The Pfeil was commissioned from Wolgaster Werft Lübke in the middle of 1859 and was launched on February 14, 1860. During construction, the ship was given the name Donner within the shipyard in order to comply with a provision of the Prussian customs authorities with regard to the components obtained from abroad. After completion, the arrow was transferred to the base of the gunboats on the Dänholm and slipped on there .
The arrow was first put into service because of the German-Danish War on February 11, 1864. The gunboat joined the 1st Flotilla Division and took part in the naval battle against Danish warships at Jasmund on March 17th . The ship was also involved in another advance on May 6, which did not result in any combat contact. After a reorganization of the gunboat associations, the Pfeil probably became the flagship of the I. Flotilla Division, but this cannot be proven beyond doubt. After the decommissioning on October 13th, the ship was again mothballed on Dänholm.
Only after more than four years, on May 3, 1869, was the arrow reactivated. She acted as a watch ship in Gdansk and at the same time as a tender for the Royal Shipyard there . At the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War , the ship was initially relocated to Husum via Swinoujscie and the Eider Canal , but joined a flotilla formed on the Elbe at the beginning of August . In the spring of 1871 the Pfeil was assigned to the armed forces on the Jade and finally decommissioned on April 12th without coming into contact with the enemy during the war.
Whereabouts
During an examination of the ship in preparation for a major overhaul, it was found that the hull was badly rotten and that it was not worth repairing. The arrow has therefore been deleted from the list of warships on March 19, 1872, as mines barge in Wilhelmshaven depleted.
Gröner, Erich / Dieter Jung / Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945 . tape1 : 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 . tape6 : Ship biographies from Lützow to Prussia . Mundus Verlag, Ratingen, S.223 .
Footnotes
↑ 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.
↑ a b The rank corresponds to a lieutenant at sea.
↑ a b c The rank corresponds to a first lieutenant at sea.