S.M.S. Hansa (1872)

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S.M.S. Hansa (1872)
Builder: Kaiserliche Werft Danzig‎
Laid down: 1868[1]
Launched: 26 October, 1872[2]
Commissioned: 19 May, 1875[3]
Stricken: 6 August, 1888[4]
Sold: March 1906[5]
Fate: Broken up
S.M.S. Hansa was an armoured corvette completed for the Imperial German Navy in 1875.

Construction

Hansa was the first armoured ship to be designed and built by the Imperial German Navy. She was composite-hulled and copper sheathed using transverse frame construction and with six watertight compartments. She had three fully-rigged masts and a machinery plant consisting of one three-cylinder horizontal single-expansion engine turning one three-bladed propeller and driven by four trunk boilers.[6]

Hansa was laid down at Danzig Dockyard in 1868 and launched four years later on 26 October, 1872. Completion took almost another three years, and she was transferred to AG Vulcan's yard at Stettin for fitting out.[7][8]

Service

Hansa commissioned for service aboard on 19 May, 1875. Unfortunately she not very successful, mostly owing to her hull, which had begun corroding even during construction. She was reasonably manoeuverable under both steam and sail, but was hard to control when not under sail.[9][10]

Hansa was reduced to a guard ship at Kiel in 1884, also serving as an engineer and stoker training ship until being stricken on 6 August, 1888. She was then used as a barracks ship until 1905 when she was transferred to Mönkeberg as a hulk for stoker training. This was her final duty, for she was sold in March 1906 for 96,000M and broken up Swinemünde.[11][12]

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

Armament

[15][16]

  • Eight 210mm/19 caliber guns

See Also

Footnotes

  1. German Warships 1815-1945 I. p. 4.
  2. German Warships 1815-1945 I. p. 5.
  3. German Warships 1815-1945 I. p. 5.
  4. German Warships 1815-1945 I. p. 5.
  5. German Warships 1815-1945 I. p. 5.
  6. German Warships 1815-1945 I. p. 5.
  7. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 244.
  8. German Warships 1815-1945 I. pp. 4-5.
  9. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 244.
  10. German Warships 1815-1945 I. p. 5.
  11. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 244.
  12. German Warships 1815-1945 I. p. 5.
  13. Rangliste der Kaiserlichen Marine, 1880. p. 103.
  14. Rangliste der Kaiserlichen Marine, 1888. p. 126.
  15. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. p. 244.
  16. German Warships 1815-1945 I. p. 5.

Bibliography

  • Chesneau, Robert; Kolesnik, Eugene (editors) (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
  • Gröner, Erich (revised and expanded by Dieter Jung and Martin Maass) (1990). German Warships 1815-1945. Volume One: Major Surface Vessels. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.


Armoured Corvette S.M.S. Hansa
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