The class was a group of six
screw corvette
Steam frigates (including screw frigates) and the smaller steam corvettes, steam sloops, steam gunboats and steam schooners, were steam-powered warships that were not meant to stand in the line of battle. There were some exceptions like for exam ...
s built by the German in the late 1870s and 1880s. The class comprised , the
lead ship
The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels.
Large ships are very complex and may ...
, , , , , and . They were ordered to replace older sailing vessels that were no longer sufficient to protect German interests around the world. Intended for service in the
German colonial empire, the ships were designed with a combination of steam and sail power for extended cruising range, and they were equipped with a
battery
Battery most often refers to:
* Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power
* Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact
Battery may also refer to:
Energy source
*Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
of ten guns. Relying primarily on sail power for their long-range deployments, the ships were obsolescent before construction began.
The six ships were all sent on lengthy overseas deployments throughout their careers, with assignments to Germany's colonial holdings in Africa—
Togo
Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...
,
German South West Africa
German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...
and
German East Africa—and in the Pacific,
German New Guinea
German New Guinea (german: Deutsch-Neu-Guinea) consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , ...
and later the
Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory
The Kiautschou Bay Leased Territory was a German leased territory in Imperial and Early Republican China from 1898 to 1914. Covering an area of , it centered on Jiaozhou ("Kiautschou") Bay on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula (g ...
. They were frequently used to suppress local uprisings against German rule, punish those who attacked German citizens or businesses, and