 Illustration of Leipzig by Fritz Stoltenberg
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders | AG Vulcan, Stettin |
| Preceded by | Ariadne-class corvette |
| Succeeded by | Bismarck-class corvette |
| Built | 1875–1877 |
| In service | 1877–1894 |
| Completed | 2 |
| Scrapped | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Screw corvette |
| Displacement | Full load: 4,626 metric tons (4,553 long tons) |
| Length | 87.5 meters (287 ft 1 in) (loa) |
| Beam | 14 m (45 ft 11 in) |
| Draft | 6.2 m (20 ft 4 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Sail plan | Full ship rig |
| Speed | 15.8 knots (29.3 km/h; 18.2 mph) |
| Range | 2,330 nautical miles (4,320 km; 2,680 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Crew |
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| Armament |
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The Leipzig class was a group of two screw corvettes built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the 1870s. The two ships of the class were Leipzig and Prinz Adalbert; Prinz Adalbert was originally named Sedan after the Battle of Sedan, but was renamed shortly after entering service to avoid angering France. They were based on the earlier corvette Freya, but were significantly larger, carried a stronger armament, and unlike the wooden-hulled Ariadne-class corvettes, adopted iron construction, making them the first corvettes of the German fleet to be built with iron. Originally intended to serve abroad and with the fleet, British experiences during the Battle of Pacocha in 1877 convinced the German naval command that unarmored warships were useless against the fleets of ironclads being built by the European navies, and so Leipzig and Prinz Adalbert would be used only on foreign stations.
The ships went on two cruises each in the late 1870s and early 1880s, primarily to East Asia. In 1878, Leipzig was involved with a diplomatic dispute with Nicaragua. Prinz Adalbert was used to secure Germany's growing colonial empire in Africa. In the mid-1880s, Leipzig was heavily rebuilt to allow her use as a squadron flagship on foreign stations. She served abroad in this capacity from 1888 to 1893; during this extended deployment, she participated in the campaign to suppress the Abushiri revolt in German East Africa in 1888–1890. She then alternated between East Africa, China, and Chile, where she protected German nationals during the Chilean Civil War of 1891. In the meantime, Prinz Adalbert had been converted into a training ship in 1886, and served in that role for three years, before being reduced to a barracks ship in May 1890. In 1907, she was sold for scrap; by that time, Leipzig too had been reduced to a barracks ship and stationary training hulk in 1895, though she survived until 1919, when she sank accidentally. Raised in 1921, she too was broken up for scrap.