Watch class
 The hunt
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The Wacht class was a class of two Avisos in the Imperial Navy . From 1899 both ships were classified as small cruisers .
development
Due to the rapid development of the torpedo weapon , torpedoes were overrated in the Imperial Navy during the 1880s. This had an impact on the types of ships developed and built. The official draft drawn up in 1885 and 1886 for a new class of Avisos provided for a ship that could reach the speed of torpedo boats. For this purpose, the design was smaller than the previous types and provided with a higher drive power in relation to the weight. However, this led to only moderate sea properties, as should be shown during the test drives. In addition, the ships were armed with too little artillery compared to similar models of foreign navies. This disadvantage was partially offset by the installation of an armored deck and an armored command post.
technology
The official draft for the Aviso E provided for a ship with a design displacement of 1,246 t and a maximum displacement of 1,499 t. The total length was 85.5 m, with the construction waterline having a length of 84.0 m. The hull had a maximum width of 9.66 m, the draft at maximum displacement was 3.74 m forward and 4.67 m aft. The side height of the ship was 5.42 m. To increase the safety against sinking, the hull had twelve watertight compartments below the armored deck , ten above that. There was no double floor.
A novelty in warship construction at that time was the lighting of all the ship's rooms with a total of 145 light bulbs and the headlights mounted on the command tower with a light intensity of 20,000 HK . The necessary power supply was provided by two generators with a voltage of 67 V and an output of 20 kW generated.
The crew of the Avisos usually consisted of 141 men, including seven officers and 134 men .
The two Wacht- class units were bad sea-going vessels. They rolled hard, were greedy and swallowed a lot of water. In addition, they were difficult to maneuver. However, they lost little speed at Gegensee.
Propulsion system
The Avisos were each driven by two inclined three-cylinder triple expansion steam engines, which were housed in two machine rooms arranged one behind the other. The steam required was supplied by four locomotive boilers, which had four firing systems and were divided into two boiler rooms, also arranged one behind the other. The boilers had a heating surface of 875 m² and generated a steam pressure of 10 atmospheres . At the beginning of the 1890s, new boilers with eight firings and 872 m² heating surface were installed. The machine system developed around 3,400 PSi (3,461 PSi on watch and 3,451 PSi on the hunt ). Each machine drove a screw with a diameter of 3.3 m, which together helped the ships to a maximum speed of 18.2 kn ( hunting ) and 19.0 kn ( watch ). Both units had an oar. The carried coal supply of 230 t allowed the ships a maximum sailing range of 2,860 nm at a speed of 10 kn.
Armament
The two ships were originally armed with three 10.5 cm L / 35 Rk . Up to 180 rounds of ammunition were carried for these guns. They reached a maximum range of 7 km. In 1891 the guns were replaced by four modern 8.8 cm L / 30 Sk , for which 685 rounds were held.
In addition, the ships had three torpedo tubes with a diameter of 35 cm on board. Two of them were mounted in the sides above the water surface. The third was built into the bow below the waterline. Eight torpedoes were carried on board.
Armor
The armor of the Avisos consisted mainly of an armored deck of 10 mm thickness, the slopes of which were reinforced to 25 mm. The command tower received a 10 to 25 mm thick armor.
commitment
The Avisos were mainly used in the context of the fleet, but also served as an escort ship for the state yacht Hohenzollern . The watch was also used as the driver's ship for a torpedo boat flotilla , and the hunt was also used for a short time for fishery protection .
The hunt was decommissioned before the type ship sank and listed as a port ship from 1904. After being deleted from the list of warships, it was used as a hulk and a shooting range for the torpedo workshop in Friedrichsort and thus survived the First World War .
Guard- class ships
- Watch : launched on August 27, 1887. On September 4, 1901, north of Rügen, rammed by the ironclad Sachsen and sunk.
- Hunt : Launched on July 7th, 1888. Removed from the list of warships on May 14th, 1910 and scrapped in Rüstringen in 1920 .
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. 122 f .
- Hildebrand, Hans H. / Albert Röhr / Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships . Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present . 10 volumes. Mundus Verlag, Ratingen.