SMS was a built for the German Imperial Navy () in the late 1870s. The ship was named after the Prussian Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder. She was the fourth member of the class, which included five other vessels. The -class corvettes were ordered as part of a major naval construction program in the early 1870s, and she was designed to serve as a fleet scout and on extended tours in Germany's colonial empire. was laid down in July 1875, launched in October 1877, and was commissioned into the fleet in April 1878. She was armed with a battery of ten guns and had a full ship rig to supplement her steam engine on long cruises abroad.
went on one major overseas deployment in the 1880s to South America. There, she visited ports in several South American countries in the aftermath of the War of the Pacific and carried the German expedition for the International Polar Year to South Georgia Island. After returning to Germany in 1885, she became a training ship for naval cadets and later apprentice seamen. The ship served in this capacity from 1885 to 1908, during which time her activity consisted primarily of fleet training exercises and overseas training cruises. These cruises frequently went to the West Indies and Mediterranean Sea. She was stricken from the naval register in October 1910, converted into a barracks ship, and assigned to the U-boat school in Kiel. In October 1911, was renamed and she served in this capacity until 1920, when she was sold to ship breakers in July and subsequently dismantled for scrap.
Design
The six ships of the class were ordered in the early 1870s to supplement Germany's fleet of cruising warships, which at that time relied on several ships that were twenty years old. and her sister ships were intended to patrol Germany's colonial empire and safeguard German economic interests around the world. They were designed as a smaller and more economical version of the preceding s.
was long overall, with a beam of and a draft of forward. She displaced at full load. The ship's crew consisted of 18 officers and 386 enlisted men. Her hull had a straight stem and was sheathed with zinc to prevent marine biofouling on long voyages abroad.
She was powered by a single marine steam engine that drove one 2-bladed screw propeller, with steam provided by four coal-fired fire-tube boilers, which was vented through a single, retractable funnel. Her propulsion system gave her a top speed of at . She had a cruising radius of at a speed of . As built, was equipped with a full ship rig, but this was later reduced.
was armed with a battery of sixteen 22-caliber (cal.) breech-loading guns and four 25-cal. guns. Her armament was revised several times during her career; by 1890, the number of 15 cm guns had been reduced to ten. She also had six Hotchkiss revolver cannon installed for close-range defense against torpedo boats. During another refit in the early 1890s, her main battery was restored to sixteen guns. In 1895, a pair of guns were added, along with four guns. In the early 1900s, she was rearmed with a pair of guns, ten 8.8 cm guns, and four 3.7 cm guns.
Service history was the first member of the to be laid down; construction began in July 1875 under the contract name at the (Imperial Shipyard) in Danzig. Work proceeded more slowly on than her sister , since the government shipyards were not as experienced as the private builders like that built ; proved to be the fourth member of the class to be launched and the class bore s name rather than s as a result. At the launching ceremony for on 18 October 1877, Admiral Albrecht von Stosch christened the ship with the ship's namesake, (Field Marshal) Helmuth von Moltke, in attendance. Fitting-out work was completed by April 1878, and on the 16th she was commissioned for initial service. She was transferred to Kiel on 28–29 April, where her armament and other final pieces of equipment were installed. She began sea trials on 18 November, which were completed on 21 December.
Deployment to South America
was formally activated on 1 April 1881 for an overseas deployment to South America, which she began on 17 April. After arriving in Valparaíso, Chile on 14 July, she replaced the corvette and proceeded to Coquimbo, Chile, where riots due to the Peruvian victory in the War of the Pacific threatened Germans in the city. She arrived there on 19 July and remained there until mid-September, when she toured several port cities in Peru over the following two months. thereafter went further north and visited cities in Central America, including San José, Costa Rica. On 16 February 1882, returned to Valparaíso and on 14 March sailed north to Coquimbo. She remained there until 17 May, when she departed for Montevideo, Uruguay, but due to severe storms in the Strait of Magellan forced her to wait, and she was able to reach Montevideo only in late June.
In Montevideo, embarked the scientific expedition Germany contributed to the first International Polar Year, which was to spend a year on South Georgia Island making scientific observations on a range of phenomena, including disturbances in the geomagnetic field. left Montevideo with the expedition aboard on 23 July, with their equipment carried aboard the HSDG steamship ; the two ships arrived at the island on 12 August after navigating heavy seas and icebergs. It took more than a week to find a suitable landing site, and on 21 August, the scientists went ashore at what is now known as Moltke Harbor on the north side of Royal Bay, which was named for the ship. They finished unloading their equipment and setting up their housing on 24 August with the help of the crew, and on 3 September, departed for other tasks. The corvette arrived the following year to retrieve the expedition.
After leaving South George Island, sailed to Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands, and from there she returned to the west coast of South America. Beginning on 20 October, she visited several Chilean ports and the Juan Fernández Islands. She returned to Valparaíso in late January 1883, where she met the corvette . went to visit Hawaii while remained off South America, though she sailed north to tour Peru and Ecuador, beginning on 28 February. After returning to Valparaíso, received the order to return to Germany on 8 July. While passing through the Strait of Magellan, she conducted a survey of coastal waters. On 4 August, she met her replacement, , before continuing north into the Atlantic. stopped in Porto Grande in the Cape Verde Islands while en route, and she reached Kiel on 2 October; she was decommissioned there on 23 October.
Training ship 1885–1889
returned to service on 15 April 1885 for use as a training ship for naval cadets. Shortly thereafter, she went on a training cruise in the Baltic Sea, and on 20 May, began a tour of Norwegian ports. She then crossed the northern Atlantic to Iceland, stopping in the Berufjörður and visiting Reykjavík. She left Iceland and on 2 July stopped in Lough Swilly, Ireland, where she stayed for a month. She then sailed to Portsmouth, Britain where on 15 August she received the order to return to Germany immediately to join the Training Squadron, which was to participate in the annual fleet exercises from 30 August to 23 September. After the conclusion of the maneuvers, she went to the in Kiel on 25 September for maintenance in preparation for the next training cruise.
rejoined the Training Squadron on 1 October, and the ships embarked on the next training cruise on 11 October, sailing to the West Indies. While on the way, the squadron stopped in São Vicente, Cape Verde from 13 to 30 November, during a period of tension between Germany and Spain over competing claims to the Caroline Islands in the central Pacific. After the conflict was resolved, the ships were ordered to continue their voyage. While in the West Indies, visited Port of Spain. The ships arrived back in Wilhelmshaven on 27 March 1886, where the squadron was dissolved. went into the in Kiel for an overhaul in April, after which the squadron was reformed for the 1886 training year. During the fleet maneuvers in August and September, the ships served as the II Division. On 14 October, the squadron began the winter training cruise, which again went to the West Indies and concluded in Wilhelmshaven on 30 March 1887.
went to Kiel on 3 June to take part in a celebration marking the beginning of construction on the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, after which she took part in the annual fleet maneuvers. On 1 October, the Training Squadron began the winter cruise to the Mediterranean, and in December, while in Sanremo they took part in a naval review for then-Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, who succeeded his father, Kaiser Wilhelm I after the latter's death on 9 March 1888. The ships arrived back in Wilhelmshaven on 10 April, after which went to Kiel eight days later for another overhaul. The training year for 1888 was interrupted by the death of Friedrich Wilhelm after just three months on the throne, and s next activity was a trip to Russian and Scandinavian ports for the new Kaiser, Wilhelm II. The annual fleet maneuvers followed in August and September, and on 29 September, the winter training cruise to the Mediterranean began. visited numerous ports in Greece, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire before the squadron returned to Wilhelmshaven on 16 April 1889. The squadron was then disbanded and was decommissioned on 30 April.
1889–1897
The ship was taken into the in Kiel for an extensive reconstruction, which included new boilers, new quick-firing guns, and housing arrangements for up to 50 cadets and 210 (apprentice seamen). Her rigging was also reduced. On 1 January 1891, she was formally assigned to the list of training ships, and she returned to service on 7 April; the ship's namesake and Wilhelm II attended this recommissioning ceremony. had to send a delegation to Berlin just three weeks later on 28 April for the funeral of Moltke, who had died four days before. began another training cruise on 15 June, visiting the West Indies, La Guaira, Venezuela, and Bahía Blanca, Argentina. While on the way back to Germany, she stopped in Norfolk, United States on 13 June 1892, and the Isle of Wight for the Cowes Regatta in early August. Here, she joined Wilhelm II aboard his yacht, , before continuing on to Kiel, arriving on 9 August. She joined the fleet maneuvers immediately thereafter, and was decommissioned on 30 September after their conclusion.
returned to service on 5 April 1893 and she conducted training in the Baltic Sea, which lasted until 8 June. During this period, she suffered a serious accident on 24 May, when the steamship accidentally collided with one of s dinghies and capsized it, killing six . joined the fleet maneuvers as part of III Division, beginning on 20 August and continuing until 22 September. The winter cruise began on 14 October and went to the Mediterranean. visited Piraeus on 21 January 1894, where she was visited by Wilhelm II, his sister Sophia of Prussia, and her husband, Crown Prince Constantine of Greece. Wilhelm arranged the visit over the objections of Chancellor Leo von Caprivi, who opposed a friendly visit due to the Greek government's stoppage of payments toward foreign loans, many of which were held by Germany. A week later, went to Corfu, where she stayed for four weeks.