SMS Greif SMS " Greif " was an aviso built by the Imperial German Navy ( " Kaiserliche Marine " ) , the only ship of her class . She was built at the Germaniawerft shipyard in Kiel ; her keel was laid in 1885 , she was launched in July 1886 , and she was commissioned in July 1887 . Unlike the other avisos built by Germany , " Greif " was equipped only with a gun armament . " Greif " served with the fleet from 1887 until 1911 , though she was not a particularly successful design and so saw little active service , having spent most of her time in reserve . In 1912 , she was reduced to a training ship for engine - room personnel . In 1917 , she was hulked for minelayers in Kiel . She was ultimately sold for scrapping in 1921 in Hamburg . Design . General characteristics . " Greif " 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 , and at combat loading , she displaced . Her hull was constructed with transverse steel frames and it contained twelve watertight compartments . " Greif " was a mediocre sea boat and was moderately handy . She pitched slightly but rolled significantly more . Her transverse metacentric height was . The ship had a crew of seven officers and 163 enlisted men , though the latter later increased to 178 . " Greif " carried several smaller boats , including one picket boat , two cutters , one yawl , and one dinghy . Machinery . " Greif " s propulsion system consisted of two horizontal 2 - cylinder double expansion engines built by AG Germania , which drove a pair of four - bladed screws that were wide in diameter . Steam for the engines was provided by six cylindrical , double - ended , coal - fired water - tube boilers split in three boiler rooms . In 1906 , she was reequipped with eight new cylindrical boilers in two boiler rooms , which slightly improved her performance . She was equipped with a pair of generators for electrical power ; they had a combined output of at 67 volts . Steering was controlled with a single rudder . The ship ' s propulsion system was rated at for a top speed of . On trials , " Greif " reached and . With the new boilers , her engines could reach and on speed trials . She could carry up to of coal , which provided a range of approximately at a cruising speed of . After her refit , she could carry of coal , which increased her range to at . Armament . Unlike the other avisos built by the German navy , which carried torpedo tube s as their primary armament , " Greif " was armed only with guns . As built , the ship was armed with two K L / 35 guns placed in pivot mounts . The ship was also equipped with ten machine gun s . In 1906 , the ship was rearmed with eight 8 . 8 cm SK L / 34 gun s in single mounts and six machine guns . Later in her career , two of the 8 . 8 cm guns and two machine guns were removed . " Greif " carried no armor protection . Service history . The ship was laid down at the Germaniawerft shipyard in Kiel in 1885 and launched on 29 July 1886 . Fitting - out work followed her launch , and was completed by 9 July 1887 , when she was commissioned into the German fleet . Following her commissioning , " Greif " served with the active duty fleet , though she saw little service , as she was an unsuccessful design . In 1897 , " Greif " was assigned to the II Division of the Maneuver Squadron for the annual summer training exercises in August and September . After the conclusion of the maneuvers , the II Division returned to its home port in Kiel for the winter . In early 1898 , " Gefion " returned to service in the II Division . In August and September 1900 , " Greif " was assigned to the Maneuver Squadron during the annual summer training exercises . During the maneuvers , she served in the cruiser screen for the hostile squadron , along with the old frigate . On 21 June 1911 , " Greif " was reduced to a special purpose ship for experimentation , and she was hulked on 25 October 1915 . She was thereafter used as a training ship for engine room personnel . In 1917 , she was converted into a hulk for minelayer s and based in Heikendorf outside Kiel . She served in this capacity for the last year of World War I . In 1921 , she was sold for scrapping and broken up in Hamburg .