SMS Habicht (1879)
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Habicht |
| Builder | Schichau-Werke, Elbing |
| Laid down | 1878 |
| Launched | 13 May 1879 |
| Commissioned | 18 March 1880 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Habicht-class gunboat |
| Displacement | Full load: 1,005 t (989 long tons) |
| Length | 59.2 m (194 ft 3 in) |
| Beam | 8.9 m (29 ft 2 in) |
| Draft | 3.52 m (11 ft 7 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) |
| Range | 2,010 nmi (3,720 km; 2,310 mi) at 9 kn (17 km/h; 10 mph) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
SMS Habicht was the lead ship of the Habicht class of steam gunboats built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). The ship was built in the late 1870s and completed in early 1880.
Design
[edit]By the mid-1870s, the large screw frigates and screw corvettes that formed the backbone of the German cruiser force were beginning to need to be replaced. Some of these ships had been in service for twenty years, and in that time spent considerable periods on deployments overseas. To replace these older vessels, the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) ordered the six Carola-class corvettes and three Habicht-class gunboats.[1] The three gunboats were the first vessels of the type to use compound steam engines, which increased speed and engine efficiency.[2]
Habicht was 59.2 meters (194 ft 3 in) long overall, with a beam of 8.9 m (29 ft 2 in) and a draft of 3.52 m (11 ft 7 in) forward. She displaced 840 metric tons (830 long tons) as designed and 1,005 t (989 long tons) at full load. The ship's crew consisted of 6–7 officers and 121–126 enlisted men. She was powered by a double-expansion steam engine that drove a 2-bladed screw propeller, with steam provided by two coal-fired, cylindrical fire-tube boilers. Her propulsion system was rated to produce a top speed of 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) at 600 metric horsepower (590 ihp), but she reached 11.4 knots (21.1 km/h; 13.1 mph) in service. At a cruising speed of 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph), she could steam for 2,010 nautical miles (3,720 km; 2,310 mi). To supplement the steam engine on long voyages, the ships were fitted with a schooner sailing rig.[3] While cruising under sail, the screw could be raised.[4]
The ship was armed with a single 15 cm (5.9 in) K L/22 built-up gun, which supplied from a magazine with 115 shells. She also carried four 12 cm (4.7 in) K L/23 built-up guns, which were supplied with a total of 440 rounds of ammunition. By 1882, the ship's armament had been standardized on a uniform battery of five 12.5 cm (4.9 in) K L/23 built up guns and five 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss revolver cannon.[5]
Service history
[edit]The keel for Habicht was laid down at the Schichau-Werke shipyard in Elbing in 1878. Her completed hull was launched on 13 May 1879. Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Otto Livonius have a speech at the launching ceremony. The ship was thereafter moved to Schichau-Werke's second yard at Danzig for fitting out work. After work on the ship was completed, she was commissioned on 18 March 1880 to be transferred to Kiel. After arriving, she was decommissioned again on 8 April. Habicht was recommissioned on 29 June to begin sea trials that lasted until 31 July, when she was decommissioned again. These tests were carried out in the Baltic and North Seas, and concluded in Wilhelmshaven.[6][7]
First overseas cruise, 1880–1882
[edit]Habicht returned to service on 1 October for the first overseas cruise. She was to sail to Australia and patrol the south Pacific to protect German economic interests in the region. The ship departed Wilhelmshaven on 13 October and passed through Cape Town, South Africa, on 1 January 1881. There, she met her sister ship Möwe, and the two ships continued on together to Australia, sailing from Cape Town on 10 January. They anchored in Melbourne, Australia, on 27 February. They met the screw frigate Hertha, and the three ships represented Germany at the Melbourne International Exhibition, which was taking place at the time. Habicht left Melbourne on 27 March, bound for Apia in Samoa, which she reached on 19 April. The other two ships and the gunboat Hyäne joined her there soon thereafter. On 11 May, Habicht sailed from Apia with the German general consul, Otto Zembsch, on board for a tour of the region, including a voyage through the Marshall Islands that lasted from 29 May to 24 June. While in the Marshalls, the ship made maps of Majuro. She then sailed south to Matupi Harbor on the island of New Georgia, arriving there on 15 July. At that time, German trading companies were frequent targets of attacks by local residents, and Habicht spent the next month and a half conducting reprisals, particularly on the islands of Nusa and Utuan, the latter having been the site of the murders of four Germans. The ship sent her landing party ashore to capture the murderers.[8]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships: 1815–1945. Vol. I: Major Surface Vessels. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. 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. 4. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0382-1.
- Lyon, David (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. pp. 240–265. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
- Nottelmann, Dirk (2022). "The Development of the Small Cruiser in the Imperial German Navy Part III: The Gunboats". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2022. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp. 63–79. ISBN 978-1-4728-4781-2.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence (1997). Preparing for Weltpolitik: German Sea Power Before the Tirpitz Era. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-745-7.