 Sketch ofElisabeth | |
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg) Prussia | |
| Name | SMSElisabeth |
| Namesake | Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria |
| Builder | Königliche Werft,Danzig |
| Laid down | 1 May 1866 |
| Launched | 18 October 1868 |
| Commissioned | 29 September 1869 |
| Stricken | 20 September 1887 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 1904 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Arcona-classfrigate |
| Displacement | 2,504 t (2,464long tons) |
| Length | 79.3 m (260 ft 2 in) |
| Beam | 13.2 m (43 ft 4 in) |
| Draft | 5.5 m (18 ft 1 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
| Speed | 12.1knots (22.4 km/h; 13.9 mph) |
| Range | 1,900 nmi (3,500 km; 2,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament | 28 × 68-pounder guns |
SMSElisabeth was the final member of theArcona class ofsteam frigates built for thePrussian Navy in the 1860s. The class comprised five ships, and were the first major steam-powered warships ordered for the Prussian Navy. The ships were ordered as part of a major construction program to strengthen the nascent Prussian fleet, under the direction ofPrince Adalbert, and were intended to provide defense against theRoyal Danish Navy.Elisabeth was armed with abattery of twenty-eight guns, and was capable of steaming at a speed of 12.1knots (22.4 km/h; 13.9 mph).Elisabeth waslaid down in 1866,launched in 1868, andcommissioned in 1869, by which time the Prussian Navy had been replaced by theNorth German Federal Navy.
Elisabeth joined asquadron that was sent to theMediterranean Sea for the opening ceremonies for theSuez Canal in late 1869. She was activated during theFranco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, first as aguard ship during the Frenchblockade of the North German coast. Plans to deploy the ship as acommerce raider later in the war came to nothing due to repeated problems with her propulsion system. After the war, in late 1872, she joined a squadron sent to theCaribbean Sea to protect German interests in the region. The following year, the squadron was recalled to the coast of Spain to protect German interests during theThird Carlist War there. The squadron was disbanded in early 1874, allowingElisabeth to be sent toEast Asia, but she was ordered home in early 1875. The ship embarked on another major overseas voyage in 1876, intended to be acircumnavigation of the globe. During the voyage in early 1878, she led anintervention in Nicaragua to force a payment owed to a German businessman.Elisabeth arrived home later that year.
The ship made two further overseas cruises in the early 1880s; the first, from 1881 to 1883, took the ship back to East Asia. Her time there passed relatively uneventfully, apart from an intervention inXiamen on behalf of a German business there. The second overseas cruise lasted from 1884 to 1886, and during this voyage, she was heavily involved with the expansion of theGerman colonial empire, first inWest Africa, then formally proclaiming the colony ofGerman South West Africa. In 1885, she participated in flag-raising ceremonies in the colonies ofNeupommern andKaiser-Wilhelmsland. The cruise ended with the ship participating in a naval demonstration to defend Germany's claim toWituland, which would soon becomeGerman East Africa. Limited training activities followed in the mid-1880s, until she was struck from thenaval register in 1887. She was then used as abarracks ship, and then as a stationarytraining ship from 1888 to 1903. She was sold toship breakers the following year, though some parts of the ship were preserved.
In the immediate aftermath of theFirst Schleswig War against Denmark,Prince Adalbert began drawing up plans for the future of thePrussian Navy; he also secured theJade Treaty that saw the port ofWilhelmshaven transferred to Prussia from theDuchy of Oldenburg, and which provided the Prussian fleet with an outlet on theNorth Sea. Adalbert called for a force of threescrew frigates and six screwcorvettes to protect Prussian maritime trade in the event of another war with Denmark. Design work was carried out between 1854 and 1855, and the first two ships were authorized in November 1855; a further pair was ordered in June 1860, and the final member of the class was ordered in February 1866.[1][2] The last vessel,Elisabeth, was modified slightly compared to the rest of the class, with a slightly largerhull, a differentstern shape, and a smaller number of guns (albeit of a more modern type).[3]
Elisabeth was 79.3 meters (260 ft 2 in)long overall and had abeam of 13.2 m (43 ft 4 in) and adraft of 5.5 m (18 ft 1 in) forward. Shedisplaced 2,454metric tons (2,415long tons) as designed and 2,912 t (2,866 long tons) atfull load. The ship had shortforecastle andsterncastle decks. Hersuperstructure consisted primarily of a smalldeckhouse aft. She had a crew of 35 officers and 345 enlisted men.[4]
Her propulsion system consisted of a single horizontalsingle-expansion steam engine driving a singlescrew propeller, with steam supplied by four coal-burningfire-tube boilers. Exhaust was vented through a singlefunnel locatedamidships.Elisabeth was rated to steam at a top speed of 9knots (17 km/h; 10 mph), but she significantly exceeded this speed, reaching 12.1 knots (22.4 km/h; 13.9 mph) from 2,440metric horsepower (2,410 ihp). The ship had a cruising radius of about 1,900nautical miles (3,500 km; 2,200 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). To supplement the steam engine on long voyages abroad, she carried afull-ship rig with a total surface area of 2,200 m2 (24,000 sq ft).[4] The screw could be retracted while cruising under sail.[5]
Elisabeth was armed with abattery of twenty-eight 68-pounder guns. By 1869, she had been rearmed with a battery of seventeen15 cm (5.9 in) RK L/22 guns.[4]
Authorization for a fifth frigate of theArcona class was granted on 22 February 1866.[6] Thekeel forElisabeth waslaid down at theKönigliche Werft (Royal Dockyard) inDanzig on 1 May 1866. She waslaunched on 18 October 1868 and named afterElisabeth, thedowager queen. The wife of GeneralEdwin Freiherr von Manteuffel performed the christening ceremony. By that time, Prussia had begun the process ofGerman unification, andElisabeth was the first ship to be launched under the flag of theNorth German Confederation. The date of the launching was chosen because it was the anniversary of theBattle of Leipzig, as well as the birthday ofCrown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm. After completingfitting out work, she wascommissioned into active service on 29 September 1869, under the command ofKorvettenkapitän (KK—Corvette Captain)Hermann Robert Przewisinski.Sea trials were skipped so thatElisabeth could be sent as part of thesquadron that represented North Germany at the opening of theSuez Canal; the other vessels included hersister shipsHertha andArcona, theavisoGrille, and thegunboatDelphin.Elisabeth was only partially armed by that time, and part of her battery deck was converted to accommodation space for Friedrich Wilhelm and his entourage.[7][8]
On 4 October,Elisabeth sailed fromNeufahrwasser, stopping briefly inKiel to embark a pair of engineers, who were to evaluate the ship's engine on the first leg of the voyage. By the time she reachedPlymouth, United Kingdom, the engineers had determined that the engine had been installed badly and would require repairs. The ship nevertheless continued on to theMediterranean Sea, stopping inValletta,Malta; andLimassol andBeirut in theOttoman Empire. On 15 November,Elisabeth joined the rest of the German squadron inPort Said,Ottoman Egypt, and the northern end of the Suez Canal. After the conclusion of the opening ceremonies on 1 December, the squadron was disbanded andElisabeth embarked Friedrich Wilhelm and his entourage to carry them first toNaples, Italy. Friedrich Wilhelm went to meet KingVittorio Emanuele II.[3][9]
She then sailed on toLa Spezia, where the group returned to the ship.Elisabeth carried them toVillefranche-sur-Mer, France, and then returned to Italy to pick up a 70 t (69 long tons; 77 short tons) block of marble inCivitavecchia; the Pope had donated it for use in theAachen Cathedral. During a subsequent stop inCannes, France,Elisabeth was inspected byPrince Heinrich andPrince Wilhelm, then boys aged 10 and 7, respectively; officers took Heinrich to the top of the ship's rigging, though Wilhelm was not due to hiscrippled left arm. The ship stopped inPortsmouth, United Kingdom, on the way home, where it was found she needed to have her screw replaced; the work took six weeks to complete. During that time, a contingent from her crew were sent to bring theship of the lineRenown to Germany, which had been purchased from theRoyal Navy for use as atraining ship.Elisabeth then sailed toVlissingen, the Netherlands, where the marble block was unloaded. From there, she sailed on to Kiel, arriving on 4 April, and she was decommissioned there on 23 April. After the voyage, Friedrich Wilhelm instructed GeneralAlbrecht von Stosch, a member of his party, to write a report on their experience aboard the ship. Stosch was very critical of the ship's condition and the state of training of the crew.[9][10]
On 10 July 1870,Elisabeth was recommissioned for service during theFranco-Prussian War; the crew of the training shipNiobe were used to reactivateElisabeth. The navy initially planned to deployElisabeth to its North Sea naval base at Wilhelmshaven, but reports of French warships already approaching the port led to a change of orders. Instead, the ship would be used to defend themine barrier protecting the entrance to Kiel atFriedrichsort. She was supported in this role byRenown and the avisoPreussischer Adler. The French briefly attempted to impose ablockade of the German coast, but after they withdrew, the Germans made plans to sendElisabeth to attack French shipping as acommerce raider. In early October, she,Grille, and several gunboats sailed to Wilhelmshaven, and during the voyage, they evaded French vessels in heavy fog.Elisabeth's propulsion system proved to be problematic once again, and she was forced to stop inGlückstadt after her screw broke. Repairs were carried out, but after departing on 21 October, the propeller shaft broke, forcing the ship to be towed to Wilhelmshaven. She was the first vessel to bedry docked in the new facility there. After repairs were completed,Elisabeth was ordered in mid-January 1871 to sail to theCaribbean Sea (taking a route around the United Kingdom to avoid the French coast) to support the gunboatMeteor, but by that time, a ceasefire had come into effect that ended the fighting. Instead,Elisabeth was sent back to Kiel in company with theironclad warshipArminius on 29 March, though severe storms delayed their arrival.Elisabeth was decommissioned there on 21 April.[11][12]
Elisabeth was recommissioned on 18 December 1871, under the command of KKPaul von Reibnitz. She was to join a squadron of warships being sent to Central and South America, in part in response to mistreatment of the crew of the corvetteNymphe by Brazilian police inRio de Janeiro. But Stosch, who had become the first Chief of theGerman Imperial Admiralty after the Prussian victory in 1871 saw the creation of theGerman Empire, canceled the planned operation over a dispute with ChancellorOtto von Bismarck.Elisabeth was accordingly decommissioned on 26 January 1872. At this time, she was placed in the category of First Reserve, which kept the ship in a state of readiness that allowed reactivation within five days.[13][14]
Over the course of 1872, attacks on Germans in Haiti and Colombia prompted Stosch to reconsider his decision to cancel the deployment of warships to Central America, and on 1 October,Elisabeth was recommissioned, along with the ironcladFriedrich Carl and the gunboatAlbatross. The squadron was placed under the command ofKommodoreReinhold von Werner; at that time,Elisabeth's captain was KKOtto Livonius. The three ships sailed from Wilhelmshaven on 10 October, and by 3 December, had reachedBridgetown,Barbados, where they joinedElisabeth's sistersVineta andGazelle. The five ships cruised through the Caribbean over the next few months, and soon after arriving in the region, Werner took the squadron to Colombia, where their presence convinced the government to pay a subsidy that had been promised to a German company that had build a railway line in the country. In early March 1873, Werner received orders to take the squadron to the coast of Spain to protect Germans during theThird Carlist War.[13][15]
Elisabeth and the rest of the squadron arrived off the coast of Spain on 1 May, which the ships patrolled through late February 1874 in concert with a British squadron. At that point, the squadron was dissolved, andElisabeth was ordered toEast Asia. She sailed fromLisbon, Portugal, on 3 March, but had to stop in Valletta for repairs on the way. The ship arrived inSingapore on 26 May, and while en route to Hong Kong, she weathered a storm that nearlydismasted her.Elisabeth thereafter cruised in Japanese waters, and later in 1874, she went toHakodate after the Germanconsul there was murdered. On 4 January 1875, Livonius received orders to bring his ship home, and by 17 January, the ship had gotten underway. She arrived in Kiel on 13 April and moved to Danzig later that month, where she was decommissioned on 1 May. She thereafter underwent a major overhaul, which was completed by mid-1876. She was moved to Kiel on 28 May, where preparations for another extended voyage abroad, which was planned to complete acircumnavigation of the globe.[16][17]
Kapitän zur See (Captain at Sea)Wilhelm von Wickede took command ofElisabeth when she was recommissioned on 1 October 1876. She sailed from Kiel on 14 October, cruising south through the Atlantic Ocean, around the southern tip of Africa and across the Indian Ocean. Upon arriving in Singapore on 20 February 1877, Wickede took command of the ships in East Asian waters, as he was the senior-most captain in the region; this includedVineta, the corvetteLuise, and the gunboatsNautilus andCyclop.Elisabeth remained in Singapore for more than a month, eventually departing on 23 March. From there, she stopped in theSulu Archipelago to settle disputes between German merchants and the local Spanish colonial government. The ship returned to Japanese waters, cruising through theSeto Inland Sea, and stopping inYokohama in July. While the ship was in Yokohama, members of her crew fought men from the French ironcladAtalante.Elisabeth sailed on 30 July to assist a pair ofbarques, one Danish and the other German, that had wrecked nearby. Later that year, the ship conducted surveys ofIse Bay and theTsugaru Strait.[18]
On 5 December,Elisabeth received orders to sail to Central America. While inHonolulu, Hawaii, Wickede met with KingKalākaua on 12 January 1878. The ship then sailed on toAcapulco, Mexico, and on the way, her crew conducteddepth soundings. She thereafter sailed south to visit Panama, where on 5 March, her crew helped to fight a major fire. There, she joined the corvettesLeipzig andAriadne. Wickede took command of this temporarily formed squadron on 9 March with the title ofKommodore.Elisabeth then sailed to Nicaragua, where adispute between a German businessman and local residents remained unresolved, and had escalated to the point that the German consul had been attacked. A major expedition was planned to punish those responsible and extract compensation from the Nicaraguan government. The corvetteMedusa, which was then in the Caribbean, was ordered to block arms shipments from the Atlantic, whileElisabeth and the other ships on the Pacific coast prepared a landing party of some 400 men. On 18 March, the German squadron arrived offCorinto, where the landing party went ashore.Elisabeth'sexecutive officer went toManagua with an ultimatum on 22 March demanding punishment for those involved in the dispute, a payment of $30,000, and an exchange ofsalutes for the German and Nicaraguan flags. The government agreed to the demands, and by 31 March, the dispute was settled with the exchange of salutes.[19][20]
On 7 April, the squadron was disbanded;Elisabeth andLeipzig cruised together briefly, beforeElisabeth departed southward to return home. She visited numerous ports along the Pacific coast of South America, passed through theStrait of Magellan in mid-July, and stopped again inMontevideo, Uruguay on the way to Germany. The ship eventually reached Kiel on 6 October, after which she moved back to Danzig, where she was decommissioned on 2 November. She underwent an extensive overhaul there the following year.[21]
Elisabeth remained out of service until late 1881, when she was recommissioned on 1 October, under the command of KzSFriedrich von Hollmann. She returned to her role as a training ship, and was to make another overseas cruise over the next two years. She departed Kiel on 18 October and sailed south through the Atlantic, around South America, and across the Pacific to Japan. There, she replacedHertha in theEast Asia Squadron, which at that time was led by KzSLouis von Blanc aboard his flagshipStosch.Elisabeth thereafter cruised in Japanese and Chinese waters, and in late 1882, she and the rest of the squadron intervened in a commercial conflict inXiamen, China.[22] A German manufacturing company located in the city produced pans for refining tea and sugar, but the local customs authority confiscated several of the pans to force the company to pay import duties.Elisabeth andStosch sent landing parties ashore to seize the pans and return them to the manufacturer.[23]Elisabeth was ordered to return home in February 1883, though she remained in Hong Kong until 19 April, when she was released from the squadron. She sailed around Africa, making a number of stops in the southern coast ofWest Africa (along the so-calledSlave Coast andGold Coast) to survey German economic interests in the region. The ship eventually arrived in Kiel on 27 September, and she was decommissioned there on 13 October.[21]
After an overhaul at Kiel,Elisabeth was recommissioned on 16 April 1884 for what would be her final overseas training cruise. At that time, she came under the command of KzSRudolf Schering. After embarking the cadet class of 1883, he ship sailed from Kiel on 3 May and stopped first inNieuwediep, the Netherlands, to respond to the numerous courtesy visits of Dutch warships in German ports in recent years. From there,Elisabeth sailed to Portsmouth, where she embarked an expedition organized byAdolf Lüderitz to survey the coast ofNamibia. The ship got underway again on 22 May. OffCape St. Vincent, she met the gunboatMöwe, which was carrying the German colonialistGustav Nachtigal on a mission to establish the German colony ofKamerun. The two ships cruised together toDubréka and sent a landing party ashore to escort Nachtigal so he could attempt to negotiate German colonial claims in the area.Elisabeth thereafter continued south, stopping inFreetown on 23–24 June, before arriving offAngra Pequena, where Lüderitz had already purchased land. There, she metLeipzig on 6 August, which had sailed independently from Asia. Lüderitz quickly pronounced the colony ofGerman South West Africa, and the two ships participated in the raising of the German flag at Angra Pequena—now renamed Lüderitz Bay—on 7 August.Elisabeth then sailed toCape Town, South Africa, where she received orders to sail to the south Pacific to further Germany's colonial interests in the region.[24][25]
Elisabeth crossed the Indian Ocean toSydney, Australia, before turning north towardMatupi, which she reached on 1 November. She met the gunboatHyäne there, and the ships proclaimed the colony ofNeupommern (New Pommerania) that day. The ships then sailed toMioko Islands, where they established German colonial rule on 4 November. Schering then transferred toHyäne to tour several of the smaller islands in the region to conduct further flag-raising ceremonies, returning to the frigate on 14 November.Elisabeth then sailed to several locations along the newly created colony ofKaiser-Wilhelmsland, raising the German flag atAstrolabe Bay,Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen,Prinz Heinrichhafen, andFinschhafen. The ship then returned to Matupi on 20 November, where she met her replacement, the corvetteMarie.Elisabeth departed for Yokohama, Japan, arriving on 2 January 1885. From there, she sailed to Hong Kong, where on 24 February she metStosch, still serving as the flagship of the East Asia Squadron.Elisabeth thereafter cruised through the region, and while inBatavia in theDutch East Indies, she received orders to join a new cruiser squadron formed off the coast ofEast Africa.[26][27]
In early July, the squadron assembled inPort Louis inMauritius; the squadron consisted ofStosch, the corvettesGneisenau andPrinz Adalbert, and the charteredsteamshipSS Ehrenfels. The first operation the new squadron embarked upon was a search for the corvetteAugusta, which had disappeared in theGulf of Aden. The search began around theMaldives and theChagos Archipelago, but the ships were unable to locate the missing vessel. On 7 July, the squadron left Port Louis, bound forZanzibar. The squadron anchored off Zanzibar on 7 August, surprising thesultan of ZanzibarBarghash bin Said, who disputed Germany's most recent colonial acquisition, the protectorate ofWituland, which formed the nucleus of what was to becomeGerman East Africa. The Germans negotiated on the basis of three demands: that bin Said recognize the German protectorate in Wituland, conclude a separate trade and friendship treaty, and name his nephew, the son of his sisterEmily Ruete, as his successor. The German squadron was soon reinforced by the corvetteBismarck and the gunboatsMöwe andHyäne; the assemblage of ships was the largest force Germany had deployed abroad to that point. Bin Said agreed to the first two terms, but the third was deferred for the time being.[28][29]
In late October,Elisabeth was detached to return home. She passed through Cape Town on 28 November, where she received orders to sail to Uruguay in response to an expected revolution. During shooting practice on 12 December, an accidental explosion killed one man and wounded another fourteen. The ship arrived in Montevideo on 16 January 1886, but she remained there for just five days before departing for home. Stopping in Freetown and then St. Vincent along the way, she arrived in Plymouth on 19 March. Here, she joined the newly created Training Squadron, led by the flagshipStein. The ships arrived in Kiel on 2 April, andElisabeth was decommissioned there eleven days later.[26][30]
Elisabeth was recommissioned for the last time on 1 October 1886, under the command ofKapitänleutnant (Captain Lieutenant)Hunold von Ahlefeld, to temporarily replace the corvetteBlücher as the training ship for thetorpedo school. By that time, the ship's sailing rig had been removed, and she was fitted with a single pole mast for signalling purposes.Deck houses were also built on the vessel. During this period, she suffered another accident that resulted in the death of two naval cadets; another eight were wounded in the incident, one of whom later died. The ship was decommissioned on 29 April 1887, and on 20 September, she was struck from thenaval register. The ship was initially used as abarracks ship in Kiel for the 1st Torpedo-Detachment, and then from 1888 to 1903 as a machinery traininghulk for boiler and engine room crews. In 1904, she was sold toship breakers inStettin, Germany, where she was dismantled. Herfigurehead was preserved, and was displayed at theMürwik Naval School for many years; as of 1993, it was on loan to theGerman Maritime Museum inBremerhaven.[31][32]
