The class was a group of three screw corvettes of the North German Federal Navy and Imperial Navy, built in the 1860s and 1870s. The class comprised three ships: , , and . The first two vessels were identical, but was built to a modified design with a longer hull, which allowed her to carry more powerful engines and additional coal for the boilers. The ships were ordered as part of a naval construction program directed at strengthening the North German Federal Navy, though by the time they entered service, all of the German states had united into the German Empire. They were intended to serve on extended cruises abroad, protecting German interests overseas. Their primary armament consisted of six or eight guns, and they were fitted with full ship rigs to supplement their steam engines on long voyages abroad.
All three of the ships served extensively on overseas deployments throughout the 1870s and early 1880s, primarily in South America, the Mediterranean Sea, and East Asia. On these voyages, the ships and their captains performed a number of duties, including protecting German nationals during periods of unrest or open warfare in various countries, negotiating trade agreements with numerous governments, and combating piracy. They were also tasked with conducting surveys to improve navigational charts and scientific experiments.
In the early to mid-1880s, all three of the ships were converted into training ships for apprentice seamen, and they went on training cruises over the course of the rest of the decade. These frequently went to the West Indies, where they were used to show the flag. While on one such training cruise in 1883, helped to protect civilians in Haiti during a period of unrest on the island. All three ships were decommissioned by 1892, with being immediately scrapped. survived as a hulk and torpedo test ship until 1896 when she too was sold for scrap, and simply saw no further use between her decommissioning in 1884 and her disposal in 1896.
Design
In 1867, the North German Admiralty under the direction of (Rear Admiral) Eduard von Jachmann formulated a new fleet plan, an expansion program aimed at strengthening the North German Federal Navy in the wake of the Austro-Prussian War. The plan called for a total of twenty screw corvettes, which were intended to be used to protect German economic interests abroad. At the time, German commercial interests began to expand to overseas markets in Asia and the Pacific, which required long-range cruising warships, particularly as other European powers started to exclude German businesses from activity abroad. The Admiralty issued an order on 15 February 1868 to begin construction of a new class of corvettes; at the same time, the contract for the first ship, to be named , was awarded to the (Royal Shipyard) in Danzig. Design work on the class was completed in 1869, the same year construction began on the first vessel. was the last wooden-hulled vessel of the German fleet. She was built to a slightly different design, essentially having a lengthened hull, with the increased space being used to house more powerful machinery and additional coal storage for an extended cruising radius. The three vessels were the first cruising ships of the German fleet to carry breech-loading guns.
General characteristics
The -class ships were long at the waterline and long overall. They had a beam of and a draft of forward and aft. They displaced as designed and up to at full load. The ships' hulls were constructed with transverse timber frames, with the outer hull being carvel built. They were sheathed with copper to protect the wood from biofouling on long-distance cruises, where regular maintenance could not be performed. had four watertight compartments, while the earlier two ships had none.
Over the course of their careers, the ships' crews varied between 13 and 14 officers and 220 to 234 enlisted men. Each ship carried a number of small boats, including two pinnaces, two yawls, and three dinghies. The ships were excellent sea boats, but they suffered from severe weather helm, they sailed badly, and they were not maneuverable vessels under sail. was particularly difficult to steer. The ships' propeller did not rotate freely from the shaft at low speed, and so it had a significant braking effect under sail. Despite their characteristics under sail, they maneuvered quite well under steam.