&sq=&lang=&file=File:SMS_Loreley_(1871).jpg) Loreley in her later configuration
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators | |
| Preceded by | SMS Grille |
| Succeeded by | SMS Falke |
| Completed | 1 |
| Retired | 1 |
| History | |
| Name | Loreley |
| Builder | Königliche Werft, Danzig |
| Laid down | 1 February 1858 |
| Launched | 20 May 1859 |
| Commissioned | 28 September 1859 |
| Decommissioned | 7 September 1896 |
| Stricken | 10 August 1896 |
| Fate | Unknown |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Unique aviso |
| Displacement | |
| Length | |
| Beam | 6.6 m (21 ft 8 in) |
| Draft | 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) |
| Installed power | |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 10.5 kn (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament | 2 × 12-pounder guns |
SMS Loreley was an aviso of the Prussian Navy built in the late 1850s. Built as a paddle steamer, since the Prussian naval command was not convinced of the reliability of screw propellers, she was the first Prussian warship to be fitted with a domestically-produced marine steam engine. The ship carried a light armament of two 12-pound guns and had a top speed of 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph). Loreley was intended to serve as the flagship of the gunboat flotillas that formed the bulk of the Prussian fleet in the 1850s.
After entering service, the ship was sent to the Italian Peninsula in 1861 to protect Prussians and other German nationals during the Second Italian War of Independence, part of the unification of Italy. She thereafter went to Greece, the Ottoman Empire, and then to Romania before being recalled to Prussia in 1862. She served in her intended role during the Second Schleswig War, serving as the command ship for five flotillas of gunboats based in the Baltic Sea. She saw action against the Danish Navy during the war at the Battle of Jasmund, where she received a single hit that killed one man. After the war, she was decommissioned and saw little activity for the rest of the decade, by which time she was in poor condition.
Loreley was extensively rebuilt between 1869 and 1873, thereafter serving in the North Sea until 1879, when she was sent to the Ottoman Empire to serve as Germany's station ship in Constantinople. She remained there for nearly two decades to protect German interests during periods of unrest in the country. Worn out by 1896, she was struck from the naval register in August and sold in September. Her ultimate fate is unknown.