SMS Albatross (1871)

For other ships with the same name, see SMS Albatross.

Etching of SMS Albatross by H.Penner
History
German Empire
Name	SMS Albatross
Namesake	Albatross
Builder	Kaiserliche Werft Danzig
Laid down	1869
Launched	11 March 1871
Commissioned	23 December 1871
Stricken	9 January 1899
Fate	Foundered, March 1906
General characteristics
Displacement	Design: 713 t (702 long tons; 786 short tons) Full load: 786 t (774 long tons; 866 short tons)
Length	56.95 m (186 ft 10 in) o/a
Beam	8.32 m (27 ft 4 in)
Draft	3.75 m (12 ft 4 in)
Installed power	2 × fire-tube boilers 491 indicated horsepower (366 kW)
Propulsion	2 × marine steam engines 1 × screw propeller
Speed	10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph)
Range	1,270 nautical miles (2,350 km; 1,460 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	5 officers 98 enlisted men
Armament	2 × 15 cm (5.9 in) K L/22 built-up guns 2 × 12 cm (4.7 in) K L/23 built-up guns

SMS Albatross was a gunboat of the Imperial German Navy launched and commissioned in 1871. SMS Nautilus soon followed as her sister ship. She served as a gunboat overseas until she became a survey vessel in 1888. Struck from the list on 9 January 1899, she was sold and used as a collier until she foundered in a storm in March 1906.

Design

Main article: Albatross-class gunboat

In the late 1850s and early 1860s, the Prussian Navy had embarked on a construction program that included the fifteen Jäger-class gunboats and eight Camäleon-class gunboats. By 1869, the navy realized that the earliest vessels, starting with the badly rotted Crocodill, would need to be replaced. Design work started for the new class, which were intended for overseas cruising, instead of coastal defense as the earlier vessels had been.

Albatross was 56.95 meters (186 ft 10 in) long overall, with a beam of 8.32 m (27 ft 4 in) and a draft of 3.75 m (12.3 ft). She displaced 713 metric tons (702 long tons) normally and 786 t (774 long tons) at full load. The ship's crew consisted of 5 officers and 98 enlisted men. She was powered by a pair of marine steam engines that drove one 2-bladed screw propeller, with steam provided by two coal-fired fire-tube boilers, which gave her a top speed of 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) at 491 metric horsepower (484 ihp). As built, she was equipped with a three-masted barque rig. The ship was armed with a battery of two 15 cm (5.9 in) K L/22 built-up guns and two 12 cm (4.7 in) K L/23 built-up guns.

Service history

File:SMS Albatross 1871.jpg

Albatross sometime in the 1880s

Albatross was laid down at the Königlich Werft in Danzig in 1869. She was launched on 11 March 1871, and was commissioned later that year on 23 December.

Albatross was struck from the naval register on 9 January 1899 and was soon sold into civil use as a lighter. She later was converted into a coal barge. She was grounded and destroyed by a storm in March 1906.

References

• Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships: 1815–1945. Vol. I: Major Surface Vessels. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6.
• Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart [The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in Deutsch). Vol. 1. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0237-4.
• Lyon, David (1979). "Germany". In Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 240–265. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
• Nottelmann, Dirk (2022). "The Development of the Small Cruiser in the Imperial German Navy Part III: The Gunboats". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2022. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp. 63–79. ISBN 978-1-4728-4781-2.