SMS Crocodill (1860)

Crocodill

The sister ship Fuchs

Ship data flag Prussian Navy Ship type Gunboat class Hunter- class Shipyard Mitzlaff , Elbing building-costs 47,400 thalers Launch January 1860 Commissioning Fall 1860 Removal from the ship register March 14, 1867 Whereabouts Wrecked in 1867

Ship dimensions and crew length 41.2 m ( Lüa ) 38.0 m ( KWL ) width 6.69 m Draft Max. 2.2 m displacement Construction: 237 t Maximum: 283 t   crew 40 men

Machine system machine 4 transversely stationary suitcase boiler 2 horizontal 1-cyl steam engines 1 Rowing Machine performance 220 hp (162 kW) Top speed 9.0 kn (17 km / h) propeller 1 three-leaf, ø 1.88 m

Rigging and rigging Rigging More beautiful Number of masts 3 Sail area 300 m²

Armament 1 pulled 24-pounder (= 15 cm) 2 pulled 12 pounders (= 12 cm)

SMS Crocodill was the second ship of the Jäger class , a class of a total of fifteensecond class steam cannon boats of the Royal Prussian Navy .

Construction and service time

The Crocodill was launched only a few days after the type ship , which was also built at Mitzlaff in Elbing , at the end of January 1860. The exact date of the launch, which was due to financial reasons without any celebrations, is as little known as the date of commissioning. In the autumn of 1860, the ship was relocated to the Dänholm , which served as a base for the gunboats, as part of a test drive . During this voyage it was under the command of Lieutenant zur See 1st Class Hassenstein. The Crocodill was slipped on the Dänholm , the propulsion system, the masts, the chimney and the guns were removed for better ventilation, the copper fittings and some planks of the outer skin were removed and the bulkheads removed. The hull, disarmed in this way, was provided with a protective roof and preserved for possible later use.

When the German-Danish War broke out , the Crocodill was to be re-equipped and put into service. However, an infestation with dry rot was found on the trunk and the inner wood , which is why activation did not take place. The ship was only poorly repaired in order to serve as a floating battery in the event of a possible landing by the Danes . However, there was no assignment in this function.

Whereabouts

The poor structural condition of the Crocodill finally led to it being removed from the list of warships on March 14, 1867. The ship was then scrapped as the first in its class without having previously found a use.

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. 161 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. 197 .

Footnotes

1. ↑ The name was actually spelled with two l's
2. ↑ The designation of the lower officer ranks was set or changed in the years 1849, 1854 and 1864. On January 1, 1900, the names Fähnrich zur See, Leutnant zur See, Oberleutnant zur See and Kapitänleutnant, which are still in use today, were introduced. The rank of “lieutenant at sea, 1st class” corresponds to a captain lieutenant.