&sq=&lang=&file=File:SMS_Greif.jpg) SMS Greif
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators |  Imperial German Navy |
| Preceded by | Blitz class |
| Succeeded by | Wacht class |
| Completed | 1 |
| History | |
 German Empire | |
| Name | SMS Greif |
| Builder | Germaniawerft, Kiel |
| Laid down | 1885 |
| Launched | 29 July 1886 |
| Commissioned | 9 July 1887 |
| Stricken | 25 October 1912 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 1921 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Aviso |
| Displacement | |
| Length | |
| Beam | 9.75 m (32.0 ft) |
| Draft | 4.22 m (13 ft 10 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Range | 2,180 nmi (4,040 km; 2,510 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement |
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| Armament |
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SMS Greif was an aviso built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the mid-1880s, the only ship of her class. Designed at a time where torpedoes had become effective weapons and spurred the development of the Jeune École, Greif was intended to guard the capital ships of the fleet against torpedo boat attacks. For this role, she carried a battery of 10.5 cm (4.1 in) and 3.7 cm (1.5 in) guns, unlike other German avisos of the period, which also carried torpedo tubes. Greif was not a successful warship, however, and she spent much of her career laid up, out of service.
Completed in 1887, Greif was not commissioned until 1889, though she remained in service with the fleet only until October 1890, when she was assigned with torpedo testing, a role she filled until 1894 when she was decommissioned. Recommissioned in May 1897, she served as a fleet scout for the next two years, thereafter being reduced to secondary roles once again, including as a training ship, before being decommissioned for the last time in September 1900. Greif was struck from the naval register in 1912, hulked in 1915 during World War I, and used as a mine storage hulk in 1917. After the war, she was sold to ship breakers in 1921 and dismantled in Hamburg.