SMS Möwe (1879)

For other ships with the same name, see SMS Möwe.
SMS Möwe in Sydney, Australia
History
German Empire
NameMöwe (Seagull)
BuilderSchichau-Werke, Elbing
Launched8 October 1879
Commissioned31 May 1880
Stricken9 December 1905
FateSold 1910
General characteristics
Class and typeHabicht-class gunboat
DisplacementFull load: 1,005 t (989 long tons)
Length59.2 m (194 ft 3 in)
Beam8.9 m (29 ft 2 in)
Draft3.52 m (11 ft 7 in)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Range2,010 nmi (3,720 km; 2,310 mi) at 9 kn (17 km/h; 10 mph)
Complement
  • 6–7 officers
  • 121 enlisted men
Armament
  • 1 × 15 cm (5.9 in) gun
  • 4 × 12 cm (4.7 in) guns

The SMS Möwe (Seagull) was a gunboat of the Imperial German Navy.

Design

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]

Möwe 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 11.7 knots (21.7 km/h; 13.5 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

Möwe laid down at the Schichau-Werke shipyard in Elbing in 1878 and was launched on 8 October 1879. Work on the ship completed the following year, and she was commissioned on 31 May 1880.[6]

It was deployed on service mostly at overseas stations, most notably in German West Africa.

On 28 October 1880, Möwe was driven into the British schooner Rescue at Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom. The schooner was severely damaged at the bow. Möwe lost her bowsprit and topsail yard.[7] In 1882, anti-European unrest following the British bombardment of Alexandria prompted the German government to send Möwe and Habicht to rescue German and Austrian nationals in Egypt, taking around 150 of them from Ismailiya to Port Said.

Möwe was the vessel which took the Imperial Commissioner for West Africa, Gustav Nachtigal, out to seek treaties of protection with local rulers in 1884.[8] On 4 July 1884 the first such treaty was signed at Bagida on the Togo coast, which thereby became a German colony.[9] On 14 July 1884 Nachtigal took Möwe to Bell-town (Douala) and signed a similar treaty, making Kamerun another colony of the German Empire.[10] After this Möwe brought the German flag to Nigeria, Gabon, and Angola, before taking Nachtigal south to found the new colony of German South West Africa. In 1889 it was involved in the suppression of the Abushiri revolt in German East Africa.

After 1895 it was used as a survey vessel coastal mapping German colonies in the Pacific and in German New Guinea.[11] On 9 December 1905 Möwe was decommissioned. It was retained as a hulk in the German colony of Jiaozhou on the Yellow Sea before finally being sold in 1910.

Though Möwe is commonly stated to have been sunk during the Siege of Tsingtao in World War I, she was instead broken up.[12]

Notes

  1. ^ Sondhaus, pp. 136–137.
  2. ^ Nottelmann, p. 70.
  3. ^ Gröner, pp. 139–140.
  4. ^ Lyon, p. 260.
  5. ^ Gröner, p. 139.
  6. ^ Gröner, p. 140.
  7. ^ "Latest Shipping Intelligence". The Times. No. 30025. London. 29 October 1880. col B-D, p. 4.
  8. ^ John Scott Keltie (2014-12-11). The Partition of Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 200. ISBN 978-1-108-07203-8.
  9. ^ Corey W. Reigel (2015-04-22). The Last Great Safari: East Africa in World War I. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 8. ISBN 978-1-4422-3593-9.
  10. ^ Sir William M.N. Geary (2013-12-19). Nigeria Under British Rule (1927). Taylor & Francis. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-136-96301-8.
  11. ^ Irene Ziehe; Museum Europäischer Kulturen (Berlin, Germany) (2004). Fotografien vom Alltag - Fotografieren als Alltag: Tagung der Kommission Fotografie der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Volkskunde und der Sektion Geschichte und Archive der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photographie im Museum Europäischer Kulturen - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin vom 15. bis 17. November 2002. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 122. ISBN 978-3-8258-7159-8.
  12. ^ Nottelmann, p. 71.

References

  • 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. 6. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 3-7822-0237-6.
  • 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.