 and 1887 and completed by 1888 and 1889, respectively. The ships were based on the previous aviso, SMS Greif, which had proved to be an unsuccessful design due to its lack of torpedo armament. As a result, the Wacht-class ships were equipped with three torpedo tubes to improve their combat power; they were also the first German avisos to carry armor protection.
SMS Wacht was an aviso of the Imperial German Navy, the lead ship of her class. She had one sister ship, Jagd. Wacht was built by the AG Weser shipyard; she was laid down in 1886, launched in August 1887, and commissioned in August 1888. She served in the active fleet through the 1890s and participated in numerous training exercises. Her career was cut short on 4 September 1901, when she collided with the old ironclad SMS Sachsen. The latter's ram bow holed Wacht under the waterline and caused her to rapidly sink. Her crew was safely rescued, however, and there were no casualties.
SMS Jagd was an aviso of the Imperial German Navy, the second and final member of the Wacht class. She had one sister ship, Wacht. Jagd was laid down in 1887 at the AG Weser shipyard, launched in July 1888, and commissioned in June 1889. She served in the German fleet for the next fifteen years, until she was withdrawn from active duty in 1904. Thereafter, she was used as a harbor ship. In 1910, she was stricken from the naval register and hulked. She was later used as a torpedo training platform until 1920, when she was sold for scrapping.
SMS Comet was a Camäleon-class gunboat of the Prussian Navy that was launched in 1860. A small vessel, armed with only three light guns, Comet served during the Second Schleswig War of 1864 and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, part of the conflicts that unified Germany. The ship was present at, but was only lightly engaged in the Battle of Jasmund during the Second Schleswig War. She served in a variety of roles during peacetime, including fishery protection and survey work. Comet went on one lengthy deployment abroad, with an assignment to the Mediterranean Sea from 1876 to 1879. She saw little active service after returning to Germany and was decommissioned and hulked in 1881. The vessel remained in the navy's inventory until at least 1891, being broken up sometime thereafter.
The Camäleon class was a group of gunboats built for the Prussian Navy. Eight ships comprised the class: Camäleon, Comet, Cyclop, Delphin, Blitz, Basilisk, Meteor, and Drache. The vessels were armed with a battery of one 15 cm (5.9 in) gun and two 12 cm (4.7 in) guns. In 1865, the ships then in service had their 15 cm gun replaced with a 21 cm (8.3 in) gun; Meteor and Drache, not yet completed, entered service with that gun. The vessels saw action during the wars of German unification, with Comet taking part in the Battle of Jasmund and Blitz and Basilisk present during the Battle of Heligoland, both during the Second Schleswig War in 1864. Several of the ships served in the North Sea during the Austro-Prussian War, where some of them supported operations against the Kingdom of Hanover. During the Franco-Prussian War, Meteor battled the French aviso Bouvet in the Battle of Havana in 1870; the other members of the class were deployed on coastal defense assignments.