Wikipedia:Today's featured list/April 4, 2022
In the 1880s and 1890s, Germany built nine unprotected cruisers in three classes. These ships proved to be transitional designs, and experience gathered with them and a series of avisos helped to produce the first light cruisers of the German Navy. The unprotected cruisers, generally designed for service in Germany's colonial empire, required great endurance and relatively heavy firepower. The first ships of the type, the two Schwalbe-class cruisers, were acquired in an effort to modernize an aged cruiser force that relied primarily on old sail frigates. All nine cruisers served extensively in Germany's colonies and foreign interests, particularly in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. They participated in the suppression of numerous rebellions, including the Abushiri revolt in German East Africa in 1889–90, the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900–01, and the Sokehs rebellion in the Caroline Islands in 1911. Most of the ships were recalled to Germany and decommissioned by the early 1910s, having been replaced by newer light cruisers. (Full list...)