SMS Jäger (ship, 1860)

Hunter

The identical fox

Ship data flag  Prussia North German Confederation German Empire     Ship type Gunboat class Hunter- class Shipyard Mitzlaff , Elbing building-costs 47,400 thalers Launch January 1860 Commissioning June 25, 1861 Removal from the ship register March 19, 1872 Whereabouts Used up as a Hulk

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)

The SMS Jäger was the type ship of the class named after her of a total of fifteen steam cannon boats 2nd class of the Royal Prussian Navy , the Navy of the North German Confederation and the Imperial Navy .

Construction and service time

Of the two newbuildings awarded to the Elbingen shipyard Mitzlaff , the first was launched six months after the order was placed at the end of January 1860 and was named Jäger . There were no celebrations for this occasion for financial reasons. The first commissioning of the ship took place on June 25, 1861, initially to carry out test drives. These showed that the hunter was already rolling in light seas , counter-steaming was not possible in heavy seas and the ship was unable to move under sails alone . The guns were also severely affected by the rolling.

Even during the sea trials, the participated hunters , along with her sister ships Fuchs , salamanders and Scorpion , the schooner Hela , the gunboats First Class CAMäleon and Comet and the as flagship acting Amazone , on a trip to the North Sea , in which, among other Hamburg and Bremen were started. It should therefore efforts to form a joint fleet of the German North and Baltic Sea - riparian be strengthened.

After completion of the test drives, the Jäger was decommissioned on October 12, 1861 and slipped onto the Dänholm , which housed the base of the gunboats . The copper fittings were removed for ventilation and planks removed from the outer skin and the bulkheads . Furthermore, the propulsion system, the masts, the guns and the chimney were removed and stored on land, and the hull was provided with a protective roof.

Disarmed in this way, the ship remained until the outbreak of the German-Danish War required it to be put back into service. On February 21, 1864 the Jäger was ready for action and became the III. Flotilla Division assigned. With this, the gunboat got into a battle with Danish ships near Hiddensee on July 3 . After the end of the war, the hunter was decommissioned on September 23rd and mothballed again. During the subsequent technical examination, charred planks were found near the boiler furnace and wood rot on the hull.

The Franco-Prussian War brought the hunters to be activated again . Commissioned on July 24, 1870, the gunboat was initially part of the security forces on the Elbe and later on the Weser estuary . During the war there was no combat contact with enemy ships. On April 8, 1871, the hunter was finally decommissioned.

Whereabouts

The condition of the hunters made the originally planned modernization seem inappropriate, which is why the gunboat was removed from the list of warships on March 19, 1872. It was first used as a target, later as a coal hulk , and was scrapped in the early 1880s.

Commanders

June 25 to October 12, 1861	Lieutenant 1st Class Paul Grapow
February 21 to September 1864	Second Class Lieutenant / Lieutenant to the Sea Johann-Heinrich Pirner
September 1864	Lieutenant Arendt
July 24, 1870 to April 8, 1871	Leutnant zur See Gustav stamp

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. 160 f .
• Hildebrand, Hans H. / Albert Röhr / Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships . Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present . tape 4 : Ship biographies from Greif to Kaiser . Mundus Verlag, Ratingen, S. 214 f .

Footnotes

1. ↑ 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.
2. ↑ The rank corresponds to a lieutenant commander.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} The rank corresponds to a first lieutenant at sea.