SMS ''Panther'' was a

torpedo cruiser A torpedo cruiser is a type of warship that is armed primarily with torpedoes. The major navies began building torpedo cruisers shortly after the invention of the locomotive Whitehead torpedo in the 1860s. The development of the torpedo gave rise ...

(''Torpedoschiff'') of the

Austro-Hungarian Navy The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (german: kaiserliche und königliche Kriegsmarine, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', hu, Császári és Királyi Haditengerészet) was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the A ...

. She and her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

, were part of a program to build up Austria-Hungary's

fleet Fleet may refer to: Vehicles *Fishing fleet *Naval fleet * Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles * Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada * Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England *The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Beac ...

of torpedo craft in the 1880s. She was the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

of her class, and was built in Britain by Armstrong, from her

keel laying Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

in October 1884 to her completion in December 1885. She was armed with a battery of two guns and ten guns, along with four

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed abo ...

s. After arriving in Austria-Hungary, ''Panther'' initially served with the main fleet. During this period, she visited Spain for the

1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition The 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition (in Catalan: ''Exposició Universal de Barcelona'' and ''Exposición Universal de Barcelona'' in Spanish) was Spain's first International World's Fair and ran from 8 April to 9 December 1888. It was also the ...

. Starting in the mid-1890s, the ship spent much of her time abroad. From 1896 to 1898, she was stationed in China, and she sent a shore party to help United States

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (ref ...

protect US civilians during a riot. She went on a cruise in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

in 1902, and in 1905, she visited

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the histori ...

. ''Panther'' was modernized in 1909–1910 and received a new gun armament. At the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

in July 1914, the ship was assigned to the Coastal Defense Special Group; these ships provided artillery support to an Austro-Hungarian Army attack in January 1916 that knocked Montenegro out of the war. The next year, ''Panther'' was withdrawn from frontline service and employed as a

training ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house classr ...

. Awarded to Britain in the postwar division of

war prize A prize of war is a piece of enemy property or land seized by a belligerent party during or after a war or battle, typically at sea. This term was used nearly exclusively in terms of captured ships during the 18th and 19th centuries. Basis in inte ...

s, ''Panther'' was

broken up Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of parts, which can be sold for re-use, or for the extraction ...

for scrap in Italy in 1920.

Design

''Panther'' was long overall, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy * Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy ** Laser beam * Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized g ...

of and a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a ves ...

of . She displaced . The ship's

propulsion system Propulsion is the generation of force by any combination of pushing or pulling to modify the translational motion of an object, which is typically a rigid body (or an articulated rigid body) but may also concern a fluid. The term is derived from ...

consisted of a pair of two-cylinder vertical

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struct ...

steam engines A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be tr ...

. On trials, ''Panther'' reached a speed of from , slightly slower than her

. Her crew numbered 186 officers and men. The ship was armed with two 35- caliber (cal.) guns manufactured by

Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krupp ...

in single mounts. These were supported by a battery of four

quick-firing gun A quick-firing or rapid-firing gun is an artillery piece, typically a gun or howitzer, which has several characteristics which taken together mean the weapon can fire at a fast rate. Quick-firing was introduced worldwide in the 1880s and 1890s an ...

s and six 47 mm

revolver cannon A revolver cannon is a type of autocannon, commonly used as an aircraft gun. It uses a cylinder with multiple chambers, like those of a revolver handgun, to speed up the loading-firing-ejection cycle. Some examples are also power-driven, to fu ...

. She was also armed with four

s. The torpedo tubes were located singly, in the bow,

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

, and at either beam. ''Panther'' was protected with a thin armored deck.

Service

''Panther'' was built in Britain by the Armstrong shipyard in Elswick. Her

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in B ...

was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

on 29 October 1884, and her completed hull was launched on 13 June 1885. She was completed on 31 December 1885. On 15 January 1886, the ship's first commander arrived to take the ship to Pola, which she reached on 12 February. Upon arrival, she was taken into the shipyard to have her armament installed, including her torpedo tubes in 1887. After this work was completed in 1887, ''Panther'' entered service with the fleet, where she served as a

flotilla leader A flotilla leader was a warship of late 19th century and early 20th century navies suitable for commanding a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships, typically a small cruiser or a large destroyer (known as a destroyer leader). The flot ...

for

torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of s ...

s. This included a period of service with the main fleet from 6 May to 5 June in 1886. She participated in the annual fleet maneuvers in 1888, along with the ironclads , , , , and the cruisers ''Leopard'' and . That year, ''Panther'' and ''Leopard'' joined a squadron that included the ironclads ''Tegetthoff'', ''Custoza'', ''Kaiser Max'', ''Don Juan d'Austria'', and to represent Austria-Hungary in the opening ceremonies for the Barcelona Universal Exposition from 25 April to 2 May. This was the largest squadron of the Austro-Hungarian Navy that had operated outside the Adriatic. On 21 June, she ran aground and the ship's captain,

Rudolf Montecuccoli Rudolf Graf Montecuccoli degli Erri (22 February 1843-16 May 1922) was chief of the Austro-Hungarian Navy from 1904 to 1913 and largely responsible for the modernization of the fleet before the First World War. Overview Montecuccoli was born i ...

, later the chief of the '' Marinesektion'', was reprimanded and forced to pay for the repair costs. In early 1896, ''Panther'' was adapted for extended overseas cruises. From 1 May 1896 to 28 February 1898, ''Panther'' was deployed to the East Asian station. During this period, she assisted American

from the

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 ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

. The Austro-Hungarian landing party ''Panther'' sent ashore helped the Marines protect American civilians during riots in the area. ''Panther'' returned home in 1898 after having been relieved by the old corvettes and . After returning to Austria-Hungary, she was decommissioned in 1899. She returned to active duty for service with the summer training squadron in 1900 and 1902. In 1902, ''Panther'' cruised the western

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

and briefly into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

, making a call in Rabat, Morocco. One of the purposes of the trip was to deliver a gift to Abdelaziz, the Sultan of Morocco. The ship went to

in 1905, departing Austria-Hungary on 15 January, under the command of Captain

Ludwig von Höhnel Ludwig Ritter von Höhnel (6 August 1857, Preßburg – 23 March 1942, Vienna) was an Austrian naval officer and explorer. He was trained at the naval academy in Fiume, then part of the Austrian empire. His brother was the naturalist Franz Xaver ...

. The ship stopped in French-controlled

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Re ...

, where Höhnel and a group left the ship to travel overland to

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...

, where they concluded a trading treaty for Austria-Hungary. Höhnel's mission lasted from 4 February to 10 April. From there, ''Panther'' continued on in the Pacific Ocean, making visits in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and China, before ultimately returning to Austria-Hungary on 22 December 1906. In June 1909, the ship was drydocked for modernization that included a complete overhaul of her gun battery; after emerging from the shipyard, she carried four 45-cal. guns and ten 47 mm QF guns, along with her original torpedo tubes. Electric lighting and equipment to bake bread were also installed. From 16 August 1909 to 15 November 1910, ''Panther'' made another voyage to East Asia; during the trip, she cruised in Japan's inland sea and made several stops along the Chinese coast. From her return to Austria-Hungary to 1913, she served as a station ship in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...

. At the outbreak of

in July 1914, ''Panther'' was assigned to the Coastal Defense Special Group, along with the three s and the cruiser . The ships were commanded by

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

Richard von Barry. From 8 to 10 January 1916, ''Panther'' and the ships of the Coastal Defense Special Group provided artillery support to the troops of the XIX Corps as they mounted a major attack to destroy Montenegrin forces from Mount Lovcen. The success of the offensive forced Montenegro out of the war shortly thereafter. Later that year, she had one of her 66 mm guns replaced with a 66 mm gun in an anti-aircraft mounting. From 15 February 1917, she was employed as a

for the Submarine Commander's School in Cattaro Bay. On 6 May, she was taken to Pola for an overhaul, and returned to training duties on 29 May. Under the terms of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Britain received ''Panther'' as a

in 1920, but she was instead sold to ship breakers in Italy and scrapped in 1920.

Notes

References

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Panther (1885) Panther-class cruisers Ships built on the River Tyne 1885 ships World War I cruisers of Austria-Hungary Ships built by Armstrong Whitworth