page_title: SMS Preussischer Adler
section_title: Civil career and the First Schleswig War
hierarchical_section_title: SMS Preussischer Adler / Service history / Civil career and the First Schleswig War
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the North and Baltic Seas in 1911.
context_page_description: SMS Preussischer Adler was a paddle steamer originally built in the mid-1840s for use on a packet route between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire in the Baltic Sea. She was requisitioned by the Prussian Navy during the First Schleswig War in 1848 and converted into an aviso, the first vessel of the type commissioned by Prussia. During the war, she took part in an inconclusive action with the Danish brig St. Croix, the first naval battle of the Prussian fleet. After the war, she was disarmed and returned to her commercial role, operating uneventfully on the Stettin–St. Petersburg route until 1862, when the expansion of the Prussian Eastern Railway had rendered the maritime route superfluous. The ship was purchased by the Prussian Navy and rearmed, once again as an aviso.
  Preussischer Adler was sent to the Mediterranean Sea in September 1863 in company with a pair of gunboats, but shortly after they arrived, they were recalled owing to an increase in tension between Prussia and Denmark that resulted in the Second Schleswig War.
context_section_description: Preussischer Adler was laid down in 1846 and was launched later that year. She entered service in 1847 as a post steamer, operating the route between Stettin and St. Petersburg. During the German revolutions of 1848–1849, the ship was requisitioned by the Prussian Navy for use after the outbreak of the First Schleswig War between the German Confederation and Denmark in March 1848. At the time, the Prussian Navy was effectively powerless to prevent the larger Danish Navy from blockading the German coast; merchant ship owners in various German ports pressured Prussia to arm Preussischer Adler and another post steamer, Königin Elisabeth, but the postmaster general initially refused to turn the vessels over to the navy, since doing so would break international postal treaties. Continued pressure forced the postal service to transfer the vessels, and upon her requisitioning, her deck was reinforced to support the weight of the guns added. During this period, from August 1848 to August 1849, the ship was commanded by Paul Barandon and she retained her civilian crew. The ship got underway for the first time as an auxiliary warship in August 1848, steaming first from Stettin to Swinemünde; by this time, the Armistice of Malmö had been signed on 26 August, temporarily ending the conflict.
  By August, the so-called Fünfzigerausschuss (Committee of the Fifty) of the Frankfurt Parliament became aware that the Prussian fleet had acquired Preussischer Adler; the parliamentarians requested that the Prussians turn the vessel over to the Reichsflotte (Imperial Fleet), but the Prussians refused. Later that month, she assisted with the launching of the gun-yawls Nr. 3 and Nr. 4. With the fighting stopped, the Prussian naval command debated the continued service of Preussischer Adler. The senior naval officers convened a committee on 5 September to evaluate the vessel; since the Russia–Prussia postal line could not be reestablished owing to the uncertain political situation in the Baltic Sea, the navy initially opted to decommission Preussischer Adler. But after Denmark remobilized its forces in February 1849 to resume the conflict with the Duchy of Schleswig, the navy decided to return the ship to active service, and at this time the two 32-pound guns were added. The ship was recommissioned in May, with Barandon again in command; by this time, he had been inducted into the Prussian Navy and given the rank Leutnant zur See (Lieutenant at Sea). The ship was tasked with protecting German shipping in the area around Stettin from the Danish blockade and preventing Danish warships from attacking the Prussian coast.
  While she was conducting shooting practice in the Stettiner Haff on 26 June, the ship received word that a Danish warship was cruising off Swinemünde and had taken two Prussian merchant ships as prizes. Kommodore (Commodore) Jan Schröder came aboard Preussischer Adler, which steamed to Swinemünde to search for the blockade ship. At around 16:00 the next day, she encountered the Danish brig St. Croix off Brüsterort. The two ships engaged in an artillery duel at ranges between 750 to 1,350 m (2,460 to 4,430 ft) that lasted until 21:30; this was the first naval battle of the Prussian Navy after it had been re-established. The Danes fired some 200 shells at the Prussian vessel, which fired 63 shells from her mortars and six 32-pound shells in return. Neither side was significantly damaged in the battle, though Preussischer Adler was hit once by a shell that killed one man, the first battle death of the Prussian fleet.
  Preussischer Adler returned to port and received repairs for the shell hit, thereafter returning to Swinemünde in late July. She saw no further action, as a second armistice had been signed, again stopping hostilities. The ship then steamed back to Stettin, where she remained until November, when she was disarmed and returned to the postal service. A long winter prevented the resumption of the St. Petersburg–Stettin route until May 1850. She operated on the route without incident until 1862, when the Prussian Eastern Railway 
caption: 1911 map of the Baltic Sea showing the location of Stettin and St. Petersburg (in the top right corner)
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