SMS Viper was an ironclad gunboat of the Wespe class built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the 1870s. The ships, which were armed with a single 30.5 cm (12 in) MRK L/22 gun, were intended to serve as part of a coastal defense fleet.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 German Empire | |
| Name | Viper |
| Namesake | Viper |
| Builder | AG Weser, Bremen |
| Laid down | May 1875 |
| Launched | 29 September 1876 |
| Commissioned | 27 March 1877 |
| Decommissioned | 22 September 1891 |
| Stricken | 28 June 1909 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Gunboat |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 46.4 m (152 ft 3 in) |
| Beam | 10.6 m (34 ft 9 in) |
| Draft | 3.2 to 3.4 m (10 ft 6 in to 11 ft 2 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 10.4 knots (19.3 km/h; 12.0 mph) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament | 1 × 30.5 cm (12 in) MRK L/22 gun |
| Armor | |
Design
edit
Development of the Wespe class of ironclad gunboats began in the 1850s, after the first ironclads were introduced during the Crimean War. Through the 1860s, the Federal Convention examined various proposals, with numbers of vessels ranging from eight to eighteen. The decision was finalized based on the fleet plan conceived by General Albrecht von Stosch, the new Chief of the Kaiserliche Admiralität (Imperial Admiralty), in the early 1870s. He envisioned a fleet oriented on defense of Germany's Baltic and North Sea coasts, which would be led by the ironclad corvettes of the Sachsen class. These were to be supported by larger numbers of small, armored gunboats.[1][2]
Viper was 46.4 meters (152 ft 3 in) long overall, with a beam of 10.6 m (34 ft 9 in) and a draft of 3.2 to 3.4 m (10 to 11 ft). She displaced 1,098 metric tons (1,081 long tons) as designed and 1,163 t (1,145 long tons) at full load. The ship's crew consisted of 3 officers and 73 to 85 enlisted men. She was powered by a pair of double-expansion steam engines that drove a pair of 4-bladed screw propeller, with steam provided by four coal-fired cylindrical fire-tube boilers, which gave her a top speed of 10.4 knots (19.3 km/h; 12.0 mph) at 800 metric horsepower (790 ihp). At a cruising speed of 7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph), she could steam for 700 nautical miles (1,300 km; 810 mi).[3]
The ship was armed with one 30.5 cm (12 in) MRK L/22 gun in a barbette mount that had a limited arc of traverse. The armored barbette was protected by 203 mm (8 in) of wrought iron, backed with 210 mm (8.3 in) of teak. The ship was fitted with a waterline armor belt that was 102 to 203 mm (4 to 8 in) thick, with the thickest section protecting the propulsion machinery spaces and ammunition magazine. The belt was backed with 210 mm of teak. An armor deck that consisted of two layers of 22 mm (0.87 in) of iron on 28 mm (1.1 in) of teak provided additional protection against enemy fire.[3][4]
Service history
edit_line_color.png)
Viper was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen in May 1875, and she was launched on 21 September 1876. The second member of her class to be built, she was named after the family of venomous snakes. Work on the ship was completed early the following year, and she was commissioned into active service on 27 March 1877 to carry out her initial sea trials, after which she was placed in reserve for the next eight years.[3][5] During this period, by 1883, the ship had been refitted with an additional 8.7 cm (3.4 in) L/24 built-up guns, a pair of 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss revolver cannon, and two 35 cm (14 in) torpedo tubes in her bow, both of which were above the waterline.[6]
Viper was recommissioned on 20 August 1885 for training exercises carried out with her sister ships Wespe, Salamander, and Mücke, which were led by the screw corvette Stein. These concluded by 14 September, when Viper was decommissioned for the winter months. While she was out of service, she was allocated to the Reserve Division of the North Sea. She recommissioned on 11 May 1886 for another training period that lasted until 9 June. She exercised with Wespe, Salamander, and their sister Camaeleon at that time. Viper next returned to service on 16 August 1887, and that year, she and the rest of the gunboats in the North Sea joined the main fleet for the annual autumn exercises. These had concluded by 14 September, when the ship was decommissioned again.[5]
On 15 August 1888, Viper was recommissioned, under command of Kapitänleutnant (KL—Captain Lieutenant) Oskar von Truppel, for another brief training period that lasted until 15 September. That year, she was moved to the newly created II Reserve Division of the North Sea. The next two years followed a similar pattern; she participated in training exercises from 13 August to 20 September 1890 and then from 4 August to 22 September 1891, the last time she would be commissioned. The last year, she was captained by KL Karl Dick.[5] The ship was struck from the naval register on 28 June 1909 and then converted into a crane ship between 1909 and 1910. She was initially based at the island of Helgoland. The ship had a lifting capacity of 100 t (98 long tons; 110 short tons). She was later moved to Wilhelmshaven, and then other ports.[6][7]
In May 1918, Viper was sent to the coast of Finland to assist in the salvage of the dreadnought battleship Rheinland that had run aground off the island of Åland during the German occupation of the island during the Finnish Civil War. Viper arrived on 8 May and was used to remove significant sections of armor plate and the battleship's main guns in an attempt to lighten the vessel enough that she could be pulled free. In the course of the effort, Viper removed around 6,400 t (6,300 long tons; 7,100 short tons) of material from Rheinland, and by 9 July, the ship was successfully refloated.[8]
By 1924, Viper had been moved back to Wilhelmshaven. In 1940, during World War II, the ship was allocated to the invasion fleet for the planned invasion of Britain, Operation Sea Lion, though the plan came to nothing. Viper was still in use as of 1970.[9]
Notes
edit- ^ Sondhaus, pp. 113–114.
- ^ Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 69.
- ^ a b c Gröner 1990, pp. 137–138.
- ^ Lyon, p. 261.
- ^ a b c Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz, p. 48.
- ^ a b Gröner 1990, p. 138.
- ^ Gröner 1989, p. 54.
- ^ Dodson, p. 133.
- ^ Gröner 1989, p. 138.
References
edit- Dodson, Aidan (2016). The Kaiser's Battlefleet: German Capital Ships 1871–1918. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-229-5.
- Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships: 1815–1945. Vol. I: Major Surface Vessels. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6.
- Gröner, Erich (1989). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: 1815–1945 [The German Warships: 1815–1945]. Vol. VI: Hafenbetriebsfahrzeuge (II. Bagger, Bergungs- u. Taucherfahrzeuge, Eisbrecher, Schlepper, Verkehrsfahrzeuge), Yachten u. Avisos, Landungsverbände [Harbor Operating Ship (II. Dredgers, Salvage and Diving Ships, Icebreakers, Tugs, Transport Ships), Yachts and Avisos, Landing Groups]. Koblenz: Bernard & Graefe Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7637-4805-1.
- 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 German). Vol. 8. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag.
- 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.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence (1997). Preparing for Weltpolitik: German Sea Power Before the Tirpitz Era. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-745-7.