SMS Helgoland (1867)

For other ships with the same name, see SMS Helgoland.

Class overview
Operators	Austro-Hungarian Navy
Preceded by	Erzherzog Friedrich class
Succeeded by	SMS Fasana
History
Name	SMS Helgoland
Builder	Pola Navy Yard, Pola
Laid down	17 September 1866
Launched	23 December 1867
Completed	3 April 1869
Decommissioned	1890
Fate	Scrapped, 1897
General characteristics
Type	Screw corvette
Displacement	1,798 long tons (1,827  t)
Length	74.26 m (243 ft 8 in)
Beam	11.38 m (37 ft 4 in)
Draft	5.3 m (17 ft 5 in)
Installed power	1,127  ihp (840  kW)
Propulsion	1 × marine steam engine 1 × screw propeller
Speed	10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph)
Complement	235
Armament	2 × 7 in (178 mm) Armstrong guns 4 × 8-pounder guns 1 × 3-pounder gun

SMS Helgoland was a screw corvette of the Austro-Hungarian Navy built in the late 1860s. She was the only member of her class.

Design

Helgoland was a screw corvette, ^[1] sometimes referred to as a sloop, of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. She was 74.26 m (243 ft 8 in) long overall, with a beam of 11.38 m (37 ft 4 in) and a draft of 5.3 m (17 ft 5 in). The ship had a displacement of 1,798 long tons (1,827  t ). ^[2] Her wooden hull was given copper sheathing to protect the wood from biofouling and damage from marine parasites like shipworm. ^[3] Her crew numbered 235 officers and enlisted sailors. ^[2]

The ship was powered by a single 2-cylinder, horizontal marine steam engine that drove a screw propeller. The number and type of boilers is not known, but smoke from the boilers was vented through a single funnel located amidships, between the fore- and main mast. The propulsion system was capable of generating 1,127 indicated horsepower (840  kW ), for a top speed of 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph). The ship was fitted with a three-masted sailing rig to supplement the steam engine on long voyages. ^[2]

Helgoland was armed with a main battery of two 7 in (178 mm) muzzle-loading guns manufactured by Armstrong. She also carried four 8-pounder guns and a single 3-pounder gun. ^[2]

Service history

Helgoland was built at the Pola Navy Yard, with her keel laid on 17 September 1866. She was launched on 23 December 1867, and she was completed on 3 April 1869. ^[2] Upon entering service, In 1869, Helgoland was assigned to a squadron sent to patrol the Levant in the eastern Mediterranean under the command of Rear Admiral Friedrich von Pöck. The squadron also included the ironclad warships Erzherzog Ferdinand Max and Salamander, the gunboats Streiter, Reka, and Hum, and the screw schooner Kerka. In August, Helgoland sailed to Alexandria in Ottoman Egypt, where she met the transport ship Bravo. Isma'il Pasha of Egypt had given four ancient Egyptian columns as a gift to Kaiser Franz Joseph, and Bravo was to carry them to Austria-Hungary. Helgoland took Bravo under tow for the first leg of the voyage, departing Alexandria on 27 August. Severe storms during the voyage forced the ships to shelter at Cape Krio and the island of Gavdos; they then passed through Zakynthos before reaching Corfu on 7 September. From there, Bravo sailed on alone, allowing Helgoland to return to the squadron after a stay in Corfu for eight days. ^[4]

Having taken aboard mail for the other ships, she met the two ironclads in Smyrna later that month. She and Erzherzog Ferdinand Max departed on 28 September to visit Mytilene, arriving on 2 October. From there, the ships sailed on to Urla before returning to Smyrna. On 21 October, Pöck came aboard Helgoland, along with four pilots that Hum had brought to Smyrna; Helgoland departed that day for Varna to meet Franz Joseph's yacht Greif. Helgoland joined Greif and the steamers Kaiserin Elisabeth and Gargnano to on a voyage to Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire; they were escorted from Varna by the Ottoman imperial yacht, Sultaniye. There, they were to meet Franz Joseph, who would then board Greif to tour the eastern Mediterranean. Helgoland remained outside the Dardanelles, and in early November, Pöck, who had since returned to Erzherzog Ferdinand Max, ordered Helgoland and Hum to sail on to Beirut in Ottoman Syria. Over the following days, Franz Joseph visited a number of cities in Egypt and Syria, including Port Said, Jaffa, and Jerusalem. After Greif, Gargnano, and Kaiserin Elisabeth arrived in Beirut, heavy seas prevented the latter vessels from leaving, so Helgoland escorted Greif back south to Port Said on 15 November. Following the opening ceremonies for the Suez Canal, Helgoland escorted the Kaiser's entourage back across the Mediterranean, leaving Alexandria on 25 November and stopping in Corfu to take on coal. The ships arrived in Trieste on 3 December. Helgoland then left for Pola on 6 December for repairs after her cruise. ^[5]

Helgoland remained under repair at Pola well into 1870, and after work was completed later that year, she made a trial voyage from Pola to Kumbor. After completing the test, she joined the ironclad Habsburg, Hum, and Kerka at Gravosa on 20 May. The ships soon dispersed, and Helgoland followed Habsburg to Fasana, where they conducted shooting practice. Helgoland thereafter returned to Pola, but she got underway again on 18 June, bound for Port Said, which she reached on 16 July. After a six day stay, she sailed north for the coast of Syria, including a stop in Beirut. The ship then returned to Port Said on 4 August. ^[6] In early September, Helgoland left Port Said and returned to Corfu on 9 September, where she joined the rest of the active squadron. By that time, the squadron had been altered slightly, and now consisted of Habsburg, the screw corvette Dandolo, Hum, Reka, and Kerka. Helgoland continued on to Pola, arriving on 27 September. After remaining there for nearly a month, she was assigned to serve as the station ship in Marseilles, France, departing on 20 October. On the way, she passed through numerous ports, including Lussin, Austria-Hungary; Messina, Sicily; and Cagliari, Sardinia. The latter stop had not been intended, but while sailing from Messina to Marseilles, Helgoland encountered a severe storm that destroyed her jibboom and damaged her rudder. Her crew made repairs to the ship while in Cagliari, allowing her to continued on to Marseilles, eventually arriving on 16 November. Helgoland remained in Marseilles until 1 April, when she began a lengthy tour of the Mediterranean. First she sailed west to Barcelona, Spain, before turning south to Mahón on the island of Menorca. From there, she sailed east, stopping in Naples and Palermo, Italy, before continuing on to Smyrna. There, the Austro-Hungarian squadron commander inspected the ship, and he found her to be in need of repairs. Helgoland departed for Pola maintenance, arriving there on 2 June and being decommissioned three days later. ^[7]

Helgoland was dry-docked in Pola on 7 March 1872, to begin a series of extensive repairs. First, her copper bottom was cleaned and her screw was replaced, and then she was returned to the water. On 30 March, she was dry-docked again for further work, which included repairs to her masts, some of which needed to be replaced; repairs and re-caulking of her hull; general repairs to her interior spaces and guns; and the installation of a new deck house on her stern. ^[3] By that time, sharply reduced naval budgets had curtailed most activities for the Austro-Hungarian Navy, apart from occasional training cruises for the fleet's cruising vessels. Helgoland was first activated for one such voyage later in 1872; she sailed to South America, visiting Brazil and touring the West Indies, before re-crossing the Atlantic and touring the entirety of Africa, first along the coast of North Africa, before passing through the Suez Canal and circumnavigating the continent. She eventually arrived home in 1875. ^[8] The ship next went abroad in 1879 for a cruise to Australia, where she represented Austria-Hungary at the Sydney International Exhibition, which lasted until 1880. Helgoland thereafter returned to Pola. ^[9] Helgoland embarked on another overseas cruise in 1886, once again visiting ports in western and southern Africa. ^[10] Helgoland was decommissioned in 1890, ^[11] and was broken up for scrap in 1897. ^[2]

Notes

1. Sondhaus, p. 5.
2. Sieche & Bilzer, p. 276.
3. Benko 1873, p. 123.
4. Ziegler 1870, p. 14.
5. Ziegler 1870, pp. 14–16.
6. Ziegler 1870, pp. 16–17, 21.
7. Ziegler 1871, pp. 13–14.
8. Sondhaus, p. 40.
9. Sondhaus, p. 61.
10. Sondhaus, p. 83.
11. Sondhaus, p. 392.

References

• Benko, Jerolim Freiherrn, von, ed. (1873). "Die Thätigkeit des K.K. See-Arsenals zu Pola vom September 1871 bis September 1872" [Activities of the K.K. Naval Arsenal at Pola from September 1871 to September 1872]. Jahrbuch der Kais. Kön. Kriegsmarine[Yearbook of the Imperial and Royal Navy]. Vienna: Carl Gerold's Sohn: 115–132.
• Benko, Jerolim Freiherrn, von, ed. (1874). "Bewegungen S. M. Kriegsschiffe vom 1. September 1872 bis 31. August 1873" [Movements of S. M. Warships from 1 September 1872 to 31 August 1873]. Jahrbuch der Kais. Kön. Kriegsmarine[Yearbook of the Imperial and Royal Navy]. Vienna: Carl Gerold's Sohn: 15–58.
• Sieche, Erwin & Bilzer, Ferdinand (1979). "Austria-Hungary". In Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905 . London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 266–283. ISBN   978-0-85177-133-5.
• Sondhaus, Lawrence (1994). The Naval Policy of Austria-Hungary, 1867–1918. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press. ISBN   978-1-55753-034-9.
• Ziegler, Johannes, ed. (1870). "Bewegungen S. M. Kriegsschiffe vom 1. September 1869 bis 1 September 1870" [Movements of S. M. Warships from 1 September 1869 to 1 September 1870]. Jahrbuch der Kais. Kön. Kriegsmarine[Yearbook of the Imperial and Royal Navy]. Vienna: Carl Gerold's Sohn: 14–33.
• Ziegler, Johannes, ed. (1871). "Bewegungen S. M. Kriegsschiffe vom September 1870 bis September 1871" [Movements of S. M. Warships from September 1870 to September 1871]. Jahrbuch der Kais. Kön. Kriegsmarine[Yearbook of the Imperial and Royal Navy]. Vienna: Carl Gerold's Sohn: 13–27.