SMS Moltke (1877)
Moltke in the port of Kiel (1894)
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SMS Moltke was a covered corvette of the Bismarck class that was built for the Imperial Navy in the late 1870s . It was named after the Prussian Field Marshal Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke . She was the fourth ship in the class, which included five other ships.
The Bismarck- class corvettes were ordered in the early 1870s as part of a large naval construction program. They were supposed to serve as a fleet scout and on extended missions in the overseas areas of interest of the German Empire. The keel of the Moltke was laid in July 1875, in October 1877 the launch took place and in April 1878 the commissioning followed. As the main armament, the ship had a battery of ten to sixteen 15 cm ring cannons and a complete sailing rig to supplement the steam engine that was also available on long missions overseas.
During her first major overseas mission in the early 1880s, Moltke visited ports in several South American countries after the Saltpeter War and transported the participants of the German expedition to South Georgia for the International Polar Year . After her return to Germany in 1885, she became a training ship for midshipmen and ship boys . The ship served in this function from until 1908. During this time, her activities consisted mainly of fleet exercises and training service trips in the Baltic Sea and often in the West Indies and the Mediterranean . It was deleted from the maritime register in October 1910 and renamed Acheron in October 1911 . From then on she served as a residential ship for the U-Boat School in Kiel and remained in this function until July 1920, when she was sold for scrapping.
Mission history
Construction and commissioning
SMS Moltke was the first ship of the Bismarck class to be laid down. Construction began in July 1875 under the contract name Ersatz Arcona at the Imperial Shipyard in Danzig . The work on Moltke proceeded more slowly than on other ships of the class, as the state shipyards were not as experienced as the private shipbuilding companies such as Norddeutsche Schiffbau AG , which built the Bismarck . Logically, the Moltke was only launched as the fourth member of the class, which is why the class was named after the first completed ship, the Bismarck . Moltke was christened on October 18, 1877 by Admiral Albrecht von Stosch , first head of the newly founded Imperial Admiralty , in the presence of the ship's namesake, Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke . The equipment work was completed in April 1878 and the commissioning took place on April 16. From April 28th to 29th, Moltke was transferred to Kiel, where her armament and other final pieces of equipment were installed. The test drives began on November 18th and were completed on December 21st.
Use in South America
On April 1, 1881, SMS Moltke was commissioned with their first assignment abroad in South America, which began on April 17. On July 14th, the ship reached Valparaíso to replace the previous stationary , the corvette Ariadne . Moltke then went to Coquimbo to protect the German residents from unrest due to the Peruvian victory in the saltpeter war . She reached the port on July 19th and stayed there until mid-September. In the following two months, Moltke visited several port cities in Peru and then went further north to visit several cities in Central America. On February 16, 1882, Moltke returned to Valparaíso and sailed again to Coquimbo on March 14. On May 17, she traveled from there to Montevideo from which was due to severe storms Strait of Magellan happen but only belatedly and thus achieved its goal until the end of June.
In Montevideo, SMS Moltke took the participants of the scientific expedition that Germany contributed to the first International Polar Year on board. The expedition was scheduled to spend a year on the island of South Georgia to make scientific observations on a range of phenomena, including perturbations in the geomagnetic field . Moltke left Montevideo with the expedition on board on July 23. More equipment was on board the HSDG - steamer SS Rio carried. The two ships arrived on the island on August 12 after getting into heavy seas and icebergs. It took more than a week to find a suitable landing site, and on August 21 the scientists disembarked in what is now Moltke Harbor on the north side of Royal Bay , named after the ship . On August 24, with the help of the crew, they finished unloading their equipment and setting up their accommodation, and on September 3, Moltke left for other tasks heading South America. Corvette Marie arrived the following year to bring the expedition back.
Moltke then sailed to Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands and returned from there to the west coast of South America. From October 20, she visited several Chilean ports and the Juan Fernández Islands . At the end of January 1883 she returned to Valparaíso, where she met the corvette Leipzig . From February 28, Moltke sailed north to travel the coasts of Peru and Ecuador . After his return to Valparaíso, Moltke received the order on July 8 to return to Germany. On her way through the Strait of Magellan, she conducted a survey of the coastal waters. On August 4th she met her successor Marie . After a stop on the Cape Verde Islands , she reached Kiel on October 2 and was decommissioned there on October 23.
Like all six ships in her class, she was reclassified as a cruiser frigate in 1884.
As a training ship 1885–1889
SMS Moltke was reactivated on April 15, 1885 as a training ship for naval cadets. She went on a training trip in the Baltic Sea and began a tour of Norwegian ports on May 20, which she then continued in Iceland with visits to Berufjörður and Reykjavik . On July 2, she arrived in Lough Swilly , Ireland , where she stayed for a month and then went to Portsmouth , where on August 15 she was ordered to return to Germany to join the Imperial Navy training squadron. From August 30th to September 23rd, Moltke took part in the annual fleet exercises and after completing the maneuvers went to the Kaiserliche Werft Kiel for maintenance on September 25th .
On October 1st, Moltke rejoined the training squadron and on October 11th went on the next training trip to the West Indies. In São Vicente , Cape Verde, the voyage was interrupted from November 13th to 30th as tensions arose between Germany and Spain over competing claims to the Carolines in the central Pacific. After the conflict was resolved, the squadron continued its voyage, visiting a number of ports in the Caribbean and then returned to Wilhelmshaven on March 27, 1886 , where the squadron was disbanded. In April Moltke went to the Kaiserliche Werft Kiel again for an overhaul. In the following year, the training squadron was re-formed with Moltke and took part in the fleet maneuvers in August and September as II. Division . On October 14th, the squadron began the winter training run , which led it again to the West Indies and ended on March 30th, 1887 in Wilhelmshaven.
In 1887 Moltke stayed in Kiel to take part in a celebration to mark the start of construction on the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal . She then took part again in the annual fleet maneuvers and, from October 1, in the winter training drive of the training squadron into the Mediterranean. In December, Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm visited the ships in Sanremo . On April 10, 1888, Moltke returned to Wilhelmshaven and eight days later went to Kiel for another overhaul. This was followed by a voyage to Russian and Scandinavian ports in the summer of 1888. The annual fleet maneuvers followed in August and September and on September 29, the winter training voyage began again in the Mediterranean, which took place after participating in the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of King George I's throne . of Greece from October 27 to November 5 in Piraeus and visits to some ports in the Ottoman Empire in Asia Minor and Egypt on April 16, 1889 in Wilhelmshaven. The squadron was disbanded and Moltke decommissioned on April 30th.
1889-1897
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In mid-1889 the ship was brought to the Kaiserliche Werft in Kiel for extensive renovation work. The renovation included a new boiler system , new rapid fire guns and accommodation for up to 50 cadets and 210 cabin boys. In addition, the rigging was reduced. On January 1, 1891, she was officially added to the list of school ships and put back into service on April 7. The namesake of the ship Field Marshal Moltke, who died three weeks later, and Kaiser Wilhelm II were present when the ship was put back into operation. Moltke began another training trip on June 15 with visits to the West Indies, La Guaira and Bahía Blanca . On the way back she made on June 13, 1892 in Norfolk and in early August on the Isle of Wight for the Cowes regatta station. Here she was the escort ship for Wilhelm II. On board his yacht Hohenzollern , before she went on to Kiel on August 9 and immediately joined the fleet maneuvers. On September 30, the ship was decommissioned after its completion.
SMS Moltke returned to the service on April 5, 1893 and carried out training in the Baltic Sea that lasted until June 8. During this time she suffered a serious accident on May 24th when the steamship SS Helene collided with one of Moltke's dinghies, which capsized and six cabin boys were killed. Moltke joined the annual fleet maneuvers in August and September as part of the III. Division on. The winter training drive began on October 14th and led into the Mediterranean. On January 21, 1894, Moltke visited Piraeus , where she was visited by Wilhelm II, his sister Sophia of Prussia and her husband, Crown Prince Constantine of Greece . Wilhelm arranged the visit against objections from Chancellor Leo von Caprivi , who had refused a friendship visit because the Greek government had stopped payments for foreign loans, including many from Germany.
A week later Moltke went to Corfu , where she stayed for four weeks until she received the order to travel to Abbazia to bring Empress Friedrich , who lived in the spa there , to Fiume , where she met the Austro-Hungarian on March 29th Emperor Franz Joseph I met. Franz Joseph I also came on board on April 6th to travel to Pola and inspect the Austro-Hungarian Navy . Moltke brought Empress Frederick from 16 to 18 April after Venice , where the Italian King Umberto I met. On April 28, Moltke began the return journey to Germany and arrived in Kiel on June 18. On August 14, she returned to the training squadron, which became the 2nd squadron during the naval maneuvers. The annual winter training drive followed on September 25, this time to the West Indies, and ended on March 22, 1895.
In the summer of 1895, SMS Moltke undertook individual training trips in the Baltic Sea, which were interrupted in June by the celebration of the opening of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal. She then visited Edinburgh and returned to Germany for the annual fleet maneuvers in August and September. A week later the winter training voyage began in the Mediterranean. During her stay in Cadiz , she was ordered to travel to Smyrna in the Ottoman Empire as soon as possible , as unrest in the region threatened the Germans in the city. She arrived there on November 15th and joined the Aviso Loreley , the station ship there. In January 1896, Moltke was withdrawn to continue her training duties and visit numerous ports in the Mediterranean region, including Messina , Haifa , Port Said and Naples . She returned to Kiel on March 23 and went to the shipyard for another overhaul.
In 1896, the training year began on May 12th with a training voyage in the Baltic Sea, followed by visits to Great Britain and Ireland from June 26th. During this voyage, Moltke ran aground in the Hebrides on July 17th, but was able to free himself without damage. She came back to Kiel on August 2nd. The annual fleet maneuvers followed as part of the III. Division and from September 26 the winter training drive to the West Indies. During the stop in Madeira , Moltke was again ordered to the Ottoman Empire on the Syrian coast to protect German interests in the area threatened by unrest. Her sister ships Stosch , Stein and Gneisenau also took part in this operation. The mission ended on February 10, 1897 and Moltke went from Alexandria to Wilhelmshaven, which the ship reached on March 17. This was followed by another visit to the shipyard in Kiel from April 14, 1897.
1898-1903
The ship was not put back into service until April 5, 1898. The training trips in the Baltic Sea had to be canceled on June 16 because of a measles outbreak in the ship's crew. In July, a tour of Norwegian ports began with stops in Larvik , Bergen and Odda , where on July 7th she met the Hohenzollern and the small cruiser Hela on the emperor's annual north country voyage. Moltke and Hohenzollern then went to Drontheim , before Moltke went alone to Lerwick on the Shetland Islands . She arrived back in Kiel on July 30th. In the second half of August she served in the V Division in the fleet maneuvers. On September 3, she left for the West Indies on a winter training trip. While in the area, she was posted to Havana because of fear of unrest in Cuba following the US victory over Spain in the Spanish-American War . Her presence proved to be unnecessary and so she returned to Kiel on January 10, 1899, where she arrived on March 23.
From May 24, 1899, Moltke undertook another cruise in the Baltic Sea, followed by another training voyage to the West Indies from July 5. South American ports such as Rio de Janeiro were also the destination of this trip. From December 22nd to 29th she stayed in Charlotte Amalie on the Danish island of Saint Thomas . From January 10-20, 1900, she was the first German warship to visit New Orleans . She then returned to Germany and reached Kiel on March 25th in Kiel. Training trips in the Baltic Sea followed again from May to September with visits to Stockholm , Copenhagen and Stavanger . On September 17th, she undertook another training trip to the Mediterranean. During their stay in Gibraltar from October 9 to 14, the crew members organized a memorial service in the city's cemetery where the victims of the crew of the corvette Danzig from the battle of Tres Forcas were buried. On December 7th, Moltke stopped in Beirut , where her commanding officer attended a ceremony at the grave of Saladin in Damascus . She visited other ports in the region and crossed the Dardanelles on January 24, 1901 with the permission of Sultan Abdülhamid II . The return journey began on January 30th and on February 24th the ship returned to Kiel.
After the subsequent overhaul, Moltke carried out a hydrographic investigation of the Adlergrund from May 21 , where the ship of the line Kaiser Friedrich III. Ran aground earlier this year and was badly damaged. The survey ended on June 18, and on August 1, the annual training cruise began, which began with visits to Copenhagen and the Faroe Islands and continued as far as the West Indies, where a conflict between Venezuela and Colombia threatened Germany's economic interests in the region. She left the area on December 19 and reached Baltimore on January 24 . A delegation from the ship then visited Washington, DC , where they were received by President Theodore Roosevelt . After visiting Annapolis , the location of the US Naval Academy , she returned to Europe, was present in Dartmouth at the laying of the foundation stone of the new building at the Royal Naval College and finally reached Kiel on March 20.
In 1902 and 1903 Moltke undertook training trips again in the Baltic Sea and in the Mediterranean. In 1904, the Baltic Sea training trips were followed by another trip to the West Indies and the United States, which ended on March 17, 1905 in Kiel, where it was shut down on March 31 for an overhaul.
As a submarine tender
SMS Moltke remained out of service until April 4, 1907 and then made training trips in the Baltic Sea for the last time, followed by a trip to South America with visits to Rio de Janeiro and the West Indies. On March 23, 1908, she returned to Kiel, where she was decommissioned on April 7. Her place in the training squadron was taken by the great cruiser Hertha . Moltke was deleted from the sea register on October 24, 1910 and assigned to the submarine school in Kiel. She was converted into a barge and renamed Acheron on October 28, 1911 in order to be able to use her name for the battle cruiser Moltke , which had just been put into service. Acheron served in this capacity until it was sold for scrapping on July 7, 1920.
literature
- Robert Gardiner (Editor): Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Conway Maritime Press. London. 1979. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5 .
- Erich Gröner / Dieter Jung / Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945 . tape 1 : Armored ships, ships of the line, battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, gunboats . Bernard & Graefe, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-7637-4800-8 , p. 70 f .
- Erich Gröner: The German warships 1815-1945. Bernard & Graefe. Munich. 1994. ISBN 978-3-76374-809-9 .
- Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr & Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships: Biographies: a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present. Volume 6. Mundus Verlag. Ratingen. 1993. ISBN 3-7822-0237-6 .
