SMS Zieten. SMS  was the first torpedo-armed aviso built for the Imperial German Navy (). She was built in Britain in 1875–1876, and was the last major warship built for Germany by a foreign shipyard. Ordered as a testbed for the new Whitehead torpedo,  was armed with a pair of  torpedo tubes, and was capable of a top speed of , making her the fastest ship in the German fleet at the time.  was the first torpedo-armed vessel in a series of avisos that ultimately developed into the first light cruisers. In addition to her impact in German warship design,  also influenced numerous other navies, who built dozens of similar avisos and torpedo vessels of their own.

 served for the first two decades of her career with the torpedo boat flotilla. In 1878–1880, she was captained by Alfred von Tirpitz, the future architect of the High Seas Fleet. In 1882, she cruised the Mediterranean Sea with several other German warships, and was present during the British bombardment of Alexandria, where she protected German interests.  was used as a fishery protection ship from 1899 until 1914, when the outbreak of World War I necessitated her mobilization as a coastal patrol ship. She served in this capacity for the duration of the war, and was stricken from the naval register in December 1919. The ship was finally sold for scrapping in August 1921, after forty-five years of service.

Design
In 1869, the Prussian Navy sent then- (KK) Alexander von Monts to Austria to examine the new Whitehead torpedoes then being developed there. Albrecht von Stosch, the commander in chief of the new Imperial German Navy, approved a plan to develop a torpedo arm for the German fleet a part of his fleet plan of 1872. Stosch envisioned a variety of torpedo craft, including small torpedo boats for use in coastal areas and larger vessels capable of operating at sea. He placed Monts in charge of the program in 1873. That year, Stosch's naval construction program called for a tender for the new torpedo boats. Because German firms had no experience building a ship of this type, the navy placed an order from the British firm the Thames Iron Works, which was to be built to the firm's design. The new vessel, named  after the 18th century cavalry commander Hans Joachim von Zieten, was to be the last major warship purchased by the German navy from a foreign shipyard.

In addition to the planned role as a tender for torpedo boats, she was also intended to serve as a test platform for the new self-propelled torpedo. Up to the mid-1870s, the German navy had only experimented with a handful of torpedo ships, all of which were equipped with the old spar torpedo.  spent much of her early career taking part in experiments with early torpedoes and as a tender for torpedo boats. The ship's design provided the basis for both later German avisos—the —and all subsequent light cruisers, but also inspired numerous foreign designs, such as several classes of French, Italian, and Austrian avisos and torpedo craft.

General characteristics
 was  long at the waterline and  long overall. She had a beam of  and a draft of  forward. She displaced  as designed and up to  at full load. The hull was constructed with transverse iron frames and contained eight watertight compartments. Initially,  had only a small bridge forward, but in 1899, a new superstructure was built; it included a conning tower with a compass platform. A chart house was also added forward of the funnel.

 was a good sea boat with a gentle motion, but she was very crank. She was very maneuverable, but she handled poorly in a head sea. In bad weather, she took on considerable amounts of water and was very dangerous. The ship had a crew of 6 officers and 88 enlisted men, though later in her career the figure rose to 7 and 99, respectively. During her career as a fishery protection ship, the number of enlisted sailors rose further, to 104.  carried a number of smaller boats: one picket boat, one cutter, two yawls, and one dinghy. Later in her career, the picket boat was removed and two barges were added.

Machinery
The ship's propulsion system consisted of two horizontal 2-cylinder double-expansion steam engines manufactured by John Penn and Sons. The engines drove two 3-bladed propellers that were  wide in diameter. Steam was provided by six coal-fired, cylindrical fire-tube boilers, also manufactured by John Penn and Sons, which were vented through a single funnel amidships. The boilers were replaced with new models in 1891 during a refit at the  (Imperial Shipyard) in Kiel. As built,  was fitted with a schooner rig with a sail area of  to supplement her steam engines, but this was later reduced to only an auxiliary gaff sail.

The engines were rated at , but only managed to reach  at maximum power. With the new boilers, the engines reached . Her top speed as designed was to have been , but with her original boilers, she could make  at full power. This speed nevertheless made  the fastest ship in the German fleet. With the new boilers, she could steam at up to .  could carry up to  of coal, which allowed her to steam for  at a cruising speed of . During the refit, she also had one electricity generator, with an output of  at 67 volts, installed.

Armament
s primary armament consisted of a pair of  torpedo tubes. Both were submerged in the hull, one in the bow and one in the stern. They were supplied with a total of ten Whitehead torpedoes. These powerful weapons, coupled with the ship's high speed and maneuverability, made her a formidable vessel for the period. In 1878, the forward torpedo tube was relocated to a swivel launched mounted on the deck, and two  guns were installed. She was also equipped with six machine guns. Later in her career, the torpedo tubes were removed, due to their obsolescence, and she was rearmed with six  SK L/40 guns, though two were later removed. The guns were supplied with a total of 864 rounds of ammunition, and could engage targets out to . She was also equipped to lay naval mines, and she could carry 49 of them.

Service history

Construction and torpedo testing

 was built by the Thames Iron Works in London. She was laid down in 1875 and was launched on 9 March 1876. She was completed on 15 July 1876, and commissioned into the German fleet on 1 August. KK Franz Mensing took command of the ship.  arrived at the German naval base at Wilhelmshaven ten days later. On the way to Wilhelmshaven, the ship conducted sea trials in the North Sea; upon her arrival, she was taken into the shipyard for fitting-out work. At the time of the ship's commissioning, Otto von Diederichs served aboard  as her executive officer in her first crew. Diederichs supervised the installation of the ship's torpedo tubes, along with the magazine for storing the torpedoes. The work lasted until September, which prevented  from participating in the annual August–September fleet exercises. Instead, she was sent to the torpedo training school at Friedrichsort in mid-September. She remained there until she was moved to Kiel to be decommissioned for the winter on 17 November. In March 1877, Diederichs returned to the ship and prepared her for service in the training season that year. The ship was ready for active duty by 11 June and thereafter conducted further sea trials and torpedo training.

After  entered service in June 1877, Diederichs was replaced by  (KL) Alfred von Tirpitz, who took over torpedo testing while he was assigned to the Torpedo School at Kiel. Diederichs meanwhile readied the old gunboat  as a tender for . On 18 September,  and  participated in the first major test of the new Whitehead torpedoes in the German navy, which was observed by Stosch. During the exercises,  scored three hits on a stationary target, one of which at a distance of , which was deemed a great success. After the conclusion of the maneuvers,  was placed in reserve on 2 October for the winter. The analysis of the testing showed that the bow-mounted torpedo tube was not satisfactory, and so Diederichs was tasked with redesigning her armament in January 1878. Diederichs moved the bow tube to a swivel mount on her deck, and added two 12 cm guns to improve her defense against small warships. The refit work was completed by 16 April 1878, permitting Tirpitz to take command of the ship on 6 May. He served as the ship's commander until August 1880. Tirpitz, as the commander of Germany's torpedo boat flotilla, staunchly advocated the development of torpedo craft rather than a fleet of battleships. 

After the ship returned to service in May 1878, she carried out experiments in the area off Friedrichsort, and thereafter began training sailors in the use of torpedoes, which the navy intended to install aboard larger vessels. On 13 May, she was present at the launching of the new ironclad .  thereafter conducted a torpedo demonstration for members of the , who observed aboard the aviso .  torpeoed and sank a small shallop, and then carried out tests with larger wooden-hulled vessels, including vessels with iron-reinforced hulls. The demonstrations led to plans to place torpedo-armed launches aboard the fleet's ironclads, though priority was given to development of the torpedoes themselves.  was decommissioned for the winter on 3 October.  was recommissioned on 5 May 1879 for her normal training and experimentation routine. That year, she sank the old aviso  with a pair of torpedoes.  was decommissioned for the winter again on 7 October. She was recommissioned on 3 May 1880, and on 28 July, during maneuvers with the fleet,  torpedoed and sank the old paddle steamer . The test was carried out off Heikendorf,  steaming at full speed and firing at a range of . In August, KL Max von Fischel relieved Tirpitz as the ship's commander.  was once again laid up for the winter on 15 October. The ship was thereafter withdrawn from her role as a torpedo training and test ship, as she was no longer sufficient for the task. The new screw corvette  had recently been completed as a purpose-built torpedo training vessel, and she replaced  in that role.

Service with the fleet

 underwent a major overhaul in 1881 and was recommissioned on 27 June under the command of KL Wilhelm Büchsel; on 16 August, she was reclassified as an aviso. The ship was present for a naval review held for Kaiser Wilhelm I on 17 September, during which she hosted  Helmuth von Moltke. On 1 October, she embarked a commission for a short trip to Alsen. She was again decommissioned on 20 October. She was recommissioned for another period of active service on 14 August 1882, now commanded by KK Carl Barandon. Five days later,  joined a cruising squadron that consisted of the screw corvettes  and , the steamer , and the gunboat , for operations in the Mediterranean Sea. The ships were present during the British bombardment of Alexandria in August 1882; they sent men ashore to protect the German embassy, along with a German-run hospital.  was at Alexandria on 30 September, where she was replaced by the gunboat , though  remained in the area until 14 October, by which time the situation had calmed. She departed for Germany that day, but stopped in numerous Mediterranean ports on her way back, arriving in Kiel on 15 November. There, she was again decommissioned ten days later. 

The ship remained out of service for the following three years, and she was assigned as the aviso for the Reserve Division on 15 November 1885, though she remained out of commission at that time. She was reactivated on 30 July 1886 to take part in the fleet maneuvers that were carried out in the North and Baltic Seas, before being decommissioned again on 29 September. She spent much of 1887 in drydock to have her boilers replaced, and she carried out sea trials from late January 1888 to the end of February. In May, she returned to active service with the Ironclad Training Squadron, now under the command of KK Oscar Klausa. In July,  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.  was decommissioned again on 20 September. The ship was next recommissioned on 1 May 1889, and that year she joined the Training Squadron that escorted Wilhelm II on a visit to the United Kingdom. Her active service concluded after that year's fleet exercises, when she was decommissioned on 19 September. The 1890 service period lasted from 2 May to 1 October, during which she took part in routine training exercises with the rest of the fleet. These were interrupted from 9 to 26 July by another cruise in company with Wilhelm II, this time to Norway.

 was recommissioned on 1 May 1891 for another training cycle that lasted until 25 September. During this period, KK Louis Riedel served as the ship's captain. On 26 June, the ship was sent to aid the ironclads  and , which had run aground on a shoal in the Putziger Wiek. On the night of 8–9 August, the ship's executive officer and doctor drowned in an accident with a boat off Zoppot.  was reactivated on 30 April 1892 under KK Emil Freiherr von Lyncker's command and was assigned to what was now I Division of the Maneuver Fleet. This service lasted until 30 September, when she was decommissioned once again; this ended her second major period of active service. She remained out of commission for the next five years, during which she was extensively modified again.

Fishery protection duties

 was next recommissioned on 16 March 1897 for service as a fishery protection vessel, replacing the aviso  in that role. She served in this capacity for the next seventeen years, cruising as far north as Iceland, as far west as the English Channel, and into the Skagerrak and Kattegat. She protected German fishermen in disputes with other countries and came to the aid of German and foreign vessels in distress. During the winter months, when fishing vessels did not generally operate,  would be laid up in Wilhelmshaven with a reduced crew. The ship began operations on 6 April 1897, and in early June, she held a training school with the German Maritime Fishing Association to teach sailors maritime law, helmsmanship, and medical procedures to prepare them for life at sea. On 20 June, she was present for a sailing regatta at the mouth of the Elbe. The ship thereafter visited Ostend, Belgium, for a conference with the commanders of fishery protection ships of several other countries that lasted from 30 June to 5 July. Included were the British , the Belgian Ville D'Ostende, the Danish gunboat , the Dutch gunboat , and the French . The chief topic of discussion was a standardized signaling system to be used by the vessels in question. On 22 September,  anchored in Wilhelmshaven, remaining there until early October. At that time, the unprotected cruiser  joined  on fishery patrol duties.  was decommissioned for the winter on 29 November.

In 1898, the navy planned a major cruise into the Arctic Ocean, but  was not suitable for the voyage, so her crew was transferred to the screw corvette  instead.  was assigned as the dispatch vessel for the Reserve Squadron in the North Sea that year, along with the coastal defense ships  and , though she remained out of service through the rest of the year. She was recommissioned in 16 March 1899 for another stint patrolling the fishing grounds in the North Sea and Atlantic. KK Hartwig von Dassel served as the ship's commander at this time. On 24 May, she stopped the British fishing vessel Prome, which was illegally fishing off Amrum. s crew arrested an officer and four men from the boat and took them to Wilhelmshaven, where they were handed over to the police.  returned to Wilhelmshaven on 19 August to have her boilers overhauled, after which she joined the fleet maneuvers being carried out in the Baltic. She was thereafter decommissioned again in Wilhelmshaven on 30 November. The ship remained out of service through 1900 for another major reconstruction that significantly altered the vessel's appearance. She was recommissioned on 15 March 1901, and thereafter embarked on a survey off Iceland with a newly built fishing trawler to determine the best fishing grounds and times. s crew celebrated the ship's 25th anniversary of her first commissioning on 2 August. During large-scale maneuvers held in conjunction with the German Army,  served as a convoy escort for a group of troopships carrying IX Corps to Amrun.

 continued in her typical fishery protection duties in 1902, and she was supported by the old gunboat . During this period,  Paul Boethke commanded the ship. On 27 June, she took part in amphibious landing training in company with the ironclads  and  at the island of Borkum. In September,  participated in the final exercises during the annual fleet maneuvers. The next several years passed relatively uneventfully. Beginning in 1903, several torpedo boats were used to support the ship on fishery patrols. She joined the fleet for its annual training maneuvers in mid-August 1905. From October 1905 to September 1906, KK Carl Wedding commanded the ship. She again participated in the fleet exercises from 25 August to 7 September 1907, this time as part of the Supply Ship Unit. She took part in the 1908 maneuvers as well, which lasted from 31 August to 12 September. Following the conclusion of the exercises, KK Friedrich von Bülow took command of the vessel, serving in that role to September of the following year. On 11 October 1908, during the Gordon Bennett balloon race, several balloons were blown out into the North Sea by unfavorable winds, and  was involved in the rescue effort. She reprised her role with the supply ships during the 1909 fleet maneuvers, which lasted from mid-August to 5 September. On 3 December, she and the torpedo boat  searched for several fishing boats that had gone missing in a severe winter storm. She was laid up for 1910 for a major overhaul. After returning to service in 1911, she conducted experiments contacting fishing vessels with a wireless telegraph, beginning on 10 April. She seized several British vessels illegally fishing in German waters in 1912, during which time the ship was commanded by KK Erich von Zeppelin. In May 1914, her crew boarded another British fishing boat.

World War I and fate
Following the start of World War I in late July 1914,  was mobilized as part of the German coastal defense forces. On 1 August, she was assigned to the harbor flotilla that was based in the Jade Bay and the mouth of the Weser. She supported the coastal patrols there for most of the conflict, until July 1918, when she became the flotilla leader for a group of patrol vessels based in the Elbe. In November 1918, Germany agreed to an armistice that ended the war, and the following month s crew was reduced. She remained in service into 1919, and she made several voyages in the North Sea beginning in January. These included acting as the pilot ship for the lightvessel that was stationed on the south side of the Dogger Bank, and escorting U-boats of the 14th U-boat Group on their way to be surrendered at Harwich, United Kingdom.  was decommissioned on 5 July, nearly forty-three years after her first commissioning; she was the second-longest serving vessel of the Imperial German fleet, after the aviso .  was stricken from the naval register on 6 December 1919. The ship was sold on 18 April 1921 for 655,000 marks and broken up in Wilhelmshaven.

Notes

References
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

1876 ships
Avisos of the Imperial German Navy
Ships built by the Blackwall Yard