Service
Sale to Prussia
After the total losses of the schooner SMS Frauenlob [3] and the sailing corvette SMS Amazone [4] in 1860–61, the Prussian Diet authorized the purchase of suitable training ships abroad to quickly ensure the training needs of seamen. [5] In 1862, they bought from the British Admiralty the sailing frigate SMS Niobe and the Helena-class sloops Musquito and Rover. While the Royal Navy, was in process of converting into a fully steam-powered navy, their wooden sailing ships could purchased cheaply. The contract of sale, dated 9 July 1862, listed £11,763 as the price for Rover. [2]
The transfer of the purchased ships took place in October 1862 with personnel levies from the corvettes SMS Arconaand SMS Thetis returning from East Asia. [6] With the transfer crews in place, Rover was taken over for the Prussian Navy at Plymouth-Devonport on 19 October. On 28 October, the ship began its transfer voyage to Danzig, where she arrived in late November 1862 and was decommissioned in December 1862 to be prepared for her duties as training ship in the Kaiserliche Werft. [7]
Training ship
On 15 May 1863, Rover was commissioned as the second of three new training ships. Like the other two ships, she retained her British name. Armament was reduced to ten 24-pounders (down to only eight guns in 1867). [8] From August 1863, Rover was part of the training squadron formed for the first time. After unit exercises, in fall the ships started a foreign voyage to the Atlantic, but were already stopped at 16 November due to tensions with Denmark. [5] Rover served as a depot ship at Swinemünde during the German-Danish War. [7] By the fall of 1864, the school squadron set sail from Kiel for the Atlantic with all three ships. Because of the recently ended war with Denmark, the corvettes Vineta and Victoria accompanied the departing squadron to Plymouth. [5] There Niobe separated and continued her voyage to the West Indies, while the two escort corvettes returned to the Baltic Sea. Rover sailed into the Mediterranean via Gibraltar and Palermo to Nauplia. Poor weather conditions delayed her return at Malta, so she didn't arrive Kiel until 17 May 1865. [5] In the following years, Rover untertook, several short trainings in the Baltic Sea in summer and in winter a voyage to the south lasting several months. In winter 1865–66, she traveled along with Niobe to the Cape Verde Islands. From 9 October 1866 to May 1867 she sailed to the western Mediterranean. [5] While Niobe went back to the West Indies in autumn 1867, Rover went to Lisbon, from where she undertook several shorter voyages over the winter before arriving back in Kiel on 3 May 1868.
The following two years, Rover spent the winter off Portugal and the Atlantic ports of southern Spain. On 28 April 1870, the ship arrived back in Kiel. They then sailed to Danzig and were subsequently decommissioned in July due to the Franco-Prussian War. Rover served as a residential ship for reservists, then for prisoners of war. During the war she was transferred to Kiel as a residential ship. [7] On 15 April 1872, Rover was put back into service and was then used for the first time as a training ship for sea cadets in the eastern Baltic and the North Sea. [7] The sister ship Musquito, which had been back in service since the previous year, and the similar newbuilding SMS Undine from kaiserliche Schiffwerft in Gdansk, [9] which had entered service for the first time the previous year, continued to serve as training ships for cabin boys. In the summer of 1872, the navy thus had three brigs in service for the first time. On 11 October 1872, Rover was taken out of service again, since the small training ships shouldn't operate on long voyages and were only to be used during the first training period at home. [5] In fact, Rover, which was again serving as a ship's boy training vessel, was already used in 1873 for an Atlantic voyage in autumn, calling at the West Indies and ports in the USA and Canada. The ship remained in service until autumn 1874.
In 1875, Rover was only in service for the summer half-year, and in the spring of 1876 she was merely recomissioned to be transferred to Danzig for a major overhaul. In 1877 and 1878, as well as in 1880 and 1881, Rover was in service as a ship's boy brig in the Baltic from the beginning of April to the end of October. In 1882, she saw service from the end of February to 1 May 1882 in order to brief the crew of the future experimental torpedoship Blücher. [10] In 1883 and 1884, she was again deployed as a ship's boy brig in the Baltic Sea during the summer half-year. Decommissioned on 15 October 1884, Rover was reactivated on 5 November 1884 to undertake a training voyage from 13 November with the crew rescued from the loss of the Undine near Skagen to the Cape Verde Islands, from which Rover returned to Kiel on 8 May 1885. [10] She then again carried out the small voyages into the Baltic during the first section of the ship's boy training, to be decommissioned as usual on 15 October 1885. By 1889 and 1890, SMS Rover was still deployed in the Baltic during the summer months for shipboy training. [10] On 30 September 1890, the flag of the Rover which had visited Stockholm in her last year of service, was taken down for the last time and subsequently the ship was struck from the fleet list in November. [10]
SMS Friedrich der Grosse was an ironclad turret ship built for the German Kaiserliche Marine. She was the second of three Preussen-class ironclads, in addition to her two sister-ships Preussen and Grosser Kurfürst. Named for Frederick the Great, she was laid down at the Imperial Dockyard in Kiel in 1871 and completed in 1877. Her main battery of four 26 cm (10 in) guns was mounted in a pair of twin gun turrets amidships.
SMS Moltke was a Bismarck-class corvette built for the German Imperial Navy in the late 1870s. The ship was named after the Prussian Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder. She was the fourth member of the class, which included five other vessels. The Bismarck-class corvettes were ordered as part of a major naval construction program in the early 1870s, and she was designed to serve as a fleet scout and on extended tours in Germany's colonial empire. Moltke was laid down in July 1875, launched in October 1877, and was commissioned into the fleet in April 1878. She was armed with a battery of ten 15 cm (5.9 in) guns and had a full ship rig to supplement her steam engine on long cruises abroad.
SMS Danzig was a paddle corvette of the Prussian Navy. She was the lead warship during the Battle of Tres Forcas in 1856, one of the first examples of Prussian gunboat diplomacy. She was later decommissioned from the Prussian Navy and served in the navy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate as the Kaiten from 1864 until 1869, and then briefly with the breakaway Ezo Republic until her destruction later the same year.
SMS Hansa was a German ironclad warship built in 1868–1875. She was the first ironclad built in Germany; all previous German ironclads had been built in foreign shipyards. She was named after the Hanseatic League, known in Germany simply as Hanse, Latinized Hansa. The ship was launched in October 1872 and commissioned into the German Imperial Navy in May 1875. Designed as for coastal bombardment, Hansa was classed as an armored corvette and armed with eight 21 cm (8.3 in) guns in a central battery.
SMS Albatross was a gunboat of the Imperial German Navy launched and commissioned in 1871. SMS Nautilus soon followed as her sister ship. She served as a gunboat overseas until she became a survey vessel in 1888. Struck from the list on 9 January 1899, she was sold and used as a collier until she foundered in a storm in March 1906.
SMS Meteor was a Camäleon-class gunboat of the North German Federal Navy that was launched in 1865. A small vessel, armed with only three light guns, Meteor took part in the Battle of Havana in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War. There, she battled the French aviso Bouvet; both vessels were lightly damaged, though Bouvet was compelled to disengage after a shot from Meteor disabled her engine. After the war, Meteor returned to Germany, where her career was limited; she served briefly as a survey vessel. From 1873 to 1877, she was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea as a station ship in Constantinople during a period of tensions in the Ottoman Empire. After returning to Germany in 1877, she was decommissioned, converted into a coal hulk and expended as a target ship some time later.
The Marinestation der Ostsee was a command of both the Imperial German Navy, and the Reichsmarine which served as a shore command for German naval units operating primarily in the Baltic Sea. The station was headquartered at Kiel and was a counterpart command to the Marinestation der Nordsee.
SMS Camäleon was the lead ship of the Camäleon class of steam-powered gunboats of the Prussian Navy that was launched in 1860. A small vessel, armed with only three light guns, Camäleon saw little active use. She served during the Second Schleswig War of 1864 and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, but saw no action in either conflict. Her peacetime career was limited to survey work in 1865 and limited tender duties in and around Kiel in 1867–1868. In poor condition by 1872, she was stricken from the naval register and used as a storage hulk in Kiel. She was broken up for scrap some time after 1878.
SMS Delphin was a Camäleon-class gunboat of the Prussian Navy that was launched in 1860. A small vessel, armed with only three light guns, Delphin served during the Second Schleswig War of 1864 and the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, 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. The ship spent much of the rest of her career in the Mediterranean Sea, going on three lengthy deployments there in 1865–1866, 1867–1870, and 1871–1873. During the last tour, she took part in operations off the coast of Spain with an Anglo-German squadron during the Third Carlist War, where she helped to suppress forces rebelling against the Spanish government. For the rest of the 1870s, she served as a survey vessel in the North and Baltic Seas before being decommissioned in August 1881, stricken from the naval register the following month, and subsequently broken up for scrap.
SMS Ariadne was a steam corvette of the German Kaiserliche Marine. She was the lead ship of the Ariadne class, which included two other ships, Luise and Freya. Ordered as part of a naval expansion program after the Austro-Prussian War, Ariadne was laid down in September 1868, launched in July 1871, and was commissioned in November 1872. Ariadne was a small vessel, armed with a battery of just eight guns.
SMS Luise was a steam corvette of the German Kaiserliche Marine. She was the second member of the Ariadne class, which included two other ships, Ariadne and Freya. Ordered as part of a large naval expansion program after the Austro-Prussian War, she was laid down in 1871 during the Franco-Prussian War. She was launched in December 1872 and completed in June 1874. Luise was a small vessel, armed with a battery of just eight guns.
SMS Victoria was the second and final member of the Augusta class of steam corvettes built for the Prussian Navy in the 1860s. She had one sister ship, Augusta; the ships were armed with a battery of fourteen guns. Victoria was laid down in 1863 at the Arman Brothers shipyard in Bordeaux, France, and was launched in early 1864. Originally ordered by the Confederate States Navy, her delivery was blocked by the French Emperor Napoleon III, and she was instead sold to the Prussian Navy in May 1864. The Prussians had been in search of vessels to strengthen their fleet before and during the Second Schleswig War against Denmark, but Victoria arrived too late to see action in the conflict.
SMS Nymphe was the lead ship of the Nymphe class of steam corvettes, the first ship of that type to be built for the Prussian Navy. She had one sister ship, Medusa, and the vessels were wooden-hulled ships armed with a battery of sixteen guns. She was ordered as part of a naval expansion program to counter the Danish Navy over the disputed ownership of Schleswig and Holstein. Nymphe was laid down in January 1862, was launched in April 1863, and was completed in October that year.
SMS Medusa was a steam corvette built for the Prussian Navy in the 1860s. She was the second and final member of the Nymphe class, ordered as part of a naval expansion program to counter the Danish Navy over the disputed ownership of Schleswig and Holstein. Medusa was laid down in February 1862, was launched in October 1864, and was completed in September 1865. She had one sister ship, Nymphe, and the vessels were wooden-hulled ships armed with a battery of sixteen guns.
SMS Preussischer Adler was a paddle steamer originally built in the mid-1840s for use on a packet route between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire in the Baltic Sea. She was requisitioned by the Prussian Navy during the First Schleswig War in 1848 and converted into an aviso, the first vessel of the type commissioned by Prussia. During the war, she took part in an inconclusive action with the Danish brig St. Croix, the first naval battle of the Prussian fleet. After the war, she was disarmed and returned to her commercial role, operating uneventfully on the Stettin–St. Petersburg route until 1862, when the expansion of the Prussian Eastern Railway had rendered the maritime route superfluous. The ship was purchased by the Prussian Navy that year and rearmed, once again as an aviso.
SMS Nix was the lead ship of the two-vessel Nix class of avisos built for the Prussian Navy in the early 1850s. After commissioning in 1851, Nix saw little activity, apart from short training exercises and cruises in the Baltic Sea, which were frequently punctuated with boiler fires. A dissatisfied Prussian Navy decided to sell both Nix-class ships. In 1855, the Prussians sold Nix to the British Royal Navy in exchange for the sail frigate Thetis, and was commissioned as HMS Weser. She saw action during the Crimean War at the Battle of Kinburn in October 1855, and thereafter saw little activity, being based in Malta. She was ultimately decommissioned in 1865, used as a harbor ship, and then sold to ship breakers in 1873.
SMS Grille was an aviso of the Prussian Navy built in France in the mid-1850s as part of a naval expansion program directed by Prince Adalbert of Prussia, who saw the need for a stronger fleet. She was authorized in 1855 in the aftermath of the First Schleswig War, which had demonstrated the weakness of the Prussian fleet. Grille was the first screw propeller-driven steamship to be built for Prussia; all earlier steam-powered vessels had been paddle steamers.
The Jäger class of steam gunboats was a class of fifteen ships that were built for the Prussian Navy in the late 1850s and early 1860s. The class, which were the first steam gunboats built for the Prussian fleet, comprised the following vessels: Jäger, Crocodill, Fuchs, Hay, Scorpion, Sperber, Hyäne, Habicht, Pfeil, Natter, Schwalbe, Salamander, Wespe, Tiger, and Wolf. They were armed with three guns and were intended to guard the Prussian coast in the shallow waters of the Baltic Sea. They proved to handle poorly in service, and as a result, spent much of their existences laid up ashore. Several of the boats were activated during the Second Schleswig War in 1864, and some took part in a minor battle against Danish warships. Crocodill was scrapped in 1867 due to her poor condition, but the rest of the class remained in the fleet's inventory into the 1870s, when they began to be discarded. Most of the ships served on as storage barges, usually for naval mines, though Jäger and Wolf were both sunk as target ships.
SMS Scorpion was a steam gunboat of the Jäger class built for the Prussian Navy in the late 1850s and early 1860s. The ship was ordered as part of a program to strengthen Prussia's coastal defense forces, then oriented against neighboring Denmark. She was armed with a battery of three guns. The ship saw very little activity during her career. She was activated during the Second Schleswig War against Denmark in 1864, and she saw brief action during the Battle of Jasmund on 17 March. Scorpion was commissioned during the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 and the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, but she did not engage any enemy forces during either conflict. The navy disposed of the ship in 1877 and she was later used as a coal storage barge. Her ultimate fate is unknown.
SMS Salamander was a steam gunboat of the Jäger class built for the Prussian Navy in the late 1850s and early 1860s. The ship was ordered as part of a program to strengthen Prussia's coastal defense forces, then oriented against neighboring Denmark. She was armed with a battery of three guns. The ship saw very little activity during her career. She was activated during the Second Schleswig War against Denmark in 1864 and the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, being used to defend the Prussian coast. During the latter conflict, she was present for a brief action with French ships in the Baltic Sea. She remained in service through 1875, when she was placed in reserve, where she remained until 1878, when she was struck from the naval register. She was thereafter used as a barge.
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Prussia German Empire