![]() Prinz Adalbert in Wilhelmshaven in the 1880s
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History | |
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Name | Prinz Adalbert |
Namesake | Prince Adalbert of Prussia |
Builder | AG Vulcan, Stettin |
Laid down | 1875 |
Launched | 17 June 1876 |
Commissioned | 1 September 1877 |
Stricken | 6 May 1890 |
Fate | Broken up, 1907 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Leipzig-class corvette |
Displacement | Full load: 4,626 metric tons (4,553 long tons) |
Length | 87.5 meters (287 ft 1 in) (loa) |
Beam | 14 m (45 ft 11 in) |
Draft | 6.2 m (20 ft 4 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Sail plan | Full ship rig |
Speed | 15.8 knots (29.3 km/h; 18.2 mph) |
Range | 2,330 nautical miles (4,320 km; 2,680 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Crew |
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Armament |
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SMS Prinz Adalbert was a steam corvette of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), the second and final member of the Leipzig class. She was laid down in 1875 at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin, was launched in June 1876, and was commissioned into the fleet in August 1877. Originally named Sedan after the Battle of Sedan of the Franco-Prussian War, she was renamed Prinz Adalbert to avoid antagonizing France in 1878, less than a decade after the battle.
Prinz Adalbert went on two overseas cruises during her career, both to East Asia. The first, from late 1878 to late 1880, was uneventful, though Prince Heinrich, the Kaiser's grandson, was aboard the ship as part of his naval training. The second cruise, from late 1883 to late 1885, was repeatedly altered; her voyage to East Asia was delayed by an order to carry Crown Prince Friedrich to Spain. Once she reached East Asia, she observed the Sino-French War of 1884, though she remained in the area for less than six months before being ordered home. The return voyage was delayed several times, first with orders to protect German interests in western South America, then to join a new cruiser squadron to settle a dispute with Zanzibar, once again to serve as the flagship of that squadron while the other vessel was being repaired, and again during a colonial dispute with Spain.
After Prinz Adalbert returned to Germany, she was converted into a training ship for naval cadets, a role she filled for less than three years. Worn out by 1888, she was decommissioned and reduced to a barracks ship, a role she filled until 1907, when she was stricken from the naval register and broken up in Rotterdam.