| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders |
|
| Operators |  Imperial German Navy |
| Preceded by | Bismarck class |
| Succeeded by | SMS Nixe |
| Built | 1879–1886 |
| In commission | 1881–1905 |
| Planned | 6 |
| Completed | 6 |
| Scrapped | 6 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Screw corvette |
| Displacement | Full load: 2,424 t (2,386 long tons) |
| Length | 76.35 m (250 ft 6 in) |
| Beam | 12.5 m (41 ft) |
| Draft | 4.98 m (16 ft 4 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | |
| Sail plan | Barque rig |
| Speed | 13.7 knots (25.4 km/h; 15.8 mph) |
| Range | 3,420 nautical miles (6,330 km; 3,940 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Crew |
|
| Armament |
|
| Notes | Figures are for Carola; the other members of the class varied in some details |
The Carola class was a group of six screw corvettes built by the German Kaiserliche Marine in the late 1870s and 1880s. The class comprised Carola, the lead ship, Olga, Marie, Sophie, Alexandrine, and Arcona. 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 of ten 15-centimeter (5.9 in) 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, German South West Africa and German East Africa—and in the Pacific, German New Guinea and later the Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory. They were frequently used to suppress local uprisings against German rule, punish those who attacked German citizens or businesses, and show the flag. On several occasions, ships of the class were badly damaged in accidents—Marie running aground off New Mecklenburg and Sophie being rammed by a merchant vessel, both in 1884, and Olga being forced ashore by a cyclone in 1889—but none of the members of the class were lost.
Several of the corvettes were used for training purposes, taking part in fleet exercises, extended training cruises with naval cadets, and in the case of Carola and Olga later in their careers, as dedicated gunnery training ships. No longer useful as cruising warships by the 1890s, all of the ships of the Carola class were withdrawn from active service by the end of the decade. Some were used for training purposes, but Alexandrine was too worn out from her years abroad to permit further use, Marie was too expensive to convert into a training ship, and Sophie was instead used as a barracks ship. Between 1904 and 1908, all of the Carola-class corvettes were broken up for scrap, with the exception of Sophie, which lingered on as a floating barracks until she too went to the breakers in 1920.