SMS Sparhawk (1860)

**Sparrowhawk**
	The identical fox
Ship data
flag	Prussia North German Confederation German Empire; ;
Ship type	Gunboat
class	Hunter- class
Shipyard	Domcke , Szczecin
building-costs	47,300 thalers
Launch	February 14, 1860
Commissioning	February 11, 1864
Removal from the ship register	November 12, 1878
Whereabouts	Used up as a cream
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); from 1872: 1 × Rk 15 cm L / 22 ;

The SMS Sperber was a Jäger class ship , a class 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

The mid 1859 at the Szczecin shipyard Domcke commissioned Sperber expired on 14 February 1860 along with her sister ship Scorpion launched. In the autumn of the same year, the ship was transferred to the base of the gunboats on Dänholm and mothballed there without being officially put into service.

This only happened with the outbreak of the German-Danish War , for which the Sparrowhawk was activated on February 11, 1864. The gunboat was the III. Flotilla Division and took part in the naval battle near Jasmund (1864) against Danish warships. During the battle had to hawk her sister ship Hay tow because its machinery had collapsed. After the end of the war, the ship was taken out of service again on Dänholm.

It was only over four years later, on June 29, 1869, that the sparrowhawk was reactivated for experimental purposes, but only for a few days. On July 9, the ship was decommissioned again , this time in Kiel . It was not until the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War that she was put back into service on July 19, 1870 and relocated to Cuxhaven , with the ship circling Jutland . Subsequently, the Sparrowhawk belonged to the defense of the Jade estuary , but was decommissioned on October 12th in Geestemünde and was assigned to Wilhelmshaven as the new base.

In August 1872 the gunboat was transferred through the Eider Canal to Kiel, where it was overhauled and modernized. The previous armament was also removed and replaced by a ring cannon 15 cm L / 22 . From June 15, 1875, the Sparrowhawk was used for two years as a tender at the Baltic Sea naval station and was last decommissioned on May 31, 1877.

Whereabouts

The sparrowhawk was deleted from the list of warships on November 12, 1878 and then used up as a prahm in Kiel.

Commanders

February 11 to October 20, 1864	Ensign to the sea / Unterleutnant zur See / Leutnant zur See Goeker
June 29 to July 9, 1869	Leutnant zur See Gustav stamp
July 19 to October 12, 1870	Lieutenant to the sea Franz von Kyckbusch
5th to 22nd August 1872	Lieutenant to the sea Franz Kuhn
June 1875	Lieutenant to the sea Maschke
June to August 1875	Captain Albert von Seckendorff
August 1875 to May 1876	Leutnant zur See / Kapitänleutnant Hans Sack
June to September 1876	Lieutenant to the Sea Baron von Löwenstein
September 1876 to April 1877	Captain Felix Bendemann
April to May 31, 1877	Unterleutnant zur See Ernst Rottok

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 7 : Ship biographies from Prussian eagle to Ulan . Mundus Verlag, Ratingen, S. 176 .

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 ^c The rank corresponds to a lieutenant at sea.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g The rank corresponds to a first lieutenant at sea.

[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.

[LzS-2] The rank corresponds to a lieutenant at sea.

[OLzS-3] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g The rank corresponds to a first lieutenant at sea.