A 1902 lithograph of SMS Oldenburg, Germany's last ironclad
Between the mid-1860s and the early 1880s, the Prussian and later Imperial German Navies purchased or built sixteen ironclad warships.[1][lower-alpha 1] In 1860, however, the Prussian Navy consisted solely of wooden, unarmored warships. The following year, Prince Adalbert and Albrecht von Roon wrote an expanded fleet plan that included four large ironclads and four smaller ironclads. Two of the latter were to be ordered from Britain immediately,[8] as German shipyards were at the time incapable of building such vessels.[9] The rival Danish fleet had three ironclads in service by the time the Second Schleswig War broke out in 1864;[10] as a result, Prussia purchased the ironclads Arminius and Prinz Adalbert, then under construction in Britain and France, respectively. The British, sympathetic to the Danish cause, delayed delivery of both Arminius and Prinz Adalbert until after the combined Austro-Prussian victory. Both ships entered service by 1865.[7][11]
The Prussian Navy had acquired three more ships—Friedrich Carl, Kronprinz, and König Wilhelm—by the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. A fourth was ordered from Prussian shipbuilders, but would not be completed in time to see service during the war.[12] In the aftermath of the war in 1871, the various Germanic states were unified under Prussian dominance as the German Empire; the Prussian Navy became the core of the Imperial Navy.[13] The three turret ships of the Preussen class were built in Germany in the early 1870s, followed by two Kaiser-class vessels in the middle of the decade, the last capital ships ordered from foreign yards by Germany.[14] A different strategic plan affected the next design, the four Sachsen-class ships. These vessels were intended to operate from fortified bases against a naval blockade, not on the high seas.[15] The last ironclad built by Germany, Oldenburg, was originally to have been a fifth member of the Sachsen class, but dissatisfaction with those ships led to a new design.[16] The German Navy temporarily ceased construction of capital ships in the 1880s, due to the poor performance of the Sachsen class and the rise of the Jeune École; instead, concentration was focused on creating a large force of torpedo boats for coastal defense.[17][lower-alpha 2]
Arminius served as a coastal defense ship for the first six years of her service with the Prussian Navy. She saw extensive service in the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian wars during the process of German unification. The vessel was the primary challenge to the French blockade of German ports during the latter conflict.[21] After the wars, Arminius was withdrawn from front-line service and used in a variety of secondary roles, including as a training ship for engine-room crews and as a tender for the school ship Blücher. The ship was eventually sold in 1901 and broken up for scrap the following year.[20]
Prinz Adalbert was originally ordered by the Confederate States Navy, but the Prussian Navy purchased the ship during the Second Schleswig War against Denmark. Like Arminius, the vessel was not delivered until after the war.[7] The vessel was designed as an armored ram, but also carried three guns: one 21cm and two 17cm (6.7in) pieces in fixed armored turrets. She was named after Prince Adalbert of Prussia, an early proponent of German naval power.[23] The ship was poorly constructed and as a result had a very limited service career. She was heavily modified after her delivery to Prussia in 1865 and briefly served with the fleet between 1866 and 1871.[5] During the Franco-Prussian War in 1870–1871, the ship was assigned as a guard ship in Hamburg.[24] After the war, it was discovered that the internal wood construction was badly rotted; she was therefore removed from service in October 1871.[7]Prinz Adalbert was stricken from the naval register in May 1878 and broken up for scrap that year.[5]
Friedrich Carl was built for the Prussian Navy in the mid-1860s in the French Societé Nouvelles des Forges et Chantiers shipyard in Toulon. Built as an armored frigate, she mounted her main battery of sixteen 21cm guns on the broadside. Her hull was laid in 1866 and launched in January 1867. The ship was commissioned into the Prussian Navy in October 1867, after which she served with the fleet.[20] During the Franco-Prussian War, the ship formed part of the main German squadron commanded by Vice Admiral Jachmann. Engine trouble, however, plagued the ship and two of the other three vessels in the squadron; as a result, they made only two sorties from the port of Wilhelmshaven to challenge the French blockade. Neither resulted in combat.[25]
Friedrich Carl was also deployed to Spain during an insurrection in 1873,[26] during which she assisted in the seizure of three rebel vessels in two engagements.[27] The ship was refitted at the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven during the 1880s. Friedrich Carl was withdrawn from active service in 1895, when she was converted into a training ship. She was renamed Neptun in 1902 and used as a harbor ship until June 1905, when she was removed from the naval register. The following year, she was sold to ship breakers in the Netherlands and dismantled for scrap.[20]
Kronprinz (Crown Prince) was built for the Prussian Navy in 1866–1867. The ship was laid down in 1866 at the Samuda Brothers shipyard at Cubitt Town in London. She was launched in May 1867 and commissioned into the Prussian Navy that September. The ship was the fourth ironclad ordered by the Prussian Navy, after Arminius, Prinz Adalbert, and Friedrich Carl, though she entered service before Friedrich Carl. Kronprinz was built as an armored frigate, armed with a main battery of sixteen 21cm (8.3in) guns; several smaller guns were added later in her career.[28]
Kronprinz saw limited duty during the Franco-Prussian War. Engine troubles aboard the ship, along with the two other armored frigates in her squadron, prevented operations against the French blockade. The Prussians conducted only two sorties in which Kronprinz participated, both of which ended without combat.[25] The ship served in the subsequent Imperial Navy until she was converted into a training ship for boiler room personnel in 1901.[29] The ship was ultimately broken up for scrap in 1921.[28]
SMS König Wilhelm (King William) was laid down in 1865 at the Thames Ironworks shipyard in London, originally under the name Fatikh for the Ottoman Empire.[29] She was purchased by Prussia in February 1867, launched in April 1868, and commissioned into the Prussian Navy in February 1869. She was built as an armored frigate, armed with a main battery of sixteen 24cm (9.4in) and five 21cm guns; several smaller guns and torpedo tubes were added later in her career.[30] The ship was for a time the largest and most powerful warship in the German navy,[31] only surpassed in size by the Brandenburg-classpre-dreadnought battleships launched in 1891–1892.[32]
She served as the fleet's flagship during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870–1871,[29] though engine troubles prevented the ship from seeing action.[25] In 1878, the ship accidentally rammed and sank the ironclad Grosser Kurfürst, with great loss of life.[33] She returned to service to join maneuvers with the rest of the fleet in the early 1890s.[34]König Wilhelm was converted into an armored cruiser in 1895–1896.[35] By early 1904, however, she had been superseded by newer vessels. In May of that year, she was placed out of active service and used as a floating barracks and training ship, a role she held through World War I. In 1921, the ship was ultimately broken up for scrap, after a career spanning 52 years and three German states.[30]
SMS Hansa was built in 1868–1875, the first ironclad built in Germany;[36] all previous German ironclads had been built in foreign shipyards.[37] This resulted in a much longer period of construction, however, as she was built by the relatively inexperienced Royal Dockyard in Danzig. 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 Imperial Navy in May 1875. Designed for overseas service, Hansa was classed as an armored corvette and armed with eight 21cm guns in a central battery.[38]
Hansa served abroad for the first nine years of her career in the German navy. In 1884, it was found that her iron hull was badly corroded, which rendered the ship unfit for further active service.[36] She was therefore removed from active duty and used for a variety of secondary roles. From 1884 to 1888, she served as a guard ship in Kiel, where she also trained engine and boiler room personnel. In 1888, she was stricken from the naval register and used as a barracks ship in Kiel. She was moved to Mönkeberg in 1905, where she continued to train boiler room personnel, until 1906 when she was sold to ship-breakers and dismantled for scrap.[38]
The Preussen class of armored frigates was a group of three ships built in the early 1870s. The lead ship, Preussen, was laid down in 1871 and launched in 1873. Friedrich der Grosse also was laid down in 1871 and launched in 1874. Grosser Kurfürst, although the first to be laid down, in 1869, was the last to be completed, launched in 1875.[39] This was primarily due to the fact that Preussen was built by a private firm experienced with building large ships, while Friedrich der Grosse and Grosser Kurfürst were constructed by newly established and thus inexperienced Imperial dockyards.[36] The ships served in the fleet starting in 1876, when Preussen was commissioned.[40]
Grosser Kurfürst was lost in 1878 during maneuvers shortly after her commissioning, when a pair of small sailing boats crossed the bows of Grosser Kurfürst and König Wilhelm, which caused both ships to undertake emergency maneuvers. In the confusion, König Wilhelm collided with Grosser Kurfürst, causing the latter to sink. Over two hundred men were killed in the sinking, which resulted in tremendous political infighting in the Navy and the eventual forced retirement of Admiral Reinhold von Werner.[41] Both Preussen and Friedrich der Grosse served in the fleet until the 1890s,[42] when they were relegated to secondary duties, including serving as harbor ships, and later as coal hulks. The ships were eventually scrapped following the end of World War I, in 1919 and 1920, respectively.[40]
The Kaiser class was a pair of vessels built in the early 1870s. The lead ship, Kaiser, was laid down in 1871 and launched in 1874. Deutschland was laid down in 1872 and launched in 1874; both ships were designed by Edward Reed and were built by the Samuda Brothers shipyard in London.[43] They were the last German capital ships built by a foreign shipyard.[44] Built as armored frigates, the ships were armed with a main battery of eight 26cm (10in) guns in a central armored battery and were capable of a top speed of 14kn (26km/h; 16mph).[45]
Both ships served with the fleet following their commissioning in 1875, though they spent a significant part of their career in reserve, as Germany maintained only a small number of ships on active duty for training cruises in the period.[46] The ships were substantially rebuilt in the 1890s into armored cruisers and stationed in Asia for three years.[43]Kaiser was the flagship of Otto von Diederichs's East Asia Squadron during the seizure of the Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory in November 1897. Both ships were sent to the Philippines after the Spanish–American War in 1898.[47] Following their return to Germany in 1899–1900, the ships were used in several secondary roles, including as harbor and barracks ships. The ships were stricken from the naval register in 1906; Deutschland was used as a target ship before being sold for scrap in 1908, though Kaiser served on as a floating barracks until she too was sold in 1920.[48]
The Sachsen class of four ships was built in the late 1870s to early 1880s.[49] The ships—Sachsen, Bayern, Württemberg, and Baden—were designed to operate as part of an integrated coastal defense network. The ships were intended to sortie from fortified bases to break up an enemy blockade or landing attempt, and were labeled as Ausfallkorvetten (sortie corvettes) by the Imperial Navy. As a result of their intended roles, they were given a short cruising radius and were not intended for high-seas operations. Armed with six 26cm guns, they were, however, intended to fight hostile ironclads on relatively equal terms.[15]
Following their commissionings in 1878–1883, the four ships served with the fleet on numerous training exercises and cruises in the 1880s and 1890s. They also participated in several cruises escorting Kaiser Wilhelm II on state visits to Great Britain and to various cities in the Baltic Sea in the late 1880s and early 1890s.[50] In the late 1890s, the four ships were extensively rebuilt; their secondary batteries were modernized and they received upgraded propulsion systems. They were removed from active duty between 1902 and 1910 and relegated to secondary duties. Sachsen and Bayern became target ships while Württemberg became a torpedo training ship. The three ships were broken up for scrap in 1919–1920. Baden was used as a boom defense hulk from 1910 to 1920, when she became a target ship. She survived until 1938, when she was sold for scrapping.[49]
SMS Oldenburg was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin in 1883, launched in December 1884 and commissioned into the Navy in April 1886.[52]Oldenburg was intended to have been a fifth member of the Sachsen class, but budgetary limitations and dissatisfaction with the ships of the Sachsen class prompted a redesign that bore little resemblance to the earlier vessels.[16]Oldenburg mounted her main battery of eight 24cm guns amidships, six in a central casemate on the main deck and two directly above them on the broadside.[53] She was the first German capital ship constructed entirely from German-made steel.[54]
Oldenburg did not see significant service with the German Navy. She participated in fleet training maneuvers in the late 1880s and early 1890s, but she spent the majority of the 1890s in reserve.[55] Her only major deployment came in 1897–1898 when she joined an international naval demonstration to protest the Greek annexation of Crete; the demonstration ultimately forced a compromise between the Greeks and Ottomans.[56] In 1900, she was withdrawn from active duty and used as a harbor defense ship. From 1912 to 1919, she was used by the High Seas Fleet as a target ship; she was sold for scrapping in 1919 and broken up that year.[52]
↑ The Imperial Navy also acquired a number of armored gunboats, including the Rhein class of riverine monitors and the Wespe-class "flatiron gunboats." Despite their armor plating, they are not commonly described as ironclads.[2] The term "ironclad" in this period frequently referred to armored capital ships that succeeded the sailing or steam-powered ship of the line and preceded pre-dreadnoughtbattleships,[3] though other historians have used the term more generally, especially in relation to the small armored ships operated by the US Navy during the American Civil War.[4]Arminius and Prinz Adalbert were significantly smaller than later German ironclads, though they are typically included in lists of ironclad capital ships.[5][6][7]
↑ At the end of the decade, the German Navy returned to capital ship construction with a series of small coastal defence ships followed by ocean-going battleships.[18]
↑ Historian Erich Gröner states that full load was defined as "[equal to] type displacement plus full load fuel oil, diesel oil, coal, reserve boiler feed water, aircraft fuel, and special equipment."[19]
↑ The cost of the ship is not recorded in Gröner's work.[49]
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 Preussen was an ironclad turret ship built for the German Kaiserliche Marine. The ship was built by the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin in 1871–1876; she was commissioned into the fleet in July 1876. She was the first large warship of the German navy built by a private shipyard; all previous vessels had been ordered abroad or built by Royal or Imperial dockyards. Her main battery of four 26 cm (10.2 in) guns was mounted in a pair of twin gun turrets amidships.
SMS Grosser Kurfürst was an ironclad turret ship built for the German Kaiserliche Marine. She was laid down at the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven in 1870 and completed in 1878; her long construction time was in part due to a redesign that was completed after work on the ship had begun. Her main battery of four 26 cm (10 in) guns was initially to be placed in a central armored battery, but during the redesign, this was altered to a pair of twin gun turrets amidships.
SMS Oldenburg was an armored warship of the German Kaiserliche Marine. Laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin in 1883, the ship was launched in December 1884 and commissioned into the Navy in April 1886. Oldenburg was intended to have been a fifth member of the Sachsen class of sortie corvettes, but budgetary limitations and dissatisfaction with the Sachsen class prompted a redesign that bore little resemblance to the earlier vessels. Oldenburg mounted her main battery of eight 24 cm (9.4 in) guns amidships, six in a central casemate on the main deck and two directly above them on the broadside. She was the first German capital ship constructed entirely from German-made steel.
SMS Deutschland was the second and final ship of the Kaiser-class ironclads; SMS Kaiser was her sister ship. Named for Germany, the ship was laid down in the Samuda Brothers shipyard in London in 1872. The ship was launched in September 1874 and commissioned into the German fleet in July 1875. Deutschland mounted a main battery of eight 26 cm (10.2 in) guns in a central battery amidships. She was the last capital ship built for the German Navy by a foreign ship-builder; all subsequent ships were built in Germany.
Eduard Karl Emanuel von Jachmann was the first Vizeadmiral of the Prussian Navy. He entered the navy in the 1840s after initially serving in the merchant marine. In 1848, Jachmann received his first command, the corvette SMS Amazone; through the 1850s and early 1860s, he held several other commands, including the frigates Thetis—aboard which he took part in the Eulenburg expedition to East Asia—and Arcona. During the Second Schleswig War in 1864, he commanded Prussian naval forces in the Baltic from Arcona, and led a small squadron at the Battle of Jasmund on 17 March. Though defeated in that battle, he was promoted to Konteradmiral for his aggressive handling of the Prussian fleet.
SMS König Wilhelm was an armored frigate of the Prussian and later the German Imperial Navy. The ship was laid down in 1865 at the Thames Ironworks shipyard in London, originally under the name Fatih for the Ottoman Empire. She was purchased by Prussia in February 1867, launched in April 1868, and commissioned into the Prussian Navy in February 1869. The ship was the fifth ironclad ordered by the Prussian Navy, after Arminius, Prinz Adalbert, Friedrich Carl, and Kronprinz. She was built as an armored frigate, armed with a main battery of sixteen 24 cm (9.4 in) and five 21 cm (8.3 in) guns; several smaller guns and torpedo tubes were added later in her career.
SMS Prinz Adalbert was an ironclad warship of the Prussian Navy and later the Imperial fleet. She was built in Bordeaux, France in 1864 for the Confederate States Navy. Prussia bought her during the Second Schleswig War against Denmark, but she was not delivered until after the war. She was designed as an armored ram but also carried three guns: one 21 cm (8.3 in) and two 17 cm (6.7 in) pieces in armored turrets. She was named after Prince Adalbert of Prussia, an early proponent of Prussian naval power.
SMS Arminius was an ironclad warship of the Prussian Navy, later the Imperial German Navy. The vessel was a turret ship that was designed by the British Royal Navy Captain Cowper Coles and built by the Samuda Brothers shipyard in Cubitt Town, London as a speculative effort; Prussia purchased the ship during the Second Schleswig War against Denmark, though the vessel was not delivered until after the war. The ship was armed with four 21 cm (8.3 in) guns in a pair of revolving gun turrets amidships. She was named for Arminius, the victor of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
SMS Württemberg was one of four Sachsen-class armored frigates of the German Kaiserliche Marine. Her sister ships were Sachsen, Bayern, and Baden. Württemberg was built in the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin from 1876 to 1881. The ship was commissioned into the Imperial Navy in August 1881. She was armed with a main battery of six 26 cm (10.2 in) guns in two open barbettes.
The Sachsen class of armored corvettes was a class of four ships built by the Imperial German Navy in the late 1870s to early 1880s. The ships—Sachsen, Bayern, Württemberg, and Baden—were designed to operate as part of an integrated coastal defense network. The ships were intended to sortie from fortified bases to break up an enemy blockade or landing attempt. Armed with six 26 cm (10.2 in) guns, they were also intended to fight hostile ironclads on relatively equal terms.
SMS Kaiser was the lead ship of the Kaiser-class ironclads; SMS Deutschland was her sister ship. Named for the title "Kaiser", held by the leader of the then newly created German Empire, the ship was laid down in the Samuda Brothers shipyard in London in 1871. The ship was launched in March 1874 and commissioned into the German fleet in February 1875. Kaiser mounted a main battery of eight 26 cm (10.2 in) guns in a central battery amidships.
SMS Kronprinz was a unique German ironclad warship built for the Prussian Navy in 1866–1867. Kronprinz was laid down in 1866 at the Samuda Brothers shipyard at Cubitt Town in London. She was launched in May 1867 and commissioned into the Prussian Navy that September. The ship was the fourth ironclad ordered by the Prussian Navy, after Arminius, Prinz Adalbert, and Friedrich Carl, though she entered service before Friedrich Carl. Kronprinz was built as an armored frigate, armed with a main battery of sixteen 21 cm (8.3 in) guns; several smaller guns were added later in her career.
The Preussen class of armored frigates was a class of three ships built for the German Imperial Navy in the early 1870s. The lead ship, Preussen, was laid down in 1871 and launched in 1873. Friedrich der Grosse also was laid down in 1871 and launched in 1874. Grosser Kurfürst, although the first to be laid down, in 1869, was the last to be completed, launched in 1875. The ships served in the fleet starting in 1876, when Preussen was commissioned.
SMS Friedrich Carl was an ironclad warship built for the Prussian Navy in the mid-1860s. The ship was constructed in the French Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée shipyard in Toulon; her hull was laid in 1866 and launched in January 1867. The ship was commissioned into the Prussian Navy in October 1867. The ship was the third ironclad ordered by the Prussian Navy, after Arminius and Prinz Adalbert, though the fourth ship to be acquired, Kronprinz, was ordered after but commissioned before Friedrich Carl.
SMS Falke was an aviso of the North German Federal Navy and later the German Imperial Navy that was built in the mid-1860s. Originally built on speculation as a blockade runner for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War, she was not sold before the war ended and a shipowner in the Netherlands instead purchased the vessel. The ship's owner renamed the ship Heinrich Heister, though he made no use of her. In 1870, following the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, the North German Navy was in search of vessels to augment its fleet and acquired Heinrich Heister, transferred her to Emden, briefly renaming her Emden to obscure the ship's movements, before being converted into an armed aviso with her intended name, Falke. Her wartime service was cut short by an accidental ramming by the ironclad warship SMS Arminius, sending Falke into dock for repairs.
References
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