SMS ''Adler'' was a

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-ste ...

of the

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Wilhel ...

. She was launched 3 November 1883 in the Imperial shipyard in Kiel. On 5 September 1888, she shelled

Manono Island Manono is an island of Samoa, situated in the Apolima Strait between the main islands of Savai'i and Upolu, 3.4 km west-northwest off Lefatu Cape, the westernmost point of Upolu. There are four villages on the island with a total populatio ...

and

Apolima Apolima is the smallest of the four inhabited islands of Samoa. It lies in the Apolima Strait, between the country's two largest islands: Upolu to the east, and Savai'i to the west. The island has one village settlement, Apolima Tai, with a ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

, which were strongholds of

Malietoa Mālietoa ( ''Mālietoa'') is a state dynasty and one of the four paramount chiefly titles of Samoa. It is the titular head of one of the two great royal families of Samoa: Sā Malietoa. Literally translated as "great warrior", the title's orig ...

’s forces. She was wrecked together with the German gunboat , the German corvette , the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

gunboat , the U.S. Navy

screw steamer A screw steamer or screw steamship is an old term for a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine, using one or more propellers (also known as ''screws'') to propel it through the water. Such a ship was also known as an "iron screw steam s ...

, and the U.S. Navy

sloop-of-war In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enco ...

on 16 March 1889 in a hurricane at

Apia Apia () is the capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō'') of Tuamasaga. Th ...

, Samoa, during the

Samoan crisis The Samoan Crisis was a standoff between the United States, the German Empire, and the British Empire from 1887 to 1889 over control of the Samoan Islands during the First Samoan Civil War. Background In 1878, the United States acquired a fuell ...

. Twenty crew members lost their lives.

Propulsion

*4-cylinder double-expansion steam engine *Coal-fired boilers *Speed:

Armament

*5 ×

built-up gun A built-up gun is artillery with a specially reinforced barrel. An inner tube of metal stretches within its elastic limit under the pressure of confined powder gases to transmit stress to outer cylinders that are under tension.Fairfield (1921) p. ...

s *5 × revolver guns File:SMS Adler 1889 1.jpg, The wrecked ship File:SMS Adler 1889 2.jpg, Rigging File:SMS Adler 1889 3.jpg, The wreck about 1938

References

Bibliography

Erich Gröner Erich Gröner (born 16 March 1901, Berlin; died 21 June 1965) was a German historian of naval warfare and shipbuilding. Early life and education Erich Gröner was born on 16 March 1901 in Berlin, then capital of the German Empire. From 1910 to ...

, ''Panzerschiffe, Linienschiffe, Schlachtschiffe, Flugzeugträger, Kreuzer, Kanonenboote'' = ''Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe, 1815-1945'' Vol.I, Bernard & Graefe, 1982, , pp. 166–167

Propulsion

Armament

References

Bibliography

Further reading

See also