View source for SMS Adler

{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image = Adlerbeforestorm.jpg
| Ship caption = Drawing of SMS ''Adler'' by Rear Admiral L.A. Kimberly, U.S. Navy
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Ship country = 
| Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|German Empire|naval}}
| Ship name = SMS ''Adler''
| Ship namesake = German word for "[[eagle]]"
| Ship ordered = 
| Ship builder = [[Kaiserliche Werft Kiel]]
| Yard number = 7
| Ship laid down = 1882
| Ship launched = 3 November 1883
| Ship commissioned = 27 May 1885
| Ship fate = Wrecked, 16 March 1889
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class={{sclass|Habicht|gunboat}}
|Ship displacement=[[Full load]]: {{cvt|1040|t|LT|lk=on}}
|Ship length={{cvt|61.8|m|ftin}}
|Ship beam={{cvt|8.8|m|ftin}}
|Ship draft={{cvt|3.11|m|ftin}}
|Ship propulsion=
*1 × [[double-expansion steam engine]]
*1 × [[screw propeller]]
|Ship speed={{convert|11|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship power=
*2 × [[fire-tube boiler]]s
*{{cvt|700|PS|ihp|lk=on}}
|Ship range={{cvt|2000|nmi|lk=in}} at {{cvt|9|kn}}
|Ship complement=
*6–7 officers
*121–126 enlisted men
|Ship armament=
*1 × {{cvt|15|cm}} gun
*4 × {{cvt|12|cm}} guns
}}
|}

'''SMS ''Adler''''' was the third and final [[gunboat]] of the {{sclass|Habicht|gunboat|4}} built for the German {{lang|de|[[Kaiserliche Marine]]}} (Imperial Navy) in the early 1880s. Intended to serve abroad, the ship was ordered as part of a construction program intended to modernize Germany's fleet of cruising vessels in the mid-1870s. The ''Habicht'' class was armed with a [[battery (artillery)|battery]] of five guns, and was the first class of German gunboat to use [[compound steam engine]]s. The ship had a top speed of {{convert|11|kn|lk=in}}.

''Adler'' was completed in 1884, but spent the next two years in [[reserve fleet|reserve]]. She was activated in 1886 for a deployment to the South Pacific. She initially cruised in [[German New Guinea]], before moving to [[Samoa]] in 1887.  Over the next two years, she patrolled the islands to defend Germans in the area, and in late 1887, she carried the deposed king [[Malietoa Laupepa]] into exile. The next year, members of her crew and those of German vessels {{SMS|Eber|1887|2}} and {{SMS|Olga||2}} fought in the [[First Battle of Vailele]], where they were ambushed by a significantly larger Samoan force and suffered heavy casualties.

On 16 March 1889, ''Adler'', ''Eber'', and ''Olga'' were anchored in [[Apia]], Samoa, along with three American warships and several other merchant vessels when [[1889 Apia cyclone|a major hurricane]] struck the islands. All of the ships in the harbor were wrecked, including ''Adler'', which was driven into a reef and destroyed. Twenty men from her crew were killed, though Samoans rescued the remainder. Her wreck was never removed, and was used as a recreational swimming site by the Samoans.

== Design ==
{{main|Habicht-class gunboat}}

By the mid-1870s, the large [[screw frigate]]s and [[screw corvette]]s that formed the backbone of the German cruiser force were beginning to need to be replaced. Some of these ships had been in service for twenty years, and in that time spent considerable periods on deployments overseas. To replace these older vessels, the German {{lang|de|[[Kaiserliche Marine]]}} (Imperial Navy) ordered the six {{sclass|Carola|corvette|1}}s and three ''Habicht''-class gunboats.{{sfn|Sondhaus|pp=136–137}} The three gunboats were the first vessels of the type to use [[compound steam engine]]s, which increased speed and engine efficiency.{{sfn|Nottelmann|p=70}}

''Adler'' was {{convert|61.8|m|ftin|sp=us}} [[long overall]], with a [[beam (nautical)|beam]] of {{cvt|8.8|m|ftin}} and a [[draft (hull)|draft]] of {{cvt|3.11|m|ftin}} forward. She [[displacement (ship)|displaced]] {{convert|880|t|LT|lk=on|sp=us}} as designed and {{cvt|1040|t|LT}} at [[full load]]. The ship's crew consisted of 6–7&nbsp;officers and 121–126&nbsp;enlisted men. She was powered by a [[double-expansion steam engine]] that drove a 2-bladed [[screw propeller]], with steam provided by four coal-fired, cylindrical [[fire-tube boiler]]s. Her propulsion system was rated to produce a top speed of {{convert|11|kn|lk=in}} at {{convert|700|PS|ihp|lk=on}}, but she reached {{convert|11.3|kn}} in service. At a cruising speed of {{convert|9|kn}}, she could steam for {{convert|2000|nmi|lk=in}}. To supplement the steam engine on long voyages, the ships were fitted with a [[schooner]] sailing rig.{{sfn|Gröner|pp=139–140}} While cruising under sail, the screw could be raised.{{sfn|Lyon|p=260}}

The ship was armed with a single {{cvt|15|cm}} K L/22 [[built-up gun]], which supplied from a [[magazine (artillery)|magazine]] with 115&nbsp;shells. She also carried four  {{cvt|12|cm}} K L/23 built-up guns, which were supplied with a total of 440&nbsp;rounds of ammunition. By 1882, the ship's armament had been standardized on a uniform battery of five {{cvt|12.5|cm}} K L/23 built up guns and five {{cvt|37|mm}} [[Hotchkiss revolver cannon]].{{sfn|Gröner|p=139}}

==Service history==
''Adler'', the last member of the ''Habicht'' class, was [[keel laying|laid down]] in 1882 at the {{lang|de|[[Kaiserliche Werft Kiel|Kaiserliche Werft]]}} (Imperial Shipyard) in [[Kiel]]. She was [[ship launching|launched]] on 3 November 1883. After [[fitting out]] work was completed, the ship was [[ship commissioning|commissioned]] on 27 May 1884 to begin [[sea trials]]. These lasted until 11 October 1884, when the ship was decommissioned and placed in [[reserve fleet|reserve]]. The ship was recommissioned on 4 May 1886 for a deployment to the South Pacific to protect German economic interests in the region. She left Germany on 27 May, and by August, had reached [[Singapore]], where the ship paused for a time to rest the crew. From there, she sailed to [[Cooktown]], Australia, and then turned north to the [[Solomon Islands]]. The northern section of these islands had recently been allocated to Germany during negotiations with Britain, and ''Adler'' participated in the flag raising on the island of [[Choiseul Island]]. The ship visited a number of islands in the area and then sailed to [[Matupi Harbor]], the main port on the island of [[Neupommern]]. The ship spent much of the rest of the year cruising through [[German New Guinea]], and during this period sailed to [[Kapsu]] to punish those responsible for the murder of a German trader on the island. She also conducted surveys along the coast of [[Kaiser-Wilhelmsland]].{{sfn|Gröner|p=140}}{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|pp=180–181}}

[[File:Die Gartenlaube (1889) b 273 2.jpg|thumb|left|{{SMS|Eber|1887|2}} (left) and ''Adler'' (right) off Samoa]]

On 15 January 1887, the gunboat {{SMS|Albatross|1871|2}} arrived to relieve ''Adler'' in German New Guinea, allowing the latter to depart in early February for [[Sydney]], Australia. There, she underwent periodic maintenance and half of her crew were replaced. Under way again on 20 April, ''Adler'' sailed north for [[Samoa]]; she anchored in [[Apia]] on 25 May, where she began charting Samoan waters. These operations were interrupted on 12 July, when the ship received orders to join the German cruiser [[Squadron (naval)|squadron]] in Sydney. By the time she arrived, the other ships had already sailed to Samoa, so ''Adler'' was docked for repairs and another contingent from her crew was replaced. She arrived back in Apia on 13 September. By that time, Samoans led by [[Malietoa Laupepa]] had begin significant attacks on Germans in the islands, and the German cruiser squadron had captured Laupepa. The Germans decided to banish him to the colony of [[Kamerun]] in western Africa, and ''Adler'' took him and three other leaders of the attacks to Cooktown, where they were transferred to ''Albatross'' for the remainder of the journey. ''Adler'' arrived back in Apia on 22 November. The cruiser squadron departed in December, leaving ''Adler'' and the screw corvette {{SMS|Olga||2}} as the only vessels in the region, until the gunboat {{SMS|Eber|1887|2}} arrived in Samoa in April 1888.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|p=181}}

Renewed unrest in Samoa in 1888 prompted the Germans to cancel a planned cruise to the [[Marshall Islands]] for ''Adler'', and to concentrate ''Olga'' and ''Eber'' with her there. In July, ''Adler'' was detached to replace her crew, and at that time, {{lang|de|[[Korvettenkapitän]]}} (Corvette Captain) [[Ernst Fritze]] arrived to take command of the ship. Repeated, heavy attacks in November prompted all three ships to send landing parties ashore to defend Germans on the islands. In the [[First Battle of Vailele]] on 18 December, a force of 3,000&nbsp;Samoans ambushed 220&nbsp;Germans on the island of [[Upolu]].{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|p=182}} In the course of the fighting, fifteen Germans were killed and another forty-one were wounded. The victorious Samoans mutilated the corpses of the Germans, prompting public outrage in Germany demanding an immediate annexation of the island. British and American forces also present in the islands strongly opposed German actions, and the American [[sloop of war|sloop]] {{USS|Nipsic}} nearly opened fire on ''Adler'' and ''Eber'' during the battle at Vailele.{{sfn|Sondhaus|pp=204–205}} ''Eber'' was then detached to sail to [[Auckland]], New Zealand, to request reinforcements from Germany, as there was no direct [[telegraph]] line in Samoa.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|p=182}}

===Loss===
[[File:The Hurricane at Samoa on the morning of March 16 LCCN2002699802.jpg|thumb|Artist's depiction of the hurricane striking the harbor]]
{{main|1889 Apia cyclone}}

In mid-March 1889, the weather turned precipitously bad as [[1889 Apia cyclone|a powerful hurricane]] approached the islands. Fritze, who was the senior-most German officer of the three ships, believed he could not leave the islands to avoid the storm, since doing so would leave the Germans living there unprotected against further violence. As the weather worsened, the Germans took precautions, including removing the [[yard (sailing)|yards]], dropping additional anchors, and keeping the boilers lit in case the ships would need to move immediately. On the night of 15–16 March, the storm struck the island, sending powerful waves ashore, which battered the ships. At around 04:00 on 16 March, ''Adler''{{'}}s anchor chains broke, and she began drifting toward the shore. She lightly struck ''Olga'', and continued to drift toward the island. At around 05:30, Fritze, who had been seriously injured, ordered the crew to put out the fires in the boilers to avoid a boiler explosion. About fifteen minutes later, ''Adler'' was driven onto the coral [[reef]] and rolled onto her [[port and starboard|port]] side. Twenty men were killed in the incident; the survivors were stranded on the reef until Samoans could rescue them by boat. The German consul offered payment both for each survivor brought to shore, along with a reduced amount for the bodies of those who died.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|p=182}}

Most of the other ships in the harbor were similarly destroyed; only the British corvette {{HMS|Calliope|1884|6}} survived, as her captain had departed to avoid the storm. The American vessels in the harbor—''Nipsic'', the sloop {{USS|Vandalia|1876|6}}, and the screw frigate {{USS|Trenton|1876|6}}—were wrecked or beached, and ''Olga'' was also driven ashore. The incident defused the tensions between the Germans and Americans, however, as the survivors had to work together to recover from the disaster.{{sfn|Sondhaus|p=205}} Over the following days, the survivors from ''Adler'' worked to recover bodies and salvage usable equipment from the wreck, particularly the ship's guns. Some of the men were taken by ''Olga'' to Sydney, where they transferred to the [[Norddeutscher Lloyd]] steamer {{SS|Braunschweig}} to return home. The rest embarked on the steamer {{SS|Lübeck}} for the voyage home, transferring to the transport ship {{SS|Habsburg}} during the journey. ''Adler''{{'}}s wreck was reportedly sold to a US [[ship breaking]] firm, but the ship was never removed, and was used as a recreational swimming site.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|p=182}} It eventually broke apart entirely after decades of wave action.{{sfn|Nottelmann|p=72}}

<gallery caption="Wreck of SMS ''Adler''">
  File:SMS Adler 1889 1.jpg|The wrecked ship
  File:SMS Adler 1889 2.jpg|Rigging
  File:SMS Adler 1889 3.jpg|The wreck about 1938
</gallery>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|20em}}

==References==
* {{cite book
  | last = Gröner
  | first = Erich
  |author-link=Erich Gröner
  | year = 1990
  | title = German Warships: 1815–1945
  | volume = I: Major Surface Vessels
  | publisher = Naval Institute Press
  | location = Annapolis
  | isbn = 978-0-87021-790-6
  | ref ={{sfnRef|Gröner}}
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last1 = Hildebrand
  | first1 = Hans H.
  | last2 = Röhr
  | first2 = Albert
  | last3 = Steinmetz
  | first3 = Hans-Otto
  | year = 1993
  | title = Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart
  | trans-title=The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present
  | volume = 1
  | publisher = Mundus Verlag
  | location = Ratingen
  | isbn = 978-3-7822-0237-4
  | language = de
  | ref = {{sfnRef|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz}}
  |name-list-style=amp
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Lyon
  | first = David 
  | chapter = Germany
  | pages = 240–265
  | editor1-last = Gardiner
  | editor1-first = Robert
  | editor2-last = Chesneau
  | editor2-first = Roger
  | editor3-last = Kolesnik
  | editor3-first = Eugene M.
  | year = 1979
  | title = Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905
  | publisher = Conway Maritime Press
  | location = Greenwich
  | isbn = 978-0-85177-133-5
  |name-list-style=amp
  | url-access = registration
  | url = https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_l2e2
  | ref = {{sfnref|Lyon}}
  }}
* {{cite book
  |last=Nottelmann
  |first=Dirk
  |chapter=The Development of the Small Cruiser in the Imperial German Navy Part III: The Gunboats
  |editor1-last=Jordan
  |editor1-first=John
  |publisher=Osprey Publishing
  |location=Oxford
  |year=2022
  |title=Warship 2022
  |isbn=978-1-4728-4781-2
  |pages=63–79
  |ref={{sfnRef|Nottelmann}}
  }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Sondhaus
  | first = Lawrence
  | year = 1997
  | title = Preparing for Weltpolitik: German Sea Power Before the Tirpitz Era
  | publisher = Naval Institute Press
  | location = Annapolis
  | isbn = 978-1-55750-745-7
  | ref ={{sfnRef|Sondhaus}}
  }}

{{coord|-13.8266|-171.7647|display=title|}}

{{Habicht-class gunboat}}
{{1889 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adler, SMS}}
[[Category:Habicht-class gunboats]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of Samoa]]
[[Category:19th century in Samoa]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in March 1889]]
[[Category:1883 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Kiel]]