&sq=Envato&lang=en&file=File:SMS_Habicht_NH_65786.png) Habicht probably in the 1880s
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| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Habicht |
| Builder | Schichau-Werke, Elbing |
| Laid down | 1878 |
| Launched | 13 May 1879 |
| Commissioned | 18 March 1880 |
| Decommissioned | 2 October 1905 |
| Stricken | 24 March 1906 |
| Fate | Broken up |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Habicht-class gunboat |
| Displacement | Full load: 1,005 t (989 long tons) |
| Length | 59.2 m (194 ft 3 in) |
| Beam | 8.9 m (29 ft 2 in) |
| Draft | 3.52 m (11 ft 7 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) |
| Range | 2,010 nmi (3,720 km; 2,310 mi) at 9 kn (17 km/h; 10 mph) |
| Complement |
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| Armament |
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SMS Habicht was the lead ship of the Habicht class of steam gunboats built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). The ship was built in the late 1870s and completed in early 1880. Intended to serve abroad, the ship was ordered as part of a construction program intended to modernize Germany's fleet of cruising vessels in the mid-1870s. The Habicht class was armed with a battery of five guns, and was the first class of German gunboat to use compound steam engines. The ship had a top speed of 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph).
Habicht spent her whole career on cruises abroad. After entering service in 1880, she was deployed to the South Pacific to protect German economic interests in the region, particularly in Samoa, the Marshall Islands, and the Solomon Islands. During her return to Germany in 1882, she was diverted to Egypt in response to the Anglo-Egyptian War to protect Germans in the country. After an overhaul and period in reserve, Habicht was reactivated in 1885 for another deployment overseas, this time to patrol in the recently acquired colonies in German West Africa. Habicht spent the next seven years conducting mapping work and aiding in the suppression of unrest against German rule. She returned to Germany in 1892.
A third and final overseas voyage began in 1896, which saw the ship return to West African waters. This deployment lasted until 1905, and passed relatively uneventfully, until the outbreak of the Herero Wars German South West Africa in 1904. Habicht was the first unit to arrive to reinforce the Schutztruppe in the colony, and her captain initially assumed command of the units fighting in the colony. The ship's landing parties saw repeated combat until being relieved as more significant forces arrived in the colony. Habicht was recalled to Germany in 1905, where she was quickly struck from the naval register and sold to ship breakers in 1906.