SMS ''Danzig'' was a

paddle A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened distal end (i.e. the ''blade''), used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered ...

corvette of the Prussian Navy. She was the lead warship during the Battle of Tres Forcas in 1856, one of the first examples of Prussian

gunboat diplomacy In international politics, the term gunboat diplomacy refers to the pursuit of foreign policy objectives with the aid of conspicuous displays of naval power, implying or constituting a direct threat of warfare should terms not be agreeable to t ...

. She was later decommissioned from the Prussian Navy and served in the navy of the Japanese

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in ...

as the from 1864 until 1869, and then briefly with the breakaway Ezo Republic until her destruction later the same year.

Construction

''Danzigs design was conceived by the British engineer John Scott Russell and it was originally planned to build her in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. However,

Prince Adalbert of Prussia (1811–1873) Prince Heinrich Wilhelm Adalbert of Prussia (29 October 1811 – 6 June 1873) was a son of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and Landgravine Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg. He was a naval theorist and admiral. He was instrumental during the Revolutions of ...

decided to build the vessel in Danzig instead to stimulate the local economy. The keel was laid at JW Klawitter's works there on 24 August 1850, with the copper mined near Berlin, the wood for the hull coming from the outskirts of Danzig and the iron imported from England. She entered service in June 1853.

Career

First voyage

''Danzigs first voyage was on 12 July 1853 to pick up her armament of ten 68-pounder guns from

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home ...

.Günter Stavorius, Peter P.E. Günther (Hrsg.). Tagebuch an Bord Sr. Majestät Dampf-Korvette "Danzig" auf der Reise von Danzig nach London, Konstantinopel, Athen, Syra 1853/54. Geführt von Eduard Arendt, Leutnant zur See 2. Klasse, Berlin und Trappenkamp 1998, Selbstverlag, o. ISBN The guns had to be picked up directly, since they could not be exported due to the demands of the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included t ...

). She had a crew of 220 officers and men. Because of the 1853 conflict between the Ottoman and

Russian empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

s, the vessel was then sent to Constantinople in September of that year, together with other Prussian units, to protect Prussian interests. From April to June 1854, the ship was in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Sar ...

to protect

Otto of Greece Otto (, ; 1 June 181526 July 1867) was a Bavarian prince who ruled as King of Greece from the establishment of the monarchy on 27 May 1832, under the Convention of London, until he was deposed on 23 October 1862. The second son of King Lu ...

(a member of the House of Wittelsbach), because he was threatened by a revolution. After this, the ship sailed to

Syros Syros ( el, Σύρος ), also known as Siros or Syra, is a Greek island in the Cyclades, in the Aegean Sea. It is south-east of Athens. The area of the island is and it has 21,507 inhabitants (2011 census). The largest towns are Ermoupoli, A ...

to pick up a load of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorpho ...

for Berlin Museums.

Battle of Tres Forcas

In the spring of 1856, a squadron under the leadership of Prince Adalbert, including the ''Danzig'' as

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the f ...

, the ''

Thetis Thetis (; grc-gre, Θέτις ), is a figure from Greek mythology with varying mythological roles. She mainly appears as a sea nymph, a goddess of water, or one of the 50 Nereids, daughters of the ancient sea god Nereus. When described as ...

'', the '' Amazone'', the ''Mercur'' and the ''Frauenlob'', sailed in the Atlantic Ocean to practise. As ''Danzig'' was the only ship with an engine, she had to tow the other vessels in case of no wind ('). At the invitation of

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A neph ...

, she visited

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 ...

. Due to differences between Prince Adalbert and the ship's commander, Wilhelm von Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld, the prince dismissed the commander until reaching Gibraltar. In the meantime, the ship was commanded by Artur von Bothwell. Prince Adalbert planned a punitive expedition against Riffian pirates, who had in 1852 attacked the

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the latter part ...

''Flora''. This expedition lead to the battle of Tres Forcas, which failed both on military as political terms, resulting in the death of seven crew members as well as 22 wounded, including the then 16-year old (later Admiral) Eduard von Knorr. The battle is considered to be one of the first examples of German gunboat diplomacy. After the battle, the ship sailed to Syra, where antique coffins where loaded for Berlin Museums. On 20 November 1856, she returned to Danzig, where she would be decommissioned.

Decommissioning

Due to severe

dry rot Dry rot is wood decay caused by one of several species of fungi that digest parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness. It was previously used to describe any decay of cured wood in ships and buildings by a fungus which resu ...

damage to the hull, the navy considered replacing ''Danzigs wooden hull with iron, but this plan was ultimately scratched on cost grounds. She was therefore only occasionally in service from 1859 to 1860 and was finally struck from the navy list on 1 September 1862, especially since

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...

s like her were now technically obsolete compared to steam screw. She was sold to the English firm Dorset and Blythe for 56,000 taler.

Service with Japanese forces

Now renamed the ''Eagle'', the ship sailed to England in 1864, where she was bought later the same year by the

, which renamed her as the ''Kaiten''. She was armed with 13 cannons, and during the Boshin War was operated by forces loyal to the ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

''. She was the key actor in the Naval Battle of Miyako Bay, in which, after a failed attempt to board and overtake the , she was forced to flee ahead of the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

. She was then the flagship of the Ezo navy during the

Naval Battle of Hakodate Bay The was fought from 4 to 10 May 1869, between the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate navy, consolidated into the armed forces of the rebel Ezo Republic, and the newly formed Imperial Japanese Navy. It was one of the last stages of Battle of H ...

. Later in the war, ''Kaiten'' was beached at

Aomori Bay The is a bay located north of the island of Honshu, in Japan. It is considered to be part of the larger Mutsu Bay. Geography Aomori Bay is an inner bay located to the west of Natsudomari Peninsula that protrudes in the center of the southern c ...

near

Hakodate is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of ...

on 6 May 1869 and burned by her crew on 20 June the same year to prevent her falling into enemy hands – the Prussian corvette happened to be present and observed the burning. In the late

Meiji Era The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, Arai Ikunosuke, once the Navy Minister of the Republic of Ezo, wrote an extensive article on the ''Kaiten'' in the historical journal ''"Kyū Bakufu"''.

Sources

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* * Stichwort: ''Dampf-Korvette „Danzig“'', in: Hans H. Hildebrand/Albert Röhr/Hans-Otto Steinmetz: ''Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe. Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart'', Ratingen o.J. (Einbändiger Nachdruck der siebenbändigen Originalausgabe, Herford 1979ff.,) vol. 2, p. 26–29. * Jürgen Duppler: ''Der Juniorpartner. England und die Entwicklung der Deutschen Marine 1848-1890'', Herford 1985 * Jürgen Duppler: ''Prinz Adalbert von Preußen. Gründer der deutschen Marine'', Herford 1986 * ''7. August. 1856. Prinz Adalbert von Preußen bei Tres Forcas'', in: Walter Lohmann: ''Denkwürdige Tage aus der deutschen Marine-, Kolonial- und Seekriegsgschichte. Ein Traditionskalender für die Reichsmarine'', Berlin 1928, p. 156f * Chapter 6: ''Prinz Adalbert von Preußen'', in: Wilhelm Wolfslast (

Fritz-Otto Busch Fritz-Otto Busch (30 December 1890 in Lindenthal, Cologne – 5 July 1971 in Limpsfield, Surrey) was a German naval officer in the Imperial German Navy, the Reichsmarine and the Kriegsmarine, as well as a translator and a maritime and naval writ ...

): ''Helden der See. Band 1: Entdecker und Admirale'', Berlin 1944, pp. 89–101 * Günter Stavorius, Peter P.E. Günther (ed.). Tagebuch an Bord Sr. Majestät Dampf-Korvette "Danzig" auf der Reise von Danzig nach London, Konstantinopel, Athen, Syra 1853/54. Geführt von Eduard Arendt, Leutnant zur See 2. Klasse, Berlin und Trappenkamp 1998, no ISBN * Otto Mielke: ''Die erste preußische Dampfkorvette. Raddampfkorvette "Danzig"'', ''SOS-Schicksale deutscher Schiffe'' No. 146, München ( Moewig-Verlag) o. J. . 1958

External links

Bakufu Kaigun
{{DEFAULTSORT:Danzig Ships of the Prussian Navy Steamships Ships of the Tokugawa Navy 1853 ships Ships built in Danzig Maritime incidents in May 1869 Shipwrecks of Japan