SMS Drache
 Drache at anchor after her 1867 refit | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Austro-Hungarian Empire
| |
| Name: | SMS Drache |
| Namesake: | Dragon |
| Builder: | Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino, Trieste |
| Laid down: | February 1861 |
| Launched: | 9 September 1861 |
| Completed: | November 1862 |
| Struck: | 13 June 1875 |
| Fate: | Scrapped, 1883 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Type: | Drache-class armored frigate |
| Displacement: | 2,707 long tons (2,750 t) |
| Length: | 62.78 m (206 ft 0 in) |
| Beam: | 13.94 m (45 ft 9 in) |
| Draft: | 6.3 m (20 ft 8 in) |
| Installed power: | 1,842 ihp (1,374 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 1 shaft, 1 steam engine |
| Speed: | 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) |
| Complement: | 346 |
| Armament: |
|
| Armor: | Waterline belt: 115 mm (4.5 in) |
SMS Drache was a Drache-class armored frigate built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the 1860s. The ship participated in the Austrian victory over the Italians in the Battle of Lissa. She was stricken from the Navy List in 1875 and broken up in 1883.
Design and description
The Drache class was designed in response to the Formidabile-class ironclads bought from France by Italy in 1860.[1] They had an overall length of 70.1 meters (230 ft 0 in), a beam of 14 meters (45 ft 11 in) and a draft of 6.8 meters (22 ft 4 in). They displaced 2,824 long tons (2,869 t) at normal load, and 3,110 long tons (3,160 t) at deep load. The ships had a horizontal steam engine that drove their single propeller using steam provided by four boilers that exhausted through one funnel. The engine produced a total of 2,060 indicated horsepower (1,540 kW) which gave the ships a speed of 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph). For long-distance travel, the Draches were fitted with three masts and barque rigged.[1] The ships had a complement of 346 officers and crewmen.[2]
The frigates were armed with ten 48-pounder smoothbore guns and eighteen 24-pounder rifled, muzzle-loading (RML) guns. They were equipped with ram bows. The Drache-class ironclads had a waterline belt of wrought iron that was 115 millimeters (4.5 in) thick.[2]
Construction and career
Drache was laid down at Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino at its Trieste shipyard on 18 February 1861, launched on 9 September 1861, and completed in November 1862. She was damaged during the Battle of Lissa. The ship was refitted and rearmed in 1867–68 with ten 178-millimeter (7 in) and two bronze 51-millimeter (2 in) RML guns.[3]
Footnotes
References
- Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
- Sullivan, J. T. (1880). "Navies of the World". The United Service (Philadelphia, PA: L. R. Hamersly & Co.) III: 688–690.