SMS Tiger (1899)

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

Tiger c. 1901
History
German Empire
Name	SMS Tiger
Builder	Kaiserliche Werft Danzig
Laid down	1898
Launched	15 August 1899
Commissioned	3 April 1900
Fate	Scuttled on 29 October 1914
General characteristics
Class and type	Iltis-class gunboat
Displacement	1,108 t (1,091 long tons)
Length	65.2 meters (214 ft) o/a
Beam	9.1 m (30 ft)
Draft	3.56 m (11.7 ft)
Installed power	4 × Thornycroft boilers 1,372 PS (1,353 ihp)
Propulsion	2 × triple-expansion steam engines 2 × screw propellers
Speed	14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Range	2,580 nautical miles (4,780 km; 2,970 mi) at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph)
Complement	9 officers 121 enlisted men
Armament	2 × 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/40 guns 6 × machine guns

SMS Tiger was the third member of the Iltis class of gunboats built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Other ships of the class were SMS Iltis, SMS Luchs, SMS Eber, SMS Jaguar and SMS Panther.

Design

Tiger was 65.2 meters (214 ft) long overall and had a beam of 9.1 m (30 ft) and a draft of 3.56 m (11.7 ft) forward. She displaced 1,108 metric tons (1,091 long tons; 1,221 short tons) at full load. Her propulsion system consisted of a pair of horizontal triple-expansion steam engines each driving a single screw propeller, with steam supplied by four coal-fired Thornycroft boilers. Tiger could steam at a top speed of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) at 1,372 metric horsepower (1,353 ihp). The ship had a cruising radius of about 2,580 nautical miles (4,780 km; 2,970 mi) at a speed of 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph). She had a crew of 9 officers and 121 enlisted men. Tiger was armed with a main battery of two 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/40 guns, with 482 rounds of ammunition. She also carried six machine guns.

Service history

An Iltis-class ship in the harbor at Qingdao

Tiger was laid down at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Danzig in 1898. She was launched on 15 August 1899 and commissioned into the German fleet on 3 April 1900.

In August 1904, the badly damaged Russian battleship Tsesarevich and three destroyers sought refuge in the German naval base at Qingdao following the Russian defeat in the Battle of the Yellow Sea. As Germany was neutral, the East Asia Squadron interned Tsesarevich and the destroyers. On 13 August, the Russian ships restocked their coal supplies from three British steamers, but the armored cruiser Fürst Bismarck and the protected cruiser Hansa cleared for action to prevent them from leaving the port. The two cruisers were joined by Tiger and her sister Luchs and the cruisers Hertha and Geier.

Tiger was scuttled on 29 October 1914 at the German colony in the Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory during the Siege of Qingdao. Three of her sisters were also scuttled during the siege.

References

• Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships: 1815–1945. Vol. I: Major Surface Vessels. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6.
• Lyon, Hugh (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. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.

Further reading

• Nottlemann, 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.