SMS Eber (1887)
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The SMS Eber was a gunboat of the Imperial Navy .
construction
Due to the structural condition of the two boats of the Albatross class , a replacement for them became necessary in the mid-1880s. The construction plans for a new gunboat were drawn up accordingly, based on the data of the Habicht class . Special emphasis was placed on the adaptation to the planned use in the South Seas. The ship should be able to cover as long a distance as possible under steam, be seaworthy and be adequately armed to fight unrest.
At the beginning of 1886, the Kaiserliche Werft Kiel began building the replacement Albatross . On February 15, 1887, the new building was ready for launch . The then chief of the naval station of the Baltic Sea , Vice Admiral Wilhelm von Wickede , baptized the ship with the name Eber . Since the financial means of the Imperial Navy for the gunboat building were very limited, the Eber remained a single ship.
technology
The boar was an iron structure that was divided into five watertight compartments . The ship was 51.7 m long and 8.0 m wide. With a maximum displacement of 735 t, it had a draft of 3.8 m. The boars did not have a double floor or additional armor .
Propulsion system
The gunboat had a horizontal three-cylinder double expansion engine , which produced an output of 760 PSi . The machine worked on a screw with a diameter of 2.8 m, which could be heated , in order to reduce the drag on the ship's hull when sailing under sail. The necessary steam was supplied by two cylinder boilers, which had a heating surface of 310 m² and generated 6 atmospheres steam pressure. The engine system brought the ship to a top speed of 11 knots. At a speed of 9 knots, a steam distance of 2,000 nm could be covered with the coal reserve of 78 t.
The boar also had sails to enlarge its sailing area. The ship was as Bark rigged , sail area measured 590 square meters.
Armament
In accordance with their area of responsibility, the boars were armed with weapons that were not suitable for sea combat, but were sufficient for fighting unrest in the protected areas. The main armament consisted of three 10.5 cm L / 35 ring cannons , which reached a firing range of 8 km. 390 rounds of ammunition were carried for them. In addition, four 3.7 cm revolver cannons were on board as secondary armament.
commitment
The boar was put into service on September 25, 1887 for sea trials. During this it became evident that the ship had good sea characteristics. It lurched and stomped heavily, but it was easy to maneuver and steer. The sailing performance of the ship was also very good.
Based on these results, the boar was quickly prepared for use in the South Seas. The ship left Kiel on November 10, 1887. The journey to Cooktown lasted 131 days, of which the gunboat 49 stayed in various ports. During the voyage, which was sometimes only carried out under sail, various breakdowns occurred, including a bunker fire. The boar reached Apia on April 24, 1888 .
During the following layover, the previous commander of the boars , Kapitänleutnant Bethge, had to call in sick and hand over command to the first officer, Oberleutnant zur See Emsmann. At the end of July, the ship set out on a visit to the German New Guinea colony on the Marshall Islands . During this trip, which lasted until the end of November, there were several fighting with locals who had taken action against Germans and killed a station manager. On October 2, 1888, Emsmann hoisted the German flag on Nauru . In addition, the brisk activity of American mission societies was observed, which among other things also delivered weapons to the locals.
After returning to Apia on November 22nd, Lieutenant Lieutenant Eugen Wallis took command of the boars . At this time there was again considerable tension between the German Empire, Great Britain and the United States due to the question of ownership of Samoa (→ conflict over Samoa ). The Trenton , the Vandalia, and the Nipsic arrived at Apia as did the Calliope . On the German side, in addition to the boar, the Adler and Olga were present. The looting of German plantations by supporters of Mataafa Josefo , who was appointed by the Americans and British as the anti-king, prompted the German ships to deploy landing corps to protect the plantations. On December 18, near Vailele , they met with Samoan troops led by an American. The roughly 220 German soldiers faced a multiple superior force. In the following battle 16 Germans were killed and 27 others seriously injured. One of the dead was a member of the boar's crew .
Downfall
After the battle of December 18, 1888, the attacks by the Samoans did not decrease. Among other things, the German consulate was set on fire and the British were also involved in fighting. The tensions between the great powers, especially between the German Reich and the United States, persisted. The German ships remained almost continuously in Apia, as no sign of weakness was shown or the Samoans wanted to encourage further attacks. Only the boar left the island for a short time to bring a dispatch to Auckland about the course of the battle at Vailele , but returned immediately to Apia. This had fatal consequences.
In mid-March 1889, Samoa was hit by a severe cyclone . Although the storm could have been weathered better on the open sea than in the small and unprotected harbor basin of Apia, all warships remained anchored there. Only the Calliope was finally able to escape from the harbor. The boars had deployed three anchors and their engines were running at full power to withstand the storm. There were several clashes with both the Olga and American ships. When the rudder finally broke and the anchors tore from the bottom, the boar was thrown by the surf onto a reef and broke. 73 crew members, including the commander, were killed. Only one officer and four men survived the sinking of the ship. Five other sailors were posted to guard the consulate and were not on board at the time of the accident. After the storm subsided, only a few wreckage could be found on the beach and on the reef, the boar had been completely destroyed. The survivors were first brought to Sydney on the steamer Lübeck and from there on the Habsburg of North German Lloyd to their homeland.
To replace the boar was the Condor , a cruiser Bussard class , built for the Imperial Navy.
Commanders
| September 25, 1887 to August 1888 | Lieutenant Bethge |
| August to November 1888 | Lieutenant for the Sea Hugo Emsmann (deputy) |
| November 1888 to March 16, 1889 | Lieutenant Eugen Wallis |
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. 168 .
- 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. 276-278 .
- Bernd G. Längin : The German colonies . Places and fates 1884-1918 . Mittler, Hamburg et al. 2005, ISBN 3-8132-0854-0 , p. 260 f .
- The shipwreck of the German warships Adler and Eber and the stranding of the warship Olga in Samoa on March 16, 1889, along with a list of those who died. Junginger's publishing house, Stuttgart, Thorstr. 4 (Stuttgarter Volksbücher 20), 16 p. Incl. 3 p. List of officers and men who perished in the shipwreck of the German warships "Adler" and "Eber" on March 16, 1889 off Samoa, by ship, name, rank and place of origin
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ Hildebrand / Röhr / Steinmetz: The German warships. Vol. 2, p. 277.
- ↑ The rank corresponds to a first lieutenant at sea. 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.
Coordinates: 13 ° 49 ′ 53 ″ S , 171 ° 45 ′ 6.5 ″ W.