SMS Blitz SMS " Blitz " was an aviso of the Imperial German Navy , the lead ship of her class . She had one sister ship , . " Blitz " was built at the Norddeutscher Schiffbau dockyard ; she was laid down in 1881 , was launched in August 1882 , and was commissioned in March 1883 . The ship ' s career was uneventful ; she served as a flotilla leader for torpedo boats until 1900 . In 1903 , she became a fleet tender . She was briefly mobilized at the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , but she returned to fleet tender duties in 1915 , where she remained for the duration of the conflict . She was stricken from the naval register in March 1921 and was broken up for scrap later that year . Design . " Blitz " was long overall and had a beam of and a maximum draft of forward . She displaced at full combat load . Her propulsion system consisted of two horizontal 2 - cylinder double expansion engines . Steam for the engines was provided by eight coal - fired locomotive boiler s . The ship ' s propulsion system provided a top speed of and a range of approximately at . " Blitz " had a crew of 7 officers and 127 enlisted men . As built , the ship was armed with one K L / 23 gun placed in a pivot mount . The gun was supplied with 100 rounds of ammunition . The ship was also equipped with four 8 . 7 cm K L / 23 guns in single mounts and one torpedo tube mounted in the bow . In 1891 – 1892 , the ship was rearmed with six 8 . 8 cm SK L / 30 gun s in single mounts and three 35 cm torpedo tubes , one in the bow and one on each broadside , all submerged in the hull . Service history . " Blitz " was laid down at the Norddeutscher Schiffbau in Kiel in 1881 . She was launched on 26 August 1882 and commissioned into the German fleet on 28 March 1883 . " Blitz " served as the flotilla leader for I Torpedo Boat Flotilla after her commissioning . In the 1885 summer maneuvers in August and September , she led her torpedo boats with an armored warship division composed of , , and , and an unarmored division that comprised three old sail corvettes and . At the time , Alfred von Tirpitz , the future architect of the High Seas Fleet , commanded " Blitz " and the torpedo boat flotilla . Starting in March 1886 , Tirpitz led the flotilla on training exercises that lasted until July . Thereafter , " Blitz " and her accompanying torpedo boats joined the annual fleet maneuvers as the III Division . In May , " Blitz " joined the Training Squadron as a torpedo boat leader during training exercises with the Maneuver Squadron in the Baltic . In 1887 , " Blitz " , again with Tirpitz aboard , led the torpedo boat flotilla to Britain to participate in the Cowes Regatta ; the delegation was headed by Prince Heinrich . Then - prince Wilhelm — the future Kaiser Wilhelm II — was also present for the cruise , aboard " Blitz " . The flotilla was back in German waters for the annual August – September maneuvers , where it formed the IV Division . By 1888 , " Blitz " had been transferred to the III Flotilla . In July , " Blitz " joined a squadron of ships to take the newly crowned Kaiser Wilhelm II for a tour of Baltic ports , which included a visit to Tsar Alexander III of Russia . During the August – September fleet maneuvers , she led the fourteen torpedo boats of the III Flotilla as part of a squadron defending Wilhelmshaven from a simulated hostile squadron . During the maneuvers , " Blitz " and the torpedo boats led a mock attack against the main fleet . In the fleet maneuvers in late 1890 , " Blitz " and her flotilla were the only German force , and " Blitz " was given the task of defending Germany ' s Baltic coast against a simulated Russian blockade . " Blitz " also took part in the 1891 and 1892 training exercises . During the 1894 maneuvers , which postulated a two - front war against France and Russia , " Blitz " remained in the Baltic to defend against the simulated Russian attack . She also participated in the summer 1897 exercises in the simulated hostile squadron , along with her sister " Pfeil " . In August – September 1900 , she participated in the annual summer fleet maneuvers ; during the exercises , she was assigned to the simulated German squadron , tasked with defending against a simulated enemy fleet in the North Sea . After the conclusion of the maneuvers , " Blitz " was withdrawn from active service . In 1903 , she was used as a tender for the fleet . In 1912 , she was assigned as the tender for the new dreadnought battleship s of the I Battle Squadron . While in the II Squadron , she wore a white identification band on her funnel , to distinguish her from her sister " Pfeil " , which wore a yellow identification stripe . At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , she was mobilized as a coastal defense ship , though this duty lasted only until 1915 . That year , she returned to her fleet tender duties ; she served in this capacity for the remainder of the war . She was stricken from the naval register on 8 March 1921 , and sold for 520 , 000 marks . She was broken up for scrap later that year in Wilhelmshaven .