SMS Gefion (1893)
Construction data | ||
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Ship type |
Cruiser corvette from 1893 Creuzer III. Class from 1899 small cruiser |
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Ship class | Single ship | |
Construction designation: | Cruiser Corvette J | |
Builder: |
Ferdinand Schichau in Danzig, construction number: 486 |
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Keel laying : | March 28, 1892 | |
Launch : | May 31, 1893 | |
Completion: | June 27, 1894 | |
Building-costs: | 5.171 million gold marks | |
Ship dimensions | ||
Measurement: | 2,549 GRT 1,147 NRT |
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Displacement : | Construction: 3,746 t Maximum: 4275 t |
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Length: |
KWL : 109.2 m over all: 110.4 m |
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Width: | KWL: 13.2 m | |
Draft : | 6.27-6.47 m | |
Side height : | 7.87 m | |
Technical specifications | ||
Boiler system : | 6 coal-fired transverse cylinder double steam boilers |
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Machinery: | 2 standing three-cylinder triple expansion steam engines |
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Number of propellers: | 2 three-leaf Ø 4.2 m | |
Shaft speed: | 142 / min | |
Drive power: | 9,000 PSi achieved: 9,827 PSi |
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Speed: | 19.0 kn reached: 20.5 kn |
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Driving range: | 3,500 nm at 12 knots 6,500 nm at 10 knots |
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Fuel supply: | 860 tons of coal | |
Crew: | 13 officers and 289 men | |
Armor | ||
Material: | hardened nickel steel | |
Deck: | horizontal: 25–30 mm slope: 40 mm |
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Gun shields: | ? mm | |
Control center: | horizontal: 30 mm vertical: 30 mm |
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Armament | ||
Sea target guns: | 10 × 10.5 cm L / 35 (807 rounds, 108 hm ) |
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Torpedo boat cannon: | 6 × 5.0 cm SK L / 40 (1500 shots, 62 hm ) |
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Torpedo tubes Ø 45 cm: |
2 on the side of the deck | |
Commanders | ||
Corvette Captain Hans Oelrichs | June 1894 – Oct. 1894 | |
Sea captain Gustav Schmidt | June 1895 – Sept. 1895 | |
Frigate Captain Hugo Zeye | Sept. 1895 – Feb. 1896 | |
Lieutenant Captain Johannes Vanselow | Feb. 1896 – March 1896 | |
Sea captain Rudolf von Eickstedt | March 1896 – Oct. 1896 | |
Corvette Captain Hugo Plachte | Oct. 1896 – Sept. 1897 | |
Corvette Captain Friedrich Follenius | Sept. 1897 – Dec. 1898 | |
Frigate Captain Max Rollmann | Dec. 1898 – Jan. 1901 | |
Frigate Captain Heinrich Bredow | Jan. 1901 – June 1901 | |
Corvette Captain Otto Less | June 1901 – Oct. 1901 |
SMS Gefion was a small cruiser of the Imperial Navy . The cruiser was named after Gefion , an Aesir maiden in Germanic mythology. After being canceled as a warship, it was converted to the motor ship Adolf Sommerfeld in 1920 .
The Gefion was created under the official design in 1891 as a cruiser corvette , later became the cruiser III. Classe and reclassified as a small cruiser in 1899 . She was the first ship of this size in the Imperial Navy that no longer had auxiliary sails in its design.
draft
The cruiser corvette was the first attempt by the Imperial Navy to create a cruiser suitable for both reconnaissance and naval tasks as well as for overseas purposes.
The hull of the hull was designed as a transverse and longitudinal frame steel structure according to the conditions at the time, with the underside of the ship consisting of Muntzmetall on wooden planks to prevent the floor from growing . Originally, ten 15 cm jacket ring cannons were planned as armament , but these were replaced by newly developed and much more modern rapid-loading cannons of 10.5 cm caliber before they were put into service. With a few modifications, this gun remained the standard naval caliber of the small cruisers until 1912.
Calls
After the trial and run-in phase, the Gefion was taken into active service on October 2, 1894. In the running-in phase, deficiencies in the machine system became apparent that could not be fundamentally remedied: minor accidents, insufficiently dimensioned associations and vibrations at higher speed levels considerably reduced the operational value and operational safety. In addition, there was the extremely poor ventilation of the engine rooms, which in continuous use made extreme demands on the physical strength of the heating staff and could only be reduced slightly due to the design.
In June 1895 the ship took part in the opening ceremonies for the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal . Subsequently, due to its relatively large sailing area, it was used annually until 1897 as the escort ship of the Hohenzollern Imperial Yacht on the usual summer trips. On April 30, 1897, the Gefion accompanied the Swedish passenger ship Rex on its opening voyage of the mail steamer line from Sassnitz to Trelleborg .
The Gefion was completely overhauled from September to December 1897 , and then on December 16 of that year the journey to the East Asian Cruiser Division in Tsingtau began . There she fulfilled the usual representative duties of a station ship and visited Russian and Japanese ports several times. During the Boxer Rebellion , the ship provided a landing corps under Lieutenant Lieutenant Otto Less, who later became the commanding officer, which took part in the failed Seymour expedition in June 1900. The Gefion was then immediately ordered back to Germany. After arriving in Wilhelmshaven on September 22, 1901, the Gefion was decommissioned and then underwent a major overhaul by 1904. Thereafter she received reserve status until 1914 and was scheduled for mobilization on August 10, 1914. Due to a lack of staff, however, it was not put back into service, and in 1916 the Gefion became a residential ship in Danzig .
On November 5, 1919, it was deleted from the list of warships and sold to the North German Civil Engineering Company in Berlin. They had the ship converted into a motor ship in Danzig in 1920. Most of the superstructures and the machinery were removed and instead two cargo booms and the associated storage space were installed. The drive system now consisted of two 1500 hp diesel engines, which had originally been ordered for the SM U 115 and SM U 116 of the Imperial Navy. The former cruiser was managed by Danziger Hoch- und Tiefbau GmbH under the name of Adolf Sommerfeld , but was scrapped there as early as 1923.
See also
literature
- Erich Gröner: The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 1. Armored ships, ships of the line, battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, gunboats. Bonn: Bernard & Graefe 1998, ISBN 3-7637-4800-8 .
- Hans H. Hildebrandt, Albert Röhr and Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships. Volume 3, Herford: Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH 1983, ISBN 3-7822-0371-2 .
- Robert Gardiner: Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905. London: Conway Maritime Press 1979, ISBN 0-85177-133-5 .
Web links
- SMS Gefion on deutsche-schutzgebiete.de
- Gefion on german-navy.de