Meteor class (1890)
 The meteor
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The Meteor class was a class of two Avisos of the German Imperial Navy . The ships were re-classified as small cruisers in 1899 according to a very high cabinet order .
development
At the beginning of the 1880s, the threat to large combat ships from the ongoing development of the torpedo increased. To counter the small and fast torpedo boats , various navies developed special combat ships. The Imperial Navy, on the other hand, initially tried to combine the tasks of reconnaissance and torpedo boat defense in one type of ship. It was not until 1888 that the official draft for the Aviso F ( Meteor ) provided for a type specially designed for the fight against torpedo boats. The ships of the Meteor class can accordingly be regarded as the first German destroyers .
technology
The ships of the Meteor class were kept relatively small in accordance with their task. The official draft drawn up in 1888 provided for a total length of 79.86 m for the new building F , with the waterline being 78.5 m long. The width of the ship was 9.56 m and the maximum draft was 4.5 m. The side height was 5.42 m. The ship had a design displacement of 961 t and a maximum displacement of 1,078 t. The hull was divided into ten watertight compartments below the armored deck and six above. There was no double floor.
The construction of the second unit of the class was delayed until the first test drive results of the Meteor were available. Due to this, the construction plans for the Aviso G were slightly changed. The two funnels were designed 1.5 m higher in order to avoid obstruction of the aft guns by smoke gases. The underwater hull was given a different shape, especially in the stern area, just like the rudder, which reduced the maximum draft by 102 cm to 3.48 m. The Comet was slightly wider and displaced 39 t more. This resulted in an extension of the waterline to 78.7 m.
The standard crew of the two ships consisted of seven officers and 108 non-commissioned officers and men .
The two Meteor- class units were poor ocean-going vessels. They were easy to maneuver, but this did not make up for the shortcomings. Even in moderate swell the ships were very restless, in heavy swell they were not usable. They also created a great pull. The superstructures vibrated heavily at high speed levels.
Propulsion system
The Avisos were each driven by two standing three-cylinder triple expansion steam engines, which were housed in two machine rooms arranged one behind the other. The necessary steam was supplied by four steam locomotive boilers , which had eight firing systems and were divided into two boiler rooms, also arranged one behind the other. The machine system produced around 4,700 PSi (4,749 PSi on Meteor , 4,711 PSi on Comet ). Each machine drove a screw with a diameter of 2.8 m, which together helped the ships to a maximum speed of 19.5 kn ( Comet ) and 20.0 kn ( Meteor ). Both units had an oar.
Armament
According to their task, the ships of the Meteor class were equipped with small-caliber rapid - loading cannons. Two of the four 8.8 cm L / 30 Sk were arranged to the side of the bridge , the other two were next to each other on the quarterdeck. Up to 680 rounds of ammunition were carried for the four guns. They reached a maximum firing range of 6.9 km.
In addition, three torpedo tubes with a diameter of 35 cm were on board for the attack on larger units. Two of them were mounted on the upper deck and could launch torpedoes from the side. The third was built into the bow below the waterline. Eight torpedoes were carried on board.
Armor
The Avisos received an armored deck that was 15 mm thick horizontally and 30 mm thick on the embankments. The command tower was also given this armor strength. There was no further armor on the ships.
commitment
The two ships of the Meteor class were only used for a short time, the Comet only for a few months, mainly for test drives. In addition to some missions as a reconnaissance aircraft, the Meteor also served as a fishing protection vehicle during various maneuvers . Both ships were activated for the last time in 1896. The very poor sea characteristics of the Avisos played a major role in this low use.
After being decommissioned, the ships initially remained in the reserve as port ships and were finally removed from the list of warships in 1911. During the First World War , they were used as a living ship ( Meteor ) or as a mine hulk ( Comet ).
Meteor- class ships
- Meteor : launched on January 20, 1890. The first commissioning took place on May 15, 1891. The ship was used in watch and fleet duty and in 1895 and 1896 in fishery protection. Removed from the list of warships on June 24, 1911, the Meteor was scrapped in Gdansk in 1919.
- Comet : launched on November 15, 1892. The ship was first put into service on April 29, 1893. In 1894 and 1896 there were further, but only brief, missions. The deletion from the list of warships also took place on June 24, 1911. The Comet was scrapped in Hamburg in 1921.
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. 123 .
- Hildebrand, Hans H. / Albert Röhr / Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships . Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present . 10 volumes. Mundus Verlag, Ratingen.