Camaeleon (ship, 1880)

**Camaeleon**
	The type ship wasp
Ship data
flag	German Empire
Ship type	Armored gunboat
class	Wasp- class
Shipyard	AG Weser , Bremen
Build number	37
building-costs	1,145,000 marks
Launch	December 21, 1878
Commissioning	August 20, 1880
Removal from the ship register	June 28, 1909
Whereabouts	Used up as a cream
Ship dimensions and crew
length	46.4 m ( Lüa ) 45.5 m ( KWL )
width	10.6 m
Draft	Max. 3.37 m
displacement	Construction: 1,098 t; Maximum: 1,163 t
Machine system
machine	4 cylinder; boilers 2 inclined 2-cylinder compound machines; 1 rudder
Machine ; performance	786 hp (578 kW)
Top ; speed	11.2 kn (21 km / h)
propeller	2 four-leaf ⌀ 2.5 m
Armament
	1 × Rk 30.5 cm L / 22 (38 shots); from 1883 additionally: 2 × torpedo tube ⌀ 35 cm (in the bow, under water, 2 shots); from 1893 additionally: 2 × Rk 8.7 cm L / 24 (200 shots); 2 × Rev 3.7 cm ;
Armor
	Belt: 102–203 mm on 210 mm teak ; Barbette : 203 mm on 210 mm teak; Deck : 50 mm; Command tower: 20 mm;

The Camaeleon was the seventh ship of the Wespe class , a class of eleven armored cannon boats of the Imperial Navy , which was designed for the defense of the German North and Baltic Sea coasts.

Construction and service time

The Chameleon was like her sister ships and from the Bremen shipyard AG Weser built. Work on the ship began in 1877. The launch took place on December 21, 1878. The director of the shipyard , Reichstag delegate Mosle , carried out the christening .

The Camaeleon was put into service on August 20, 1880, together with her sister ship Basilisk . After completion of the test drives, both ships began the march to Kiel , as they were assigned to the naval station of the Baltic Sea . The journey led around Skagen , with Kalundborg having to be called as a port of refuge due to bad weather. On September 18, the Camaeleon was decommissioned. The following year the ship was activated for training trips from September 19 to October 15.

In the summer of 1884 an armored gunboat flotilla was formed with the Grille as its flagship , to which the Camaeleon was assigned. For this purpose, the ship was put back into service on April 22nd. After participating in maneuvers, a repair became necessary at the end of August, which was carried out in Wilhelmshaven . After its completion, the ship was assigned to the North Sea naval station and decommissioned on September 4th.

In 1886 the Camaeleon was put into service on May 11th to take part in exercises together with the armored cannon boat division, whose flagship was now the Mücke . After its termination, the ship was decommissioned on June 9th. In the following five years, activation for the same purpose took place in August and September, for the last time from August 4 to September 22, 1891.

Whereabouts

Until her deletion from the list of warships on June 28, 1909, the Camaeleon was now in the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven . In the following year it was sold for 52,000 marks and finally used up as a cream . The exact termination date is not known.

Commanders

August 20 to September 18, 1880	Lieutenant Chalice
September 19 to October 15, 1881	Captain von Hoven
April 22 to September 4, 1884	Lieutenant Valette
May 11th to June 9th, 1886	Lieutenant Commander von Plessen
August 16 to September 14, 1887	Lieutenant Commander von Plessen
August 15 to September 15, 1888	Captain Georg Schulz
August 13 to September 11, 1889	Lieutenant Grolp
August 13 to September 20, 1890	Lieutenant Carl Rottok
August 4 to September 22, 1891	Lieutenant Captain Hans Meyer

literature

Gröner, Erich / Dieter Jung / Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945 . tape 1 : Armored ships, ships of the line, battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, gunboats . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-7637-4800-8 , p. 164 f .
Hildebrand, Hans H. / Albert Röhr / Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships . Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present . tape 2 : Ship biographies from Baden to Eber . Mundus Verlag, Ratingen, S. 167 f .