SMS Wespe (1860)

Wespe's sister Fuchs
History
Prussia
Name	Wespe
Namesake	Wasp
Builder	Zieske, Stettin
Laid down	1859
Launched	14 February 1860
Commissioned	11 February 1864
Decommissioned	13 May 1871
Stricken	19 March 1872
General characteristics
Type	Gunboat
Displacement	Design: 237 t (233 long tons) Full load: 283 t (279 long tons)
Length	41.2 m (135 ft 2 in)
Beam	6.69 m (21 ft 11 in)
Draft	2.2 m (7 ft 3 in)
Installed power	4 × boilers 220 PS (220 ihp)
Propulsion	2 × marine steam engines 1 × screw propeller
Speed	9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph)
Complement	2 officers 38 enlisted
Armament	1 × 24-pounder gun 2 × 12-pounder guns

SMS Wespe was a steam gunboat of the Jäger class built for the Prussian Navy in the late 1850s and early 1860s. The ship was ordered as part of a program to strengthen Prussia's coastal defense forces, then oriented against neighboring Denmark. She was armed with a battery of three guns. The ship saw very little activity during her career. She was activated during the Second Schleswig War against Denmark in 1864, and she saw brief action during the Battle of Jasmund on 17 March. She next recommissioned during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, but she did not engage any French warships. In poor condition by that time, she was struck from the naval register in 1872 and converted into a storage hulk. Her ultimate fate is unknown.