SMS Kaiserin Augusta
 SMS Kaiserin Augusta in 1893
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg){kind=small} German Empire | |
| Name | Kaiserin Augusta |
| Builder | Germania, Kiel |
| Laid down | 1890 |
| Launched | January 1892 |
| Commissioned | 1893 |
| Fate | scrapped 1920 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | unique |
| Displacement | 6050t |
| Length | 404 ft (123 m) |
| Beam | 51 ft (16 m) |
| Draught | 24 ft (7.3 m) |
| Propulsion | 12,000 ihp,triple expansion engine, three shafts |
| Speed | 21.5 knots (40 km/h) |
| Complement | 436 |
| Armor | 2.75 in (7.0 cm) on deck |
SMS Kaiserin Augusta was a unique design of protected cruiser, built for the German Kaiserliche Marine before the turn of the 20th century.
The ship was launched in January 1892 by the Germania yard at Kiel. She was the first ship of the German navy to have three propellers.[1] Originally armed with four 4.9-inch (120 mm) and eight 4.1 inch guns, this was revised four years after launching. Armamant altered again before World War One.
In 1893 Kaiserin Augusta and Seeadler visited New York City. During that cruise Kaiserin Augusta had to tow the Seeadler into New York Harbor, as the latter ran out of coal. In 1895 the ship was part of a squadron consisting of SMS Hagen, SMS Kaiserin Augusta, SMS Stosch and SMS Marie dispatched to Morocco after the murder of a German citizen.[2] The imperial admiralty dispatched the ship in January 1898 from the Mediterranean to Tsingtao to strengthen the East Asia Squadron after Kiautschou Bay had been occupied by an amphibious force launched from two cruisers of the squadron in November 1897. The arrival of Kaiserin Augusta (and the marines of the III. Seebatallion) solidified the position of the German forces and allowed the construction of the East Asian Station of the imperial navy at Tsingtao and the colonization of the region.[3] During World War I Kaiserin Augusta was only used as a training ship. She was finally scrapped in 1920.
References
- Gottschall, Terrell D. (2003). By Order of the Kaiser, Otto von Diedrichs and the Rise of the Imperial German Navy 1865-1902. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1557503095.
- Herwig, Holger H. (1980). 'Luxury Fleet', The Imperial German Navy 1888-1918. London: The Ashfield Press. ISBN 0948660031.
- worldwar1.co.uk information about Kaiserin Augusta
- ^ Herwig, p. 27
- ^ http://www.deutsche-schutzgebiete.de/sms_kaiserin_augusta.htm
- ^ Gottschall, By Order of the Kaiser, p. 176
External links
