SMS Wespe (1860)
SMS Wespe was a steam gunboat of the  built for the Prussian Navy in the late 1850s and early 1860s.

Design

The s came about as a result of a program to strengthen the Prussian Navy in the late 1850s in the aftermath of the dissolution of the  and in the midst of rising tensions with Denmark. In 1859, Prince Regent Wilhelm approved a construction program for some fifty-two gunboats to be built over the next fifteen years, which began with the fifteen vessels of the Jäger class.

Wespe was  long overall, with a beam of  and a draft of . She displaced  normally and  at full load. The ship's crew consisted of 2 officers and 38 enlisted men. She was powered by a pair of marine steam engines that drove one 3-bladed screw propeller, with steam provided by four coal-fired trunk boilers, which gave her a top speed of  at . As built, she was equipped with a three-masted schooner rig. The ship was armed with a battery of one rifled 24-pounder muzzle-loading gun and two rifled 12-pounder muzzle-loading guns.

Service history
Wespe, named for the German word for wasp, was built at the Zieske shipyard in Stettin. Her keel was laid down in 1859 and she was launched on 14 February 1860. The ship was not commissioned upon completion, and while out of service, her copper sheathing was removed from her hull so ventilation holes could be cut into the outer planking. Her entire propulsion system, including the masts and the funnel, was removed and a roof was erected over the hull to keep the elements out. The preservation work was not successful, and soon after work was finished, workers discovered that her hull had already begun to mold badly, which militated against active service.

After the start of the Second Schleswig War in February 1864, Wespe was commissioned under the command of  (Ensign) Karl Eduard Heusner on 11 February. She was assigned to I Flotilla Division, along with several other gunboats. The flotilla was deployed on 17 March to support Captain Eduard von Jachmann's corvettes as they attempted to break the Danish blockade in the Baltic Sea, but the gunboats were only lightly engaged during the ensuing Battle of Jasmund. Jachmann had ordered them to take up a position closer to land to cover a potential withdrawal, and so they were too far to take part in the main action. Nevertheless, as the Danish steam frigate  arrived to reinforce the main squadron, Scorpion and the other gunboats fired on her from afar. Tordenskjolds commander ignored the gunboats and continued south to join the fight with Jachmann's corvettes, firing only a few broadsides at the gunboats in passing, with neither side scoring any hits. As the Danes continued south in pursuit of Jachmann's ships, the gunboats withdrew back to Stralsund, though they had to take  under tow after her engines broke down. Wespe saw no further action during the war, and was decommissioned in October.

Wespe was mobilized on 24 July 1870 following the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. She soon sailed from Kiel, passed through the Eider Canal to the North Sea, and proceeded to the mouth of the Ems river. She was joined there by her sister ship , and the ships were based at Emden during this period. Wespes captain, LzS Johannes Meller, was the more senior officer of the two captains, and so he exercised command of the small flotilla. The two ships were planned to operate as part of the coastal defense system in the area, which also included coastal artillery batteries on the island of Borkum, and two infantry regiments. Wespe saw no combat during the war, mainly because the French squadron in the North Sea focused its attention on the area near Helgoland. On 10 September, Wespe and Natter went to sea to observe the withdrawal of French warships from Prussia's coast. The gunboats nevertheless patrolled in the Ems area for the next several months.

An armistice ended the fighting on 28 January 1871, and in February, the Prussian fleet commander, Eduard von Jachmann, ordered Natter and Wespe to join the main fleet at Wilhelmshaven. Wespe thereafter returned to the Baltic, and on 13 May, she was decommissioned again at Kiel. During an inspection of the hull in 1872, the ship was found to be beyond economical repair, and she was accordingly struck from the naval register on 19 March. The ship was slated to be converted into a naval mine storage hulk, but before work began, the ship was briefly recommissioned (despite no longer officially being a naval vessel) on 22 July for brief service during gunnery practice. At the time, only her sister  was available for the exercises in the Kieler Förde that lasted until 5 August. Wespe was then converted, renamed  Nr. 1 (Mine Barge No. 1), and towed to Wilhelmshaven. The details of her eventual disposal are unknown.

Notes

References
 
 
 
 
 
 

Category:Jäger-class gunboats
Category:1860 ships