SMS Amazone (1843)

For other ships with the same name, see SMS Amazone.
SMS Amazone
History
Preußische Marine EnsignPrussia
NameSMS Amazone
Ordered1839
BuilderCarmesins Werft, Stettin
Laid down1842[1]
Launched24 June 1843[1]
Commissioned19 May 1844[1]
RefitKönigliche Werft Danzig, 1852[1]
FateSunk 14 November 1861 off the coast of the Netherlands[1]
General characteristics
Displacement390 tonnes (380 long tons)[1]
Length33.49 m (109 ft 11 in)[1]
Beam8.99 m (29 ft 6 in)[1]
Draft3.14 m (10 ft 4 in)[1]
Sail plan876 square metres (9,430 sq ft)
Speed11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Boats & landing
craft carried		1 large, 3 small
Complement6 officers, 139 men (including cadets)
Armament12 18-pounders[1]

SMS Amazone was a three-masted sail corvette (caravel) of the Prussian Navy (Preußische Marine). Her keel was laid down in Grabow near Stettin in 1842 and she was launched on 24 June 1843. Amazone sank in a storm on 14 November 1861 off the coast of the Netherlands with 107 dead.[2] She was reported to have collided with an East Indiaman, which rescued the three survivors.[3][4] Among the dead were "almost all" of the naval cadets being trained to officer the fleet.[5]

Amazone was modelled on the French corvette Diligente, with a ship displacement of 370 tonnes and a length overall of 44 metres (144 ft). She had a complement of 145 men and was armed with twelve Swedish 18-pounders.[2]

The ship served as a training vessel for Prussian naval officers of the Navigation School in Danzig, therefore it came under the Ministry of Finance rather than the Ministry of War. Nevertheless, she flew the Prussian war flag.[2]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Gröner, Deutsche Kriegsschiffe, Vol I, 1982, p107
  2. ^ a b c Deutsche Militärgeschichte 1648-1939, Vol. VIII, p.45
  3. ^ "Prussia". Liverpool Mercury. No. 4336. Liverpool. 3 January 1862.
  4. ^ "The Prussian Corvette Amazon". Sheffield Independent. No. 2258. Sheffield. 4 January 1862. p. 5.
  5. ^ von Tirpitz, Alfred (1919). My Memoirs (Volumes I & II). New York: Dodd Mead & Company.