 Stein at anchor in 1893
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders | AG Vulcan, Kaiserliche Werft Danzig, and Norddeutsche Schiffbau |
| Operators |  Imperial German Navy |
| Preceded by | Leipzig class |
| Succeeded by | Carola class |
| Built | 1875–1880 |
| In commission | 1878–1910 |
| Completed | 6 |
| Lost | 1 |
| Scrapped | 5 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Screw corvette |
| Displacement | Full load: 2,994 to 3,386 t (2,947 to 3,333 long tons) |
| Length | 82–82.5 m (269 ft 0 in – 270 ft 8 in) |
| Beam | 13.7 m (44 ft 11 in) |
| Draft | 5.2 to 5.68 m (17 ft 1 in to 18 ft 8 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 12.5 to 13.9 knots (23.2 to 25.7 km/h; 14.4 to 16.0 mph) |
| Range | 2,380 nmi (4,410 km; 2,740 mi) at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
The Bismarck-class corvettes were a class of six corvettes built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the 1870s. The six ships were Bismarck, Blücher, Stosch, Moltke, Gneisenau, and Stein. The Bismarck-class corvettes were ordered as part of a major naval construction program in the early 1870s, and they were designed to serve as fleet scouts and on extended tours in Germany's colonial empire. The ships were armed with a battery of between ten and sixteen 15 cm (5.9 in) guns and they had a full ship rig to supplement their steam engine on long cruises abroad. One ship, Blücher, was converted into a torpedo testing and training ship shortly after she was completed, having her guns replaced with a variety of torpedo launchers.
Most of the members of the class were sent on extended foreign cruises throughout their careers, frequently to support the expansion of Germany's colonial empire through the 1880s. Moltke supported one of the German expeditions for the International Polar Year in 1882. Bismarck was involved in the seizure of the colony of Kamerun in 1884, and she, Gneisenau, and Stosch were used to secure the protectorate of Wituland in 1885–1886, which later became German East Africa. Members of the class also cruised off South America to protect German interests, particularly during the War of the Pacific.
Blücher and Stein served their entire careers as training ships, with the former training most German torpedo crews between the 1880s and 1900s and the latter being used to train naval cadets and apprentice seamen. Gneisenau, Moltke, and Stosch were also used as training ships later in their careers. In this role, they were used for long-range training cruises, primarily to the West Indies and the Mediterranean Sea. Bismarck was the first member of the class to be disposed of, being converted into a barracks ship in 1891. Gneisenau was wrecked off Málaga in a gale. Blücher was badly damaged by a boiler explosion in 1907 and sold thereafter. Stosch was sold for scrap the same year, and in 1908, Stein was also converted into a barracks ship. Moltke continued in service until 1910, when she was decommissioned; the next year, she too was converted into a barracks ship and renamed Acheron. The surviving members of the class were broken up in 1920 after the end of World War I.