SMS Loreley (1885)
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The SMS Loreley was a ship of the Imperial Navy used as a station ship in the Mediterranean . The steam yacht, launched in 1885, was purchased in 1896 and stationed off Istanbul until 1918. The ship was then sold to Turkey and was lost during a voyage in the Black Sea in 1926 .
history
Construction and purchase
The Scottish shipyard D. & W. Henderson & Company in Glasgow received an order to build a steam yacht from A. H. G Wittey & Co. in 1884. This was launched on June 1, 1885 under the name Mohican and was handed over to the customer the following year. After a short period of use, the ship was up for sale again in 1892. In early 1896 the Imperial Navy acquired the Mohican . Since the Aviso SMS Loreley used as a stationary in Constantinople was worn out and had to be replaced, the Mohican was earmarked for this purpose in accordance with a cabinet order of May 5, 1896. The ship was given the temporary designation Replacement Loreley . It was slightly rebuilt and armored.
commitment
After the appropriate equipment, the replacement Loreley was put into service on August 6, 1896. The ship immediately set out for the Mediterranean and reached Constantinople on September 7th. On the same day, the old, wheel-driven Aviso was taken out of service. The replacement Loreley took over from him the function of the stationary and also the name Loreley .
In the peace treaty of 1856, the Ottoman Empire had to grant the major European powers the permanent stationing of a warship in the Bosporus . The Loreley was also deployed on the basis of this contract . Due to the unrest and attacks on the Armenian population , especially in 1895, the right to station a second ship was demanded and finally granted. The simultaneous request of the United States , Spain , the Netherlands and Greece to also receive the right to station a warship, however, was rejected. The German Reich and Austria-Hungary did not make use of the new regulation, however, the Loreley remained in Constantinople for a long time until 1914 as the only ship of the Imperial Navy.
The main task of the ship was to represent the German Empire. On many occasions the German ambassador was on board the Loreley , which was available to him to fulfill diplomatic tasks on the basis of an agreement made between the Foreign Office and the High Command of the Navy . In addition, trips through the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea and visiting port cities there were part of the usual duties of the Loreley .
In October and November 1898 the Loreley was available to Kaiser Wilhelm II for a visit to Turkey. The ship met the Kaiseryacht Hohenzollern and the accompanying Hertha in Tenedos on October 17th . The Loreley escorted both ships to Constantinople and then took a short voyage into the Black Sea, where the emperor was on board. A trip to Palestine followed , where Wilhelm II also visited Jerusalem , among other places . The Loreley was back at her berth on November 15th.
After a stay in the shipyard in Genoa from November 8th to early December 1899 , the Loreley was at the disposal of Empress Friedrich , who was staying in Lerici . Among other things, Prince Heinrich of Prussia traveled by ship from Genoa to Lerici and back to Genoa on April 19, 1900 together with his mother. After a brief meeting with SMS Moltke at the end of January 1901, the Loreley called at various ports with German consulates . The conscripts had to meet there for registration and inspection .
From November 1902 to February 1903 the Loreley stayed in Piraeus for repairs . During this time, the ship received greater attention due to a murder committed on board. The crew was housed ashore for the duration of the repair work. Only a small watch command remained on the Loreley . On the night of November 16-17 , 1902, the seaman on watch, Kohler, stabbed Maat Biedritzki , who was also on board, with a stiletto and stole an iron box with documents and money. On the morning of November 17, an inspecting sergeant found the Loreley abandoned, but traces of blood and the absence of the box indicated a crime. On the same day, divers recovered Biedritzki's body from the harbor basin. Kohler, who was initially thought to be dead, was found and arrested on November 18. He confessed to the fact and gave greed for money as the motive. The stolen box was found at a nearby lighthouse, where Kohler left it when a fishing boat approached. The sailor had acted at the instigation of a foreign secret service, for which the documents of the Loreley, who was in the diplomatic service, were of interest. Kohler was brought to Germany by SMS Stein and had to stand trial there before a court martial .
In April 1904, the Loreley was available to Crown Prince Wilhelm and Prince Eitel Friedrich for their visit to the Sultan. On May 3, the ship ran from Alexandria from Saloniki , as there had been riots in Macedonia . During the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the International Danube Commission in 1906, the Loreley lay in front of Galatz . Originally, a trip to various Russian ports was planned afterwards, but this was not done due to political tensions. The following two years were characterized by routine tasks, with only participation in a wedding ceremony in the Greek royal family being an exception in 1907.
In 1909 there were again serious attacks on the Christian Armenian population in southern Anatolia . The Loreley therefore had to be ready for any intervention from April 20 with other warships from other sea powers. On April 24th the ship was replaced by the small cruiser SMS Hamburg . During this four-day mission, only aid for German and Austro-Hungarian citizens was necessary. The Loreley returned to her permanent berth in front of Therapia on April 27th . On the same day, the previous Sultan Abdülhamid II , who wanted to reverse the reforms made in the previous year, was declared deposed by the Young Turks movement and his brother, Mehmed V, was proclaimed his successor. Abdülhamid had to leave Constantinople and was brought to Salonika by the Loreley with the approval of the Ottoman government .
In the summer of 1910, the Ottoman Empire bought the two German ships of the line SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm and SMS Weißenburg . On August 27, the commander of the handover association, Rear Admiral Koch, came on board the Loreley to arrange the handover formalities. On September 3, the stationary escorted both ships to their berth. In November the Loreley ran aground off Lepanto on the way to Trieste and had to be towed free by a British destroyer . In the middle of the month, a basic repair began in Trieste, which was completed on March 1, 1911.
During the Italo-Turkish War , the Loreley stayed in the Turkish coastal areas , supported by SMS Geier , to protect German residents. After the outbreak of the First Balkan War , the German Mediterranean Division was formed under Rear Admiral Konrad Trummler , who was assigned the Loreley in addition to the large cruiser SMS Goeben and the small cruiser SMS Breslau . However, she stayed mainly on her berth. After the Greek occupation of Saloniki became more and more likely, the ship received the order to bring the former Sultan Abdülhamid back to Constantinople. Mehmed V. had previously made a request to Wilhelm II. On November 2nd, 1912 the stationary was back from this trip. Before the end of the war, the Loreley stayed in Trieste from February 10 to March 3, 1913, where repairs were carried out. In mid-August, the ship was able to help fight a fire at the French embassy in Constantinople.
The Loreley was from February 2 to March 13, 1914 for overhaul in Alexandria. In the second half of April the ship was at the disposal of the emperor who was on Corfu . The last peace trip in the station area, which led to Smyrna , ended on July 12th. After the outbreak of the First World War , the Loreley was decommissioned on August 6th. Your commandant, Korvettenkapitän Humann, became head of the naval stage command and intelligence officer of the admiralty staff. The Loreley was used as a tender during the war , but at times also for freight trips in the Sea of Marmara . It was not officially put into service again until December 1917. The crew consisted of both Germans and Turks, and command was given to Lieutenant Commander of the Reserve Meis. Some of the journeys took place under the Reich service flag. On November 2, 1918, the Loreley was finally decommissioned.
Whereabouts
On the day of the decommissioning, the Loreley was removed from the list of warships and left to Turkey. After a layover time , a Turkish shipowner bought the ship in April 1924 and used it as a freighter under the name Haci Paşa . On a voyage from Batum to Samsun that began on January 2, 1926, the ship disappeared in the Black Sea.
technology
The Loreley was a cross -ribbed steel structure with wooden decks . The hull was divided watertight by six transverse bulkheads . The maximum displacement of the ship was 924 t and thus only 4 t more than the design displacement . The Loreley was 68.7 m long, the construction waterline was 61.0 m. The greatest width of the hull was 8.4 m. At maximum displacement, the ship had a draft of 3.78 m forward and 4.58 m aft .
The ship's electrical equipment was operated with a voltage of 60 volts . The electricity required was supplied by two generators with a total output of 11.4 kW .
The crew of the Loreley consisted of 61 men. In addition to four officers, there were 57 NCOs and men on board.
The yacht was considered a good seagoing ship. It was easy to steer and was well enclosed . However, the ship stomped against the sea and took a lot of water. Across the sea it tended to roll violently .
Propulsion system
The propulsion system was divided into separate boiler and machine rooms. The Loreley had a cylinder boiler with four furnaces and a heating surface of 204 m², which generated a steam pressure of 9 atmospheres . The machine system consisted of a vertically arranged three-cylinder compound steam engine with triple steam expansion . It made 700 PSi and acted on a four- bladed propeller with a diameter of 3.66 m. The propulsion system accelerated the Loreley to a top speed of 11.9 knots . The fuel supply of 180 t of coal carried on board enabled the ship to travel 3,900 nm at 9 knots.
Rigging
In addition to the propulsion system, the Loreley was provided with rigging . The ship, rigged as a schooner , originally had three masts and a sail area of 435 m². Later the mizzen mast was equipped with a high sail, which reduced the sail area to 400 m². Even if a pure sail drive was not possible, the rigging was a good support for the steam engine.
Armament
The Loreley was equipped with two torpedo boat cannons with a caliber of 5 cm and 40 caliber lengths . These could fire up to 4.8 km. 265 rounds of ammunition were carried for the guns.
Commanders
| August 6, 1896 to September 1897 | Lieutenant Günther von Krosigk |
| September 1897 to December 1898 | Captain Lieutenant / Corvette Captain von Witzleben |
| December 1898 to October 1900 | Lieutenant / Corvette Captain Karl von Levetzow |
| October 1900 to September 1901 | Lieutenant Captain Gottfried von Dalwigk zu Lichtenfels |
| September 1901 to October 1902 | Captain von Rothkirch and Panthen |
| October 1902 to September 1903 | Lieutenant Ludwig von Reuter |
| September 1903 to October 1904 | Lieutenant Walther von Keyserlingk |
| October 1904 to September 1905 | Captain Franz Brüninghaus |
| September 1905 to September 1906 | Lieutenant / Corvette Captain Wilhelm von Krosigk |
| September 1906 to October 1907 | Captain Paul Kettner |
| October 1907 to September 1908 | Lieutenant Leberecht von Klitzing |
| September 1908 to September 1909 | Lieutenant / Corvette Captain Walter Hildebrand |
| September 1909 to September 1910 | Captain Lieutenant / Corvette Captain from Ysenburg-Büdingen |
| September 1910 to October 1911 | Captain Lieutenant / Corvette Captain von Gaudecker |
| October 1911 to October 1912 | Lieutenant Commander / Corvette Captain Fritz Wossidlo |
| October 1912 to October 1913 | Corvette Captain Joachim von Arnim |
| October 1913 to August 6, 1914 | Captain Humann |
| December 1917 to November 2, 1918 | Captain R. Meis |
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 f .
- Hildebrand, Hans H. / 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. 230-233 .
Footnotes
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Gröner, Erich: The German warships. Vol. 1, p. 168 f.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Hildebrand / Röhr / Steinmetz: The German warships. Vol. 5, p. 231.
- ↑ Hildebrand, Hans H. / Albert Röhr / Hans-Otto Steinmetz: Ship biographies from Greif to Kaiser. Mundus Verlag, Ratingen o. J., p. 175. ( The German warships. Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present. Vol. 4.)
- ↑ Weltrundschau zu Reclam's Universum , year 1902. Reclam , Leipzig 1902, p. 564.
- ↑ a b c d e f Hildebrand / Röhr / Steinmetz: The German warships. Vol. 5, p. 232.
- ↑ a b Hildebrand / Röhr / Steinmetz: The German warships. Vol. 5, p. 233.