SMS was the lead ship of the of steam gunboats built for the German (Imperial Navy) in the 1870s. The ship was ordered as part of a construction program intended to begin replacing the old s that had been built a decade earlier. Unlike the older ships, was intended to serve abroad to protect German economic interests overseas. The ship was armed with a battery of two medium-caliber guns and five lighter weapons, and had a top speed of .
spent nearly her entire career in active service on foreign stations over the course of three cruises abroad; she returned to Germany only for overhauls and modifications. The first voyage, from 1878 to 1884, took the ship to East Asia, primarily off the coast of China. On the way home, she was involved in the establishment of the colony of German South West Africa. The next cruise, which lasted from 1886 to 1895, initially returned to East Asian waters, but she spent most of her time abroad in the South Pacific. In 1889, she carried the exiled King of Samoa, Malietoa Laupepa, back to the islands, where he was reinstated as king. In 1891, she rescued survivors from the wrecked .
After returning to Germany in 1895, was converted into a survey ship, and in this capacity, she was sent to map Germany's colonies in Africa. She operated off the coast of Kamerun and German South West Africa until 1905. Throughout this period, the ship was also used for other tasks, including assisting the colonial suppress unrest. The ship was struck from the naval register in 1906, converted into a repair ship, and used in that capacity through World War I. In the post-war draw-down of German naval strength in 1919, she was sold to ship breakers and broken up for scrap.
Design
German economic activity in Qing China in the 1870s faced significant threats from piracy and resistance from local officials, so the German (Imperial Navy) stationed warships in East Asia to protect its trade interests. At the same time, the old s that had been ordered in 1859 needed to be replaced. The two s and the rebuilt were too few for the task of patrolling the Far East, so another three vessels were ordered according to the fleet plan that had been approved in 1872. The design for the new ships was completed in 1876, and it called for reusing the engines from three of the s that had also been ordered in the 1859 plan. These three ships became the s. They were to be used extensively abroad to support the fleet's larger cruising screw corvettes and screw frigates.
was long overall, with a beam of and a draft of . She displaced as designed and at full load. The ship's crew consisted of 5 officers and 80 enlisted men. She was powered by a marine steam engine that drove a 2-bladed screw propeller, with steam provided by two coal-fired trunk fire-tube boilers. The engine was taken from the old gunboat . Her propulsion system was rated to produce a top speed of at , but she reached in service. At a cruising speed of , she could steam for . To supplement the steam engine on long voyages, the ships were fitted with a barque sailing rig.
The ship was armed with a pair of K L/23 built-up guns, which were supplied with a total of 270 rounds of ammunition. She carried an additional pair of K L/24 built up guns and three Hotchkiss revolver cannon.
Service history The contract for was awarded to the (Imperial Shipyard) in Wilhelmshaven in September 1876, under the contract name . The keel for the new ship was laid down later that year. She was launched on 21 March 1878, and (Rear Admiral) Gustav Klatt gave a speech at the launching ceremony. The new gunboat was named for an earlier gunboat of the same name that had been built in the 1860s. The ship was commissioned six months later on 1 October. She thereafter began sea trials, but these were cut short by the need to send the ship to Asia immediately.
First overseas cruise, 1878–1884
got underway on 26 October, bound for China, but already on 4 November, she had to stop in Sheerness, Britain, after damaging her screw. Repairs lasted until 11 November, and the following day, the ship's engine broke down, forcing her to stop in Margate for further repairs. The crew's luck improved for the rest of the voyage, and on 2 February 1879, arrived in Singapore. She thereafter joined the cruiser squadron in East Asia, which was led by the screw corvette and included the corvettes and and the gunboat . initially visited Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Hainan Island, and Beihai, along the south China coast. She then sailed south to visit Annam before returning north to Hong Kong on 1 May. thereafter sailed on 12 May to visit northern waters, which included a stop in Yokohama, Japan, on 1 July. There she met the corvette , which had relieved as the squadron flagship. got underway again on 22 July and returned to the coast of China. She cruised in the Yellow and Bohai Seas, visiting many ports in the region, including Shanghai. On 30 November, she anchored in Yantai, China, where she spent the winter months.
In early 1880, tensions between Japan and China threatened to erupt into war, which prompted the German vessels in the region to assemble at the mouth of the Yangtze River to await developments. embarked (Captain at Sea) Archibald MacLean, the commander of , along with Prince Heinrich (who was serving as a watch officer aboard ), to Shanghai and back. By 10 May, the crisis had been defused, allowing the German ships to disperse; that day, got underway to visit other ports in the region. (KL—Captain Lieutenant) Johannes Strauch took command of the ship. In late October, the ship sailed up the Hai River to stop in Tianjin, for another period of inactivity during the winter months. The crew took down the ship's rigging for storage ashore, and an upper deck structure was erected to protect the ship. In January 1881, the cruiser squadron was reorganized and renamed the East Asia Cruiser Squadron, which was now led by the corvette . Over the course of the year, toured many ports in the region, including a stay at Guangzhou from 26 November to 6 January 1882. She stopped in Incheon, Korea, from 16 June to 10 July, in company with while Max von Brandt negotiated a trade agreement between Germany and Korea.
For the rest of 1882, cruised throughout the region, at times with other members of the squadron. On 15 November, she arrived back in Tianjin for the winter. She joined the rest of the squadron on 7 March 1883 to cruise through the Sulu Archipelago. The rest of the year passed as usual, with tours of the region. She spent the winter of 1883–1884 in Guangzhou. The gunboat arrived in Guangzhou on 11 April to relieve , allowing her to return home. Her departure was delayed by the outbreak of riots against Europeans at Swatow, as she was sent to protect foreigners in the city. The situation had calmed by late May, and on 30 May, sailed for home. She crossed the Indian Ocean to Cape Town, South Africa, where she received orders to proceed to the coast of southwest Africa to join and the screw frigate in early August. anchored in Lüderitz Bay from 8 to 10 August. There, the Germans established the colony of German South West Africa. embarked Adolf Lüderitz and a geologist to survey the coast as far north as Sandwich Harbor and the mouth of the Swakop River. then took part in flag-raising ceremonies at Walvis Bay, Cape Cross, and other locations. After returning to Lüderitz Bay, she sailed for Germany and arrived in Wilhelmshaven on 19 October. The ship was decommissioned there on the 30th for a major overhaul that included a modernization of her machinery, sailing rig, and armament.
Second overseas cruise, 1886–1895
was recommissioned on 8 April 1886, under the command of KL Paul Jaeschke, to replace her sister ship in East Asia. She sailed from Wilhelmshaven on 18 April and by early July, had reached the island of Purim in the Red Sea. There, she stopped to try to find wreckage from the screw corvette , which had sunk in a storm in the area the previous year. After failing to locate any debris, she continued on, arriving in Singapore on 6 July. joined the rest of the squadron—which at that time also included the screw corvettes and and and —in Hong Kong on 21 July. thereafter embarked on cruises around the area to show the flag; she had to stop in Amoy for repairs from 25 August to 7 October. As in previous years, she wintered at Guangzhou from 24 December to 23 February, after which she returned to Hong Kong for an overhaul that lasted until 29 March. In early August, the ship cruised in the Bohai Sea, where many of her crew contracted cholera, which had broken out in the area.
The ship spent the winter of 1887–1888 in Hyōgo-ku, Japan, anchoring there on 21 December. She departed on 12 March 1888 and sailed for Singapore, where she underwent repairs from 26 April to 20 June. By this time, cholera had spread to the southern Chinese ports, so sailed to northern China in an attempt to avoid the disease. But while in Yantai, one member of the crew died from cholera. In September, KL Ernst Credner took command of the ship. By October, had moved to Taipei on the island of Formosa, where unrest had broken out, though the Germans did not need to intervene in the city. At the end of the year, she once again returned to Guangzhou for the winter months. left Guangzhou earlier than normal, and on 31 January 1889, she began a voyage through the Dutch East Indies. While in Surabaya on 3 April, the ship received orders to sail for Samoa; and the gunboats and had been anchored in Apia when a major tropical cyclone struck the island. The gunboats were both wrecked and was grounded. arrived in Apia on 14 June, and at the end of the month, she received orders to sail to Jaluit, where she was to embark Malietoa Laupepa, who was the exiled former ruler of Samoa, and return him to rule the islands. The ship arrived in Jaluit on 28 June; on the way back to Samoa, Laupepa attempted to commit suicide, because he believed he was being taken to prison. Upon the ship's arrival in Apia, Laupepa was greeted by the German consul, Oscar Stübel. The Germans, Americans, and British agreed to install Laupepa as ruler in place of Mataʻafa Iosefo, who had deposed Laupepa during the Samoan Civil War the previous year.
sailed for the Marshall Islands on 26 August in response to reports on attacks on a German trader there. Her landing party arrested eight individuals and took them to Jaluit for trial. The Germans then visited other islands in the Marshalls to mediate disputes between rival groups. By the end of October, the ship had returned to Apia, where she received orders to return to China. While en route, encountered a severe typhoon that partially dismasted the ship. She eventually arrived in Nagasaki, Japan, on 17 November, where she underwent repairs that lasted into March 1890. thereafter cruised with the rest of the cruiser squadron in East Asian waters. While she was in Kobe, Japan, on 16 September, s crew learned that a ship had been wrecked off Kii Ōshima. She sailed to render assistance to the shipwrecked sailors. On her arrival on 21 September, she found the wreck of the Ottoman paddle frigate . was able to rescue 65 survivors out of a crew of 571 men. She then took them back to Kobe.