SMS Ariadne (1871)

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Ariadne
Presentation of Ariadne in the Illustrirten Zeitung
Presentation of Ariadne in the Illustrirten Zeitung
Ship data
flag German EmpireGerman Empire (Reichskriegsflagge) German Empire
Ship type corvette
class Ariadne class
Shipyard Imperial Shipyard , Danzig
building-costs 1,840,000 marks
Launch July 21, 1871
Commissioning November 23, 1872
Whereabouts Sold in 1891 and scrapped in Hamburg
Ship dimensions and crew
length
68.16 m ( Lüa )
65.8 m ( KWL )
width 10.8 m
Draft Max. 5.7 m
displacement Construction: 1,692 t
Maximum: 2,072 t
 
crew 233 men
Machine system
machine 4 suitcase boiler
3-cylinder compound machine
indicated
performanceTemplate: Infobox ship / maintenance / service format 		2,260 PS (1,662 kW)
Top
speed 		14.1 kn (26 km / h)
propeller 1 × four-leaf Ø 4.56 m
Rigging and rigging
Rigging Full ship
Number of masts 3
Sail area 1,582 m²
Armament
  • 6 × Rk 15.0 cm L / 22 (400 shots)
  • 2 × Rk 12.0 cm L / 23 (200 shots)

from 1882 additionally:

SMS Ariadne was a corvette of the German Imperial Navy and the type ship of the Ariadne class named after her . It was initially called a smooth-deck corvette , in 1884 it was classified as a cruiser corvette . Her name Ariadne is borrowed from Greek mythology. The corvette, launched in 1871 , was in service from 1872 to 1890. During this time she undertook several longer trips abroad and stayed mainly in East Asia and the South Seas , but also in South American waters. From 1884 the Ariadne served as a training ship and visited West Africa , the Caribbean and the North American east coast as such .

history

construction

The October 24, 1867 by the Reichstag of the North German Confederation adopted fleet establishment plan provided inter alia a total of 20 corvettes, which were primarily intended for service overseas. As early as February 25, 1868, the Royal Shipyard in Danzig received the order to build one of the required corvettes, the name of which was to be Ariadne . The shipyard began building the ship in September 1868. The machine system for the corvette was supplied by the mechanical engineering company of Franz Anton Egells from Berlin . The guns came from Krupp . The wooden hull was reinforced with flat iron . Iron plates were riveted to the iron deck beams , which were covered by planks of spruce wood . The bow was the first German corvette to have the ram bow shape that is common on armored ships . Due to the Franco-Prussian War , construction was delayed, so that the Ariadne could not be launched until July 21, 1871 and was christened by Captain Franz Kinderling , then chief shipyard director . Kinderling was also the first in command of the ship during the sea trials that took place in November and December 1872. During this period, some defects and damage to the ship occurred that had to be repaired in the shipyard. But the trials also showed that the projected capacity of 2,100  PSI was exceeded by 160 PSI. Accordingly, the top speed of 14.1  knots was slightly higher than planned. The construction of the ship cost a total of 1,840,000 marks .

commitment

Service in the training squadron 1873–1874

On April 15, 1873, the Ariadne was put back into service in Danzig. The corvette ran to Wilhelmshaven and joined the training squadron. Together with Hertha and Loreley , she had to greet the members of the Reichstag and the Federal Council on the Außenjade on May 22nd . They were on board the Moselle from Bremerhaven to Wilhelmshaven, where they found out about the port and shipyard facilities as well as the navy. The three ships demonstrated various attack and pursuit maneuvers, which the MPs observed from the Moselle . Ariadne was present in association with the training squadron for the celebrations on the occasion of Oskar II's coronation as King of Norway . On October 13, the corvette was decommissioned in Danzig after the training squadron had already been disbanded on September 11. Work followed at the shipyard, now known as the Imperial Shipyard, during which the rigging was changed to that of a barque . As a result, the sail area was reduced from 1,582 to 1,049 m² compared to the full-ship rigging.

The training squadron in the Danzig Bay, in front the Crown Prince , behind them Friedrich Carl and Ariadne . Illustration from the Illustrirten Zeitung

The Ariadne came back into service on May 5, 1874 and initially made several trips to test the new sails. Then it belonged again to the training squadron, which also consisted of the Friedrich Carl , the Albatross  - later replaced by the Grille - and the Crown Prince as the flagship of the squadron chief, Rear Admiral Ludwig Henk . In addition to the usual maneuvers , the squadron undertook a trip into the Atlantic from June 28th to test the seaworthiness of the ships. It was available to the German Crown Prince couple in Cowes for representative purposes. The squadron visited Portland as another English port . It eventually returned to German waters and carried out further exercises in the Baltic Sea . In the Bay of Danzig , the armored ships target shooting, first at target targets that were permanently installed on the beach at Oxhöft , then at target hulke towed by the Ariadne . The training squadron was disbanded after the end of the maneuvers. The Ariadne called at Danzig and Wilhelmshaven and was prepared for a deployment abroad.

First trip abroad 1874–1876

On October 5, 1874, Ariadne left Wilhelmshaven. The corvette ran through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal to East Asia and reached Singapore on Christmas Eve 1874 , where she spent the turn of the year. On January 4, 1875, the ship left the port and continued via Manila to Hong Kong . There it replaced the Elisabeth as a station ship . An important task was fighting Chinese pirates , who were a constant threat to the merchant navy and against which the Chinese authorities did not act adequately. In its use, the Ariadne was supported by Hertha and Cyclop in 1875 . Their area of ​​operation extended along the coast from Canton to Taku . In this area, the ships called at various ports. Ariadne and Cyclop lay before Futschou on September 12th to compel the local authorities to compensate the schooner Anna , who had been the victim of a pirate attack . At the beginning of 1876 the Ariadne stayed in Amoy to survey the port there . In mid-April, the ships stationed in East Asia met in Hong Kong, where Vineta from home also arrived. Their commander, sea captain Alexander von Monts , took over command of the ships that were combined into a squadron. On July 1, the Luise , a sister ship of the Ariadne , joined the squadron as her replacement. The Ariadne started her journey home on July 17th, which again led through the Suez Canal, and reached Wilhelmshaven on October 20th, 1876. Ten days later the corvette was taken out of service.

Second trip abroad 1877–1879

In 1877 the shipyard carried out a major overhaul of the Ariadne . On October 15, the ship finally came into service and was equipped for another trip abroad. It left home waters on October 30th. First, the Ariadne Margate called to weather a severe storm in the North Sea . The journey continued via Funchal to Rio de Janeiro , where the corvette arrived on December 16 and stayed until the beginning of January. On the other journey south the ship ran Punta Arenas to to to coal bunkers . However, the depot there did not have any fuel on hand. In order to continue to operate the engines - the Ariadne , like its sister ships, could only be steered very poorly with pure sail propulsion - the crew had to cut firewood on land. Then crossed the Ariadne , the Strait of Magellan , visited Porto Agosto and then ran along the Chilean coast to the north, where they headed for other ports. In Valparaíso she met the Leipzig and drove with them to Panama City . Both ships arrived there on March 9, 1878. Together with Elisabeth , who was already off Panama, and Medusa cruising in the Caribbean Sea, they formed the Central American Squadron, whose command was taken by sea captain Wilhelm von Wickede .

The Central American Squadron in front of Corinto March 1878. From left Leipzig , Elisabeth and Ariadne . Drawing by H. Penner, Illustrirte Zeitung 13 July 1878.

The squadron's mission was to settle the Eisenstuck affair in Nicaragua . While the Medusa before San Juan del Norte was, the three other ships to went Corinto , on whose roads they arrived on 18 March. After the port entrance had been searched for mines with dinghies , the ships entered the port the following day. The first officer of Elisabeth , Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Stubenrauch, immediately went to Managua and brought the German ultimatum to the government. Requests were made for the payment of US $ 30,000  , the saluting of the German flag and the punishment of those responsible for the affair. If their conviction does not take place within two weeks, the Federal Foreign Office demanded a further US $ 8,000 fine. The ultimatum was largely accepted on March 31. The compensation was paid out by Wickede and in Corintho the German and Nicaragua's flag were saluted. 260 Nicaraguan soldiers and 380 German sailors - 140 each from Elisabeth and Leipzig and 100 from the Ariadne  - as well as all commanders and officers of the German ships, Nicaraguan officers and government representatives and consul Moritz Eisenstuck were present. Three guns fired 21 gun salutes for the Imperial War flag , the Elisabeth the same number for the Nicaraguan flag. The required conviction did not materialize at first, which is why von Wickede had the ships' landing corps made clear. It was not until April 6 that it became known that this requirement had also been met in the meantime. That ended the affair. The squadron was disbanded on April 7th.

Map of Samoa, circa 1888, from Meyers Konversations-Lexikon

The Ariadne first drove back to Panama and began to cross the Pacific from there. Passing the Galapagos Islands , she set course for the Marquesas , where the corvette Fatu Hiva and Nuku Hiva called . Then she visited Papeete . There Corvette Captain Bartholomäus von Werner , commander of the Ariadne , assured the local administration that the German branches on site were purely economic in nature and that there were no plans for annexation , but that at the same time, taking possession by third countries on the German side was not desired. The Ariadne finally reached Apia on June 23, 1878 . In March 1877, the commander of the Augusta , Korvettenkapitän Hassenpflug, had concluded trade agreements with Samoan chiefs, which in the meantime were influenced by US citizens but had been terminated unilaterally. Instead, the United States had been able to conclude treaties with the Samoans, which meant that local German traders and plantation owners saw their market position at risk. Therefore, on July 16 and 17, 1878, von Werner confiscated the ports of Falealili and Saluafata on Upolu for the German Empire. The Ariadne left Samoa on September 16 for Sydney to make contact with her homeland. In Sydney there was also desertion among individual sailors.

The ship was back in front of Apia on October 8th and began a journey through the islands of Micronesia and Melanesia on October 20th . The German consul Weber was also on board. From October 26 to 29 the corvette was in front of Nuku'alofa , and from October 30 to November 2 in front of Levuka and Tariani . Further stops on the trip were Funafuti and Vaitupu , where von Werner was able to contractually secure the equality of German branches with those of other countries. The Ariadne then ran to Tabiteuea , Abemama and Butaritari . It was necessary to measure the sea area because only imprecise nautical charts were available which had to be corrected. On November 29th, Werner succeeded in signing a contract with the chiefs of Jaluit on the Marshall Islands , which in addition to some rights for German trade - especially for the Deutsche Handels- und Plantagengesellschaft , Hernsheim & Co and Capelle & Co  - the establishment of a Guaranteed coal station for German warships. Von Werner granted the residents of the Ralik chain their own flag . The Ariadne entered the Duke of York Islands Mioko and Makada in mid-December . There Ariadne took over provisions and coal. However, the amount of fuel delivered did not match the amount ordered, which is why the crew had to cut firewood again on land. This was followed by a brief deployment of the team in northern New Britain , where they proceeded against natives who had attacked a branch of Hernsheim & Co. After a visit from Matupi , the Ariadne returned to the Duke of York Islands and von Werner bought ports on Mioko and Makada on December 19 and 20, which would later serve as bases. The corvette left the islands the following day and first headed for Savo . On January 16, 1879, the ship arrived in Apia, where the Albatross had also arrived the day before .

On January 24, 1879, the Samoan chiefs signed a new treaty with the German Empire, which was allowed to build a coal station for German ships in Saluafata. The Samoans also guaranteed German traders the same rights as the British and US Americans. In return, the ports of Saluafata and Falealili, which had been seized six months earlier, were released again. A day later, the Ariadne left Apia with the destination Auckland in order to report the contract for Berlin from there. The return journey to Apia led via Nuku'alofa, where King George Tupou I was awarded a medal in the name of Kaiser Wilhelm . On May 19, the Bismarck arrived in Apia to replace the Ariadne . The Ariadne therefore started the journey home on May 28, according to the marching orders received in Auckland on February 2. It ran over the New Hebrides , through the Torres Strait and the Arafurasee to Batavia and finally reached Wilhelmshaven on September 30th on the way through the Suez Canal. The almost two-year trip abroad, on which 52,850 nm had been covered, ended there. The Ariadne had been at sea for 401 days and spent 296 days in port. In Wilhelmshaven, the ship was decommissioned on October 12, 1879.

Third trip abroad 1880–1881

The Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven carried out a major overhaul of the Ariadne during the winter of 1879/1880 . This enabled it to be activated again on April 1, 1880, and to leave for the third overseas mission on April 14. The ship was supposed to replace the Hansa off Chile. On June 6th, the Ariadne reached Montevideo as a stopover and ran from there to Buenos Aires , where it remained in the roadstead from June 14th to July 7th. The ship then ran through the Strait of Magellan to Coronel , which it reached on August 11. The main task of the Ariadne was to observe the course of the Saltpeter War and to do this she called at various ports in Chile and Peru . Thus, the Corvette was also at the landing Chilean troops at Pisco and the bombardment Callaos present. In January 1881, 64 Germans found shelter on board in Ancón . From January 16 to 20, crew members of the Ariadne were also involved in an international mission in Lima , during which the Europeans living there were to be protected from attacks. The Ariadne was replaced by the Moltke on July 14th . Two days later she started her journey home from Valparaíso, on which she brought to Germany a banker who was wanted in Frankfurt am Main for fraud and who was on the run . The ship reached Wilhelmshaven on October 7th, then continued to Danzig and was decommissioned there on October 31st.

Service as a training ship in 1884

In 1882 the Ariadne was at the shipyard for another major overhaul and was not used in the following year. On July 15, 1884, the ship came back into service. It acted as a training ship for ship heaters and machinists as well as for four-year-old volunteers . From mid-August came Ariadne also jointly with Sophie , the Mars and a torpedo boat - Flotilla during the autumn maneuvers used. Commodore Alfred Stenzel was in command of the small unit . His task during the maneuvers was to defend Wilhelmshaven against simulated attacks by the training fleet.

Fourth trip abroad 1884–1885

Map of German possessions in Africa from 1885, Kapitaï and Koba are named as "Dubrica"

On September 27, 1884, a cabinet order led to the creation of a West African cruiser squadron under Rear Admiral Eduard Knorr . The squadron consisted of the Bismarck , which Knorr served as the flagship, the Gneisenau , the cruiser corvettes Sophie and Olga , the merchant ship Adler chartered by the North German Lloyd as a tender and the Ariadne . The ships left Wilhelmshaven on October 30, 1884. While staying off São Vicente in November, Knorr released the Ariadne from the association. The corvette called at Monrovia together with the Adler . After open financial issues had been clarified with the Liberian government there, the Ariadne went to the coast of Guinea . The German merchant Friedrich Colin had signed contracts with local chiefs in the Kapitaï and Koba area and requested official protection from the German Empire. Corvette Captain Chüden, Commander of the Ariadne, complied with this request by raising the flag from January 2nd to 5th, 1885, although Gustav Nachtigal , who was appointed Reich Commissioner for German West Africa , regarded the area as French territory. At the end of the year, the German Reich and France agreed on an exchange with areas in Togo .

The Ariadne then headed for Freetown and was in front of Porto Grande from January 15th to March 1st . At the beginning of March she started her journey home. It reached Wilhelmshaven on March 30, 1885.

Service as a training ship 1885–1890

The corvette remained in service and resumed its work as a training ship. In the following years cabin boys were trained on it . From 1888 she was officially used as a training ship. In the summer of 1885, the Ariadne undertook trips in the Baltic Sea and took part in maneuvers of the training squadron. On September 29th the corvette arrived in Wilhelmshaven and joined the school squadron commanded by Commodore Stenzel on the Stein . With this, the Ariadne set out on October 10, 1885 on a training trip to the Caribbean, during which various ports were visited. The journey ended on March 27, 1886 in Wilhelmshaven. In the summer of 1886 the ship was back in the Baltic Sea and took part in the autumn maneuvers. It was decommissioned on October 14th in Kiel .

On April 1, 1887, the Ariadne came back into service. She undertook short training trips in the Baltic Sea and was present at the laying of the foundation stone of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal at the beginning of June . Her second training trip to the Caribbean began on June 12th. She also visited several ports in the United States. After more than a year, on August 25, 1888, the ship returned to Wilhelmshaven. Shortly afterwards it took part in the autumn maneuvers in association with the King Wilhelm and the armored cannon boats Mücke , Camaeleon , Viper and Salamander . The association under the command of Rear Admiral Max von der Goltz had to simulate the defense of Wilhelmshaven. After the end of the maneuvers, the Ariadne was decommissioned for the winter on September 29, 1888.

On April 16, 1889, the corvette's last operational period began. She went again on a one-year training trip to Caribbean waters. After its completion, the Ariadne was involved in a fleet parade as well as in maneuvers that were held off Kiel when a squadron of the Austrian Navy visited . When the Ariadne was decommissioned on September 30, 1890, her service life ended.

Whereabouts

The corvette was removed from the list of warships on April 14, 1891 . The navy sold the ship to Hamburg on October 6, 1891, where it was scrapped.

technology

The Ariadne was a wooden ship , the hull of which was designed in a transverse frame construction and was fitted with copper fittings over the claw planking for protection . Deck beams and plates were made of iron . The Ariadne was 68.16 m long and at its widest point 10.8 m. With a maximum displacement of 2,072 t, the corvette was 4.8 m in the front and 5.7 m in the aft .

The drive system of the Ariadne consisted of four suitcase boilers and a three-cylinder steam engine with 2,260 PSi, which acted on a propeller with a diameter of 4.56 m. The maximum speed was 14.1 knots. In addition, the corvette originally had a full ship rigging with a sail area of ​​1,582 m² on three masts. In 1873 the rig in Gdansk was changed to that of a barque and the sail area was reduced accordingly.

The Ariadne's armament consisted of six ring cannons of caliber 15.0 cm L / 22 and two ring cannons 12.0 cm L / 22. The latter were placed in the middle of the ship and could fire on both sides. The rifled cannons from Krupp's production were all set up on the upper deck . 1882 four were additionally revolver cannon of type 3.7 cm Hotchkiss on board.

Commanders

November 23 to December 7, 1872 Captain Franz Kinderling
April 15 to October 13, 1873 Corvette Captain Max von der Goltz
May 5, 1874 to October 30, 1876 Corvette captain / captain at sea Heinrich Kühne
April 16 to May 30, 1877 unknown (transfer)
October 15, 1877 to October 12, 1879 Corvette Captain Bartholomäus von Werner
April 1, 1880 to October 31, 1881 Corvette Captain Georg von Hollen
October 18 to November 8, 1883 Corvette Captain Friedrich von Levetzow (transfer)
July 15 to April 1885 Corvette Captain Herrmann Chüden
April to September 1885 Corvette Captain Volkmar von Arnim
September 1885 to April 1886 Corvette captain / sea captain Rudolf von Rössing
April 14th to October 14th 1886 Corvette Captain Karl Barrandon
April 1, 1887 to September 29, 1888 Corvette Captain / Sea Captain Karl Barrandon
April 16, 1889 to September 30, 1890 Sea captain Adolph Claussen von Fink

literature

  • Robert Gardiner (Ed.): Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905 . Conway Maritime Press, London 1979, ISBN 0-85177-133-5 , pp. 251 .
  • Erich Gröner , 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. 114 f .
  • Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships. Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present . tape 1 : Ship biographies from Adler to Augusta . Mundus Verlag, Ratingen, S. 252–257 (Licensed edition by Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg, approx. 1990).

Footnotes

  1. ↑ SMS for the prefix "His Majesty's Ship".
  2. ↑ Hildebrand, Röhr, Steinmetz: The German warships. Volume 1, p. 57.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Hildebrand, Röhr, Steinmetz: The German warships . Volume 1, p. 253.
  4. ↑ a b c The German upper deck corvette Ariadne . In: Illustrirte Zeitung . No.  1476 . JJ Weber, Leipzig October 14, 1871, p. 290 ( online version of the BSB ).
  5. ↑ Hildebrand, Röhr, Steinmetz: The German warships . Volume 1, p. 252.
  6. ↑ Gröner, Jung, Maas: The German warships . Volume 1, p. 114.
  7. ^ The festival trip of the members of the Federal Council and the Reichstag to Wilhelmshafen . In: Illustrirte Zeitung . No. 1563 . JJ Weber, Leipzig June 14, 1873, p. 455 ( online version of the BSB ).
  8. ↑ a b c d e f Gröner, Jung, Maas: The German warships . Volume 1, pp. 114f.
  9. ↑ a b Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships. Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present . tape 5 : Ship biographies from Kaiser to Lütjens . Mundus Verlag, Ratingen, S. 165 (Licensed edition by Koehler's Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg, approx. 1990).
  10. ↑ The German Uebungsgeschwader on the Gdansk Rhede . In: Illustrirte Zeitung . JJ Weber, Leipzig September 26, 1874.
  11. ↑ a b Hildebrand, Röhr, Steinmetz: The German warships . Volume 1, p. 254.
  12. ↑ Arthur Wichmann gives November 4, 1877 as the discontinuation date, cf. Wichmann, Arthur: History of the discovery of New Guinea (1828 to 1885) . EJ Brill, Leiden 1910. Volume II, Part 1, Chapter VII, pp. 258 f., Papuaweb.org (PDF; 13.6 MB)
  13. ^ Gardiner: Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships , p. 251.
  14. ↑ a b Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships. Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present . tape 3 : Ship biographies from the Elbe to Graudenz . Mundus Verlag, Ratingen, S. 29 f . (Approved licensed edition by Koehler's Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg, approx. 1990).
  15. ^ A b Gerhard Wiechmann: The Prussian-German Navy in Latin America 1866–1914. A study of German gunboat policy . University of Oldenburg, 2000, p. 143 ( uni-oldenburg.de ( memento from July 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF; 2.9 MB ]).
  16. ↑ The Conflict with Nicaragua . In: Illustrirte Zeitung . JJ Weber, Leipzig July 13, 1878.
  17. ↑ a b c d e Hildebrand, Röhr, Steinmetz: The German warships . Volume 1, p. 255.
  18. ↑ Hildebrand, Röhr, Steinmetz: The German warships . Volume 1, pp. 276f.
  19. ↑ Längin, Bernd: The German colonies . Locations and fates 1184–1918 . ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2005, ISBN 3-8132-0854-0 , p. 230 .
  20. ^ Desertion of German seafarers in Australian ports. Archived from the original on April 23, 2012 ; Retrieved November 13, 2013 .
  21. ↑ The flag of the Ralik Islands. Archived from the original on April 15, 2007 ; Retrieved November 13, 2013 . The rank of Werners is wrongly stated here as a sea captain.
  22. ↑ a b c d Hildebrand, Röhr, Steinmetz: The German warships . Volume 1, p. 256.
  23. ^ Richard Oberländer: The friendship treaty between the German Empire and Samoa . In: The Gazebo . Volume 34, 1878, pp. 567 f . ( Full text [ Wikisource ]).
  24. ^ Albert Röhr: German marine chronicle. Verlag Gerhard Stalling, Oldenburg / Hamburg 1974, ISBN 3-7979-1845-3 , p. 90.
  25. ↑ a b c d e Hildebrand, Röhr, Steinmetz: The German warships . Volume 1, p. 257.
  26. ^ The new smooth-deck corvette Luise . In: Illustrirte Zeitung . No. 1562 . JJ Weber, Leipzig June 7, 1873, p. 430 ( online version of the BSB ).
  27. ^ Rudolf Brommy , Heinrich von Littrow : The Navy . Central antiquariat of the German Democratic Republic, Leipzig 1982, ISBN 3-7961-1736-8 , p. 298 (reprint of the 3rd edition of the original edition from 1878).
  28. ↑ Gardiner: Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905. P. 251.
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on January 16, 2014 .