SMS Friedrich Carl ( 1867 ) SMS " Friedrich Carl " was an ironclad warship built for the Prussian Navy in the mid - 1860s . The ship was constructed in the French " Societé Nouvelles des Forges et Chantiers " shipyard in Toulon ; her hull was laid in 1866 and launched in January 1867 . The ship was commissioned into the Prussian Navy in October 1867 . The ship was the third ironclad ordered by the Prussian Navy , after and , though the fourth ship to be acquired , , was ordered after but commissioned before " Friedrich Carl " . " Friedrich Carl " served with the fleet from her commissioning in 1867 until 1895 , when she was removed from front - line service to serve as a training ship . During the Franco - Prussian War in 1870 – 1871 , the ship formed part of the main German squadron commanded by Vice Admiral Jachmann . Engine trouble , however , plagued the ship and two of the other three vessels in the squadron ; as a result , they made only two sorties from the port of Wilhelmshaven to challenge the French blockade . Neither resulted in combat . " Friedrich Carl " was also deployed to Spain during an insurrection in 1873 , during which she assisted in the seizure of three rebel vessels in two engagements . The ship was refitted at the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven in the 1880s . She was renamed " Neptun " in 1902 and used as a harbor ship until June 1905 , when she was removed from the naval register . The following year , she was sold to ship breakers in Holland and dismantled for scrap . Design . General characteristics . " Friedrich Carl " was long at the waterline and long overall . She had a beam of and a draft of forward and aft . The ship was designed to displace at a normal loading , and up to with a combat load . The ship ' s hull was constructed with transverse and longitudinal iron frames . It contained eight watertight compartments and a double bottom that ran for 76 percent of the length of the vessel . " Friedrich Carl " was an excellent sea boat ; the ship was responsive to commands from the helm and had a moderate turning radius . She was somewhat unbalanced , however , and a 6 degree rudder to port was required to keep the ship on a straight course . The ship ' s crew numbered 33 officers and 498 enlisted men , and while serving as a flagship , the crew was augmented with a command staff of 6 officers and 35 enlisted men . " Friedrich Carl " carried a number of smaller boats , including a large tender , two launches , a pinnace , two cutters , two yawls , and one dinghy . A horizontal two - cylinder single expansion steam engine powered the ship . It drove a four - bladed screw in diameter . Six trunk boilers , divided into two boiler rooms with 11 fireboxes in each , supplied steam to the engine at . The propulsion system was rated at and a top speed of , though on trials " Friedrich Carl " managed to make and . The ship carried of coal , which enabled a maximum range of at a cruising speed of . A barque rig with a surface area of 2 , 010 square meters supplemented the steam engine , though in service they added little to the ship ' s performance . Steering was controlled with a single rudder . Armament and armor . As built , " Friedrich Carl " was equipped with twenty - six rifled 72 - pounder cannon . After her delivery to Germany , these guns were replaced with a pair of L / 22 guns and fourteen 21 cm L / 19 guns . The L / 22 gun could depress to −5 degrees and elevate to 13 degrees , which provided a range of . The shorter barreled L / 19 guns had a wider range of elevation , from −8 to 14 . 5 degrees , but the shorter barrel imposed a lower muzzle velocity , which correspondingly reduced the range of the gun to . The two types of gun fired the same shell , of which the total supply numbered 1 , 656 rounds of ammunition . The fourteen L / 19 guns were placed in a central battery amidships , seven on either broadside . The L / 22 guns were placed on either end of the ship . Later in her career , six revolver cannon and five torpedo tubes were added . Two of the tubes were placed in the bow , two on the ship ' s sides , and one in the stern on the port side . All were placed above water , and were supplied with 12 torpedoes . " Friedrich Carl " s armor consisted of wrought iron backed with heavy teak planking . The waterline armored belt consisted of of iron backed with of teak . The central battery was protected by 114 mm of sloped iron plating on of timber . The battery ' s roof was protected by thick iron plating . The ship ' s conning tower had 114 mm thick iron armor mounted on of teak . Service history . The Prussian Navy ordered " Friedrich Carl " from a French shipbuilder in 1865 . She was laid down at the " Societé Nouvelles des Forges et Chantiers La Seyne " shipyard in Toulon the following year . The ship was launched on 16 January 1867 ; fitting out work was completed rapidly , and the ship was completed before the end of the year . " Friedrich Carl " was delivered to Prussia in October 1867 and commissioned into the fleet on the 3rd of the month . Franco - Prussian War . At the outbreak of the Franco - Prussian War in 1870 , the greatly numerically inferior Prussian Navy assumed a defensive posture against a naval blockade imposed by the French Navy . " Friedrich Carl " and the broadside ironclads and , along with the small ironclad ram , had been steaming in the English Channel before the French declared war ; they had left Plymouth on 10 July with the intention of steaming to Fayal in the Azores . On the 13th , however , they put into port and learned of the rising tension between France and Prussia . The ships therefore returned to Wilhelmshaven immediately , arriving on 16 July . France declared war on Prussia three days later on 19 July . " Friedrich Carl " " Kronprinz " , and " König Wilhelm " were concentrated in the North Sea at the port of Wilhelmshaven . They were subsequently joined there by the turret ship , which had been stationed in Kiel . Despite the great French naval superiority , the French had conducted insufficient pre - war planning for an assault on the Prussian naval installations , and concluded that it would only be possible with Danish assistance , which was not forthcoming . The four ships , under the command of Vice Admiral Jachmann , made an offensive sortie in early August 1870 out to the Dogger Bank , though they encountered no French warships . " Friedrich Carl " and the other two broadside ironclads thereafter suffered from chronic engine trouble , which left " Arminius " alone to conduct operations . " Friedrich Carl " , " Kronprinz " , and " König Wilhelm " stood off the island of Wangerooge for the majority of the conflict , while " Arminius " was stationed in the mouth of the Elbe river . On 11 September , the three broadside ironclads were again ready for action ; they joined " Arminius " for another major operation into the North Sea . It too did not encounter French opposition , as the French Navy had by this time returned to France . Deployment to Spain . In early 1873 , the First Spanish Republic was beset with the Cantonal Revolution . " Friedrich Carl " , under the command of Vice Admiral Reinhold Werner , steamed to Spanish waters along with a pair of unarmored vessels . The ships joined a British squadron that had been patrolling the southern Spanish coast . A rebel faction of the Spanish Navy had seized four of the country ' s seven ironclads . Admiral Werner , the senior commander in the group , was given command of the Anglo - German force . The squadron blockaded two rebel ironclads in the port of Cartagena after they had bombarded a coastal town . While steaming off Alicante , " Friedrich Carl " encountered the rebel armed steamer " Vigilante " , seized the vessel , and returned it to the national government . " Friedrich Carl " and the British ironclad attacked two of the rebel ships — " Vitoria " and " Almansa " — without authorization from London or Berlin . The rebel vessels had attempted to extort the port of Almería . In the brief engagement , the Anglo - German force overwhelmed the rebels and seized both ships , which were subsequently turned over to the Spanish government . The rebels considered declaring war on Germany over the affair , but eventually decided against it . A captured rebel leader was briefly held on board " Friedrich Carl " . Admiral Werner ' s blockade eventually forced the rebels to surrender , after which " Friedrich Carl " returned to Germany . Chancellor Otto von Bismarck ordered a court - martial for Admiral Werner , whose actions Bismarck considered to be excessive . Bismarck prohibited the Imperial Navy from conducting " gunboat diplomacy " in the future . Later service . In 1885 , " Friedrich Carl " had torpedo nets installed ; these remained on the ship until 1897 . In 1895 , the ship was disarmed ; she was placed into service as a torpedo test ship on 11 August of that year . She served in this capacity until 21 January 1902 , when she was renamed " Neptun " and used as a harbor ship . Her name was then freed to be reused on the new armored cruiser , which was launched on 22 June 1902 . " Neptun " was formally stricken from the naval register on 22 June 1905 and sold to a Dutch ship - breaking firm in March 1906 for 284 , 000 gold marks . The ship was then towed to Holland and broken up for scrap .