SMS Arminius (1864)
Encyclopedia
SMS Arminius was an ironclad warship
of the Prussian Navy
, later the Imperial German Navy. The ship was designed by the British Royal Navy
Captain Cowper Coles and built by the Samuda Brothers
shipyard in Cubitt Town
, London as a speculative effort; Prussia purchased the ship during the Second Schleswig War against Denmark, though the vessel was not delivered until after the war. The ship was armed with four 21 cm (8.3 in) guns in a pair of revolving gun turret
s amidships. She was named for Arminius
, the victor of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
.
Arminius served as a coastal defense ship for the first six years of her service with the Prussian Navy. She saw extensive service in the Austro-Prussian
and Franco-Prussian
wars during the process of German unification
. The vessel was the primary challenge to the French blockade of German ports during the latter conflict. After the wars, Arminius was withdrawn from front-line service and used in a variety of secondary roles, including as a training ship for engine-room crews and as a tender for the school ship . The ship was eventually sold in 1901 and broken up for scrap the following year.
officer and advocate of turret-armed ironclad warships. Arminius was nearly identical to the Danish ironclad Rolf Krake, also designed by Captain Coles. The vessel was constructed with transverse frames and constructed with an iron hull, which contained eight watertight compartments. The ship was 61.6 metres (202.1 ft) long at the waterline and 63.21 m (207.4 ft) long overall. The ship had a beam
of 10.9 m (35.8 ft) and a draft
of 4.32 m (14.2 ft) forward and 4.55 m (14.9 ft) aft. She was designed to displace 1653 metric tons (1,626.9 LT) but at combat load, Arminius displaced up to 1829 MT (1,800.1 LT).
The ship's crew consisted of ten officers and 122 enlisted men. She carried a number of smaller boats, including two pinnace
s, two cutters, and one dinghy
. Arminius was not a particularly successful design; she suffered from severe, fast rolling, especially in heavier seas. She also shipped a great deal of water over the bow and was unbalanced in steering. The ship turned rapidly to starboard but was sluggish in turning to port. Indeed, the ship was required to have the rudder at 15 degrees to port in order to remain on a straight course. It was also impossible to control the ship with only sail power.
The ship was powered by a single two-cylinder single expansion engine built by J. Penn & Sons, Greenwich. The engine drove a single two-bladed screw that was 3.96 m (13 ft) in diameter. Four transverse trunk boilers, each of which had four fireboxes apiece, supplied steam to the engine. The boilers were also built by J Penn & Sons, Greenwhich, and were arranged in a single boiler room. Limited electrical power was provided by a single generator, which supplied 1.9 kilowatts at 55 volt
s. The ship was equipped with a schooner
rig with a surface area of 540 square meters. The propulsion system was rated at 1200 ihp and a top speed of 10 knots (5.4 m/s), though on trials, Arminius reached 1440 ihp and 11.2 kn (6.1 m/s). The ship carried 171 MT (168.3 LT) of coal, which enabled a range of 2000 nautical miles (3,704 km) at a cruising speed of 8 kn (4.4 m/s).
Arminiuss armor consisted of wrought iron
backed with teak
plating. The conning tower
was protected by 114 mm (4.5 in) of wrought iron on 229 mm (9 in) of teak. The armored belt ranged in thickness from 76 mm (3 in) of iron on the bow and stern to 114 mm amidships, the entire length of which was backed by 229 m of teak. The two turrets were armored with 114 mm of iron on 406 mm (16 in) of timber.
shipyard in London
as a speculative project, possibly to sell to the Confederate Navy
. The ship was laid down in 1863 and launched on 20 August 1864. Prussia
instead purchased the ship on 20 August 1864, and commissioned her on 22 April 1865 as SMS Arminius. Delivery was delayed by the British government; the British were sympathetic to Denmark, which was then engaged in a war with Prussia and Austria. The British therefore prevented the ship from being delivered until after the war was concluded. The cost of the ship, which amounted to some 1,887,000 gold marks
, was paid in part by public donations. Arminius served as a harbor defense ship for six years, through 1871. Along with the ironclad ram , Arminius was the first armored warship acquired by the Prussian Navy.
At the outbreak of the Austro-Prussian War
in mid-1866, Arminius was mobilized along with Prinz Adalbert, the only other Prussian ironclad. The ships were initially based in Kiel
, but in the opening days of the war, Arminius raced to Hamburg
via the Skagerrak
and the Kattegat
, a distance of some 940 nautical miles (1,740.9 km), in 100 hours, an impressive feat for an early ironclad warship. Without a naval threat from Austria, the Prussian navy therefore concentrated its effort against the Kingdom of Hanover
For the remainder of the conflict, Arminius operated out of Geestemünde, under the command of Reinhold Werner, and the mere appearance of Arminius caused several Hanoverian coastal batteries to surrender. On 15 June, Arminius and a pair of gunboats, and , covered the crossing of the Elbe river by General Edwin von Manteuffel
and some 13,500 soldiers to attack the city of Hanover
. By the end of the month, the Prussian army had decisively defeated the Austrians at Königgrätz
and ended the war. On 3 October 1866, the ship raced the US Navy's monitor in Kiel; Arminius was two knots faster than the American vessel. In 1870, the ship had her sailing rig removed.
At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War
of 1870–1871, the Prussian Navy concentrated Arminius and the armored frigates , , and in the North Sea
naval base Wilhelmshaven
. Arminius was stationed in Kiel at the outbreak of war, but managed to break through the French blockade by hugging the Swedish coast, which her shallow draft permitted. Her passage through Swedish territorial waters also protected the ship from French attack. Despite the great French naval superiority, the French had conducted insufficient pre-war planning for an assault on the Prussian naval installations, and concluded that it would only be possible with Danish assistance, which was not forthcoming. The four ships, under the command of Vice Admiral Jachmann, made an offensive sortie in early August 1870 out to the Dogger Bank
, though they encountered no French warships. The three armored frigates thereafter suffered from chronic engine trouble, which left Arminius alone to conduct operations.
Captain Otto Livonius commanded the ship during the war. In the course of the war, she sortied from the port over forty times; these also failed to result in major combat, though she occasionally traded shots with the blockading French warships. For the majority of the war, Arminius was stationed in the mouth of the Elbe along with the ironclad ram and three small gunboats. The three armored frigates remained off the island of Wangerooge
. On 11 September, the three frigates were again ready for action; they joined Arminius for another major operation, though it too did not encounter French opposition. The French Navy had by this time returned to France.
After being removed from front-line service in 1872, she was used as a training vessel for naval engineers. The ship was decommissioned in 1875 and placed in reserve. Her ram bow allowed her to be used as an ice-breaker in Kiel in the 1880s. In 1882, she was used as a tender for the cadet training vessel . The ship was rebuilt in 1888; during the refit the propulsion system was overhauled and replaced with German-built equipment and two searchlights were installed. The ship was ultimately stricken from the naval register on 2 March 1901 and sold to shipbreakers for 72,000 gold marks. Arminius was broken up for scrap the following year.
Ironclad warship
An ironclad was a steam-propelled warship in the early part of the second half of the 19th century, protected by iron or steel armor plates. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, La Gloire,...
of the Prussian Navy
Prussian Navy
Throughout the centuries, Prussia’s military consistently concentrated on its land power, and never sought a similar power at sea. Yet historically there were always Prussian naval forces , beginning in the days when "Prussia" meant only the Margraviate of Brandenburg.- The Navy of Electoral...
, later the Imperial German Navy. The ship was designed by the British Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
Captain Cowper Coles and built by the Samuda Brothers
Samuda Brothers
Samuda Brothers was an engineering and ship building firm at Cubitt Town on the Isle of Dogs in London, founded by Jacob and Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda. The site is now occupied by Samuda Estate....
shipyard in Cubitt Town
Cubitt Town
Cubitt Town is an area on the Isle of Dogs in Tower Hamlets in London, England. It is on the east of the Isle, facing Greenwich across the River Thames. To the west is Millwall, to the northwest Canary Wharf and to the north, across the Blue Bridge, Blackwall...
, London as a speculative effort; Prussia purchased the ship during the Second Schleswig War against Denmark, though the vessel was not delivered until after the war. The ship was armed with four 21 cm (8.3 in) guns in a pair of revolving gun turret
Gun turret
A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
s amidships. She was named for Arminius
Arminius
Arminius , also known as Armin or Hermann was a chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci who defeated a Roman army in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest...
, the victor of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest took place in 9 CE, when an alliance of Germanic tribes led by Arminius of the Cherusci ambushed and decisively destroyed three Roman legions, along with their auxiliaries, led by Publius Quinctilius Varus.Despite numerous successful campaigns and raids by the...
.
Arminius served as a coastal defense ship for the first six years of her service with the Prussian Navy. She saw extensive service in the Austro-Prussian
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...
and Franco-Prussian
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
wars during the process of German unification
Unification of Germany
The formal unification of Germany into a politically and administratively integrated nation state officially occurred on 18 January 1871 at the Versailles Palace's Hall of Mirrors in France. Princes of the German states gathered there to proclaim Wilhelm of Prussia as Emperor Wilhelm of the German...
. The vessel was the primary challenge to the French blockade of German ports during the latter conflict. After the wars, Arminius was withdrawn from front-line service and used in a variety of secondary roles, including as a training ship for engine-room crews and as a tender for the school ship . The ship was eventually sold in 1901 and broken up for scrap the following year.
General characteristics and machinery
The warship that came to be SMS Arminius was designed by Captain Cowper Coles, a British Royal NavyRoyal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
officer and advocate of turret-armed ironclad warships. Arminius was nearly identical to the Danish ironclad Rolf Krake, also designed by Captain Coles. The vessel was constructed with transverse frames and constructed with an iron hull, which contained eight watertight compartments. The ship was 61.6 metres (202.1 ft) long at the waterline and 63.21 m (207.4 ft) long overall. The ship had a beam
Beam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
of 10.9 m (35.8 ft) and a draft
Draft (hull)
The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...
of 4.32 m (14.2 ft) forward and 4.55 m (14.9 ft) aft. She was designed to displace 1653 metric tons (1,626.9 LT) but at combat load, Arminius displaced up to 1829 MT (1,800.1 LT).
The ship's crew consisted of ten officers and 122 enlisted men. She carried a number of smaller boats, including two pinnace
Pinnace (ship's boat)
As a ship's boat the pinnace is a light boat, propelled by sails or oars, formerly used as a "tender" for guiding merchant and war vessels. In modern parlance, pinnace has come to mean a boat associated with some kind of larger vessel, that doesn't fit under the launch or lifeboat definitions...
s, two cutters, and one dinghy
Dinghy
A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed for use as a ship's boat by a larger vessel. It is a loanword from either Bengali or Urdu. The term can also refer to small racing yachts or recreational open sailing boats. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor,...
. Arminius was not a particularly successful design; she suffered from severe, fast rolling, especially in heavier seas. She also shipped a great deal of water over the bow and was unbalanced in steering. The ship turned rapidly to starboard but was sluggish in turning to port. Indeed, the ship was required to have the rudder at 15 degrees to port in order to remain on a straight course. It was also impossible to control the ship with only sail power.
The ship was powered by a single two-cylinder single expansion engine built by J. Penn & Sons, Greenwich. The engine drove a single two-bladed screw that was 3.96 m (13 ft) in diameter. Four transverse trunk boilers, each of which had four fireboxes apiece, supplied steam to the engine. The boilers were also built by J Penn & Sons, Greenwhich, and were arranged in a single boiler room. Limited electrical power was provided by a single generator, which supplied 1.9 kilowatts at 55 volt
Volt
The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
s. The ship was equipped with a schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
rig with a surface area of 540 square meters. The propulsion system was rated at 1200 ihp and a top speed of 10 knots (5.4 m/s), though on trials, Arminius reached 1440 ihp and 11.2 kn (6.1 m/s). The ship carried 171 MT (168.3 LT) of coal, which enabled a range of 2000 nautical miles (3,704 km) at a cruising speed of 8 kn (4.4 m/s).
Armament and armor
As built, Arminius was equipped with a main battery of four rifled, bronze 72-pounder cannon, but after delivery to the Prussian Navy, they were replaced with four 21 cm (8.3 in) L/19 guns. These guns were supplied with a total of 332 rounds, and could elevate to 12 degrees. At maximum elevation, the guns could engage targets out to 2800 m (9,186.4 ft). After 1881, four machine guns were installed, along with a single 35 cm (13.8 in) torpedo tube mounted in the bow above the waterline.Arminiuss armor consisted of wrought iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
backed with teak
Teak
Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...
plating. The conning tower
Conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer can con the vessel; i.e., give directions to the helmsman. It is usually located as high on the ship as practical, to give the conning team good visibility....
was protected by 114 mm (4.5 in) of wrought iron on 229 mm (9 in) of teak. The armored belt ranged in thickness from 76 mm (3 in) of iron on the bow and stern to 114 mm amidships, the entire length of which was backed by 229 m of teak. The two turrets were armored with 114 mm of iron on 406 mm (16 in) of timber.
Service history
She was built by the Samuda BrothersSamuda Brothers
Samuda Brothers was an engineering and ship building firm at Cubitt Town on the Isle of Dogs in London, founded by Jacob and Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda. The site is now occupied by Samuda Estate....
shipyard in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
as a speculative project, possibly to sell to the Confederate Navy
Confederate States Navy
The Confederate States Navy was the naval branch of the Confederate States armed forces established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War...
. The ship was laid down in 1863 and launched on 20 August 1864. Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
instead purchased the ship on 20 August 1864, and commissioned her on 22 April 1865 as SMS Arminius. Delivery was delayed by the British government; the British were sympathetic to Denmark, which was then engaged in a war with Prussia and Austria. The British therefore prevented the ship from being delivered until after the war was concluded. The cost of the ship, which amounted to some 1,887,000 gold marks
German gold mark
The Goldmark was the currency used in the German Empire from 1873 to 1914.-History:Before unification, the different German states issued a variety of different currencies, though most were linked to the Vereinsthaler, a silver coin containing 16⅔ grams of pure silver...
, was paid in part by public donations. Arminius served as a harbor defense ship for six years, through 1871. Along with the ironclad ram , Arminius was the first armored warship acquired by the Prussian Navy.
At the outbreak of the Austro-Prussian War
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...
in mid-1866, Arminius was mobilized along with Prinz Adalbert, the only other Prussian ironclad. The ships were initially based in Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
, but in the opening days of the war, Arminius raced to Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
via the Skagerrak
Skagerrak
The Skagerrak is a strait running between Norway and the southwest coast of Sweden and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area, which leads to the Baltic Sea.-Name:...
and the Kattegat
Kattegat
The Kattegat , or Kattegatt is a sea area bounded by the Jutland peninsula and the Straits islands of Denmark on the west and south, and the provinces of Västergötland, Scania, Halland and Bohuslän in Sweden on the east. The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Øresund and the Danish...
, a distance of some 940 nautical miles (1,740.9 km), in 100 hours, an impressive feat for an early ironclad warship. Without a naval threat from Austria, the Prussian navy therefore concentrated its effort against the Kingdom of Hanover
Kingdom of Hanover
The Kingdom of Hanover was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg , and joined with 38 other sovereign states in the German...
For the remainder of the conflict, Arminius operated out of Geestemünde, under the command of Reinhold Werner, and the mere appearance of Arminius caused several Hanoverian coastal batteries to surrender. On 15 June, Arminius and a pair of gunboats, and , covered the crossing of the Elbe river by General Edwin von Manteuffel
Edwin Freiherr von Manteuffel
Edwin Freiherr von Manteuffel was a German Generalfeldmarschall noted for his victories in the Franco-Prussian War....
and some 13,500 soldiers to attack the city of Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
. By the end of the month, the Prussian army had decisively defeated the Austrians at Königgrätz
Battle of Königgrätz
The Battle of Königgrätz , also known as the Battle of Sadowa, Sadová, or Hradec Králové, was the decisive battle of the Austro-Prussian War, in which the Kingdom of Prussia defeated the Austrian Empire...
and ended the war. On 3 October 1866, the ship raced the US Navy's monitor in Kiel; Arminius was two knots faster than the American vessel. In 1870, the ship had her sailing rig removed.
At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
of 1870–1871, the Prussian Navy concentrated Arminius and the armored frigates , , and in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
naval base Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea.-History:...
. Arminius was stationed in Kiel at the outbreak of war, but managed to break through the French blockade by hugging the Swedish coast, which her shallow draft permitted. Her passage through Swedish territorial waters also protected the ship from French attack. Despite the great French naval superiority, the French had conducted insufficient pre-war planning for an assault on the Prussian naval installations, and concluded that it would only be possible with Danish assistance, which was not forthcoming. The four ships, under the command of Vice Admiral Jachmann, made an offensive sortie in early August 1870 out to the Dogger Bank
Dogger Bank
Dogger Bank is a large sandbank in a shallow area of the North Sea about off the east coast of England. It extends over approximately , with its dimensions being about long and up to broad. The water depth ranges from 15 to 36 metres , about shallower than the surrounding sea. It is a...
, though they encountered no French warships. The three armored frigates thereafter suffered from chronic engine trouble, which left Arminius alone to conduct operations.
Captain Otto Livonius commanded the ship during the war. In the course of the war, she sortied from the port over forty times; these also failed to result in major combat, though she occasionally traded shots with the blockading French warships. For the majority of the war, Arminius was stationed in the mouth of the Elbe along with the ironclad ram and three small gunboats. The three armored frigates remained off the island of Wangerooge
Wangerooge
Wangerooge is one of the 32 Frisian Islands in the North Sea located close to the coasts of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. It is also a municipality in the district of Friesland in Lower Saxony in Germany.Wangerooge is one of the East Frisian Islands...
. On 11 September, the three frigates were again ready for action; they joined Arminius for another major operation, though it too did not encounter French opposition. The French Navy had by this time returned to France.
After being removed from front-line service in 1872, she was used as a training vessel for naval engineers. The ship was decommissioned in 1875 and placed in reserve. Her ram bow allowed her to be used as an ice-breaker in Kiel in the 1880s. In 1882, she was used as a tender for the cadet training vessel . The ship was rebuilt in 1888; during the refit the propulsion system was overhauled and replaced with German-built equipment and two searchlights were installed. The ship was ultimately stricken from the naval register on 2 March 1901 and sold to shipbreakers for 72,000 gold marks. Arminius was broken up for scrap the following year.