SMS Kronprinz (1867) - Service History

Service History

Kronprinz was laid down in 1866 at the Samuda Brothers shipyard in London. The British naval architect Edward Reed designed the ship, and resulted in a vessel similar to the contemporary, French-built Prussian ironclad Friedrich Carl. The ship was launched on 6 May 1867 and commissioned into the Prussian Navy four months later on 19 September 1867. On the voyage from England to Prussia, the ship lost her main mast in a storm. The ship immediately went into dock for refitting upon arrival in Prussia; the mast was repaired and the ship's armament was converted from the initial arrangement.

At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the greatly numerically inferior Prussian Navy assumed a defensive posture against a naval blockade imposed by the French Navy. Kronprinz and the broadside ironclads Friedrich Carl and König Wilhelm, along with the small ironclad ram Prinz Adalbert, had been steaming in the English Channel before the French declared war; they had left Plymouth on 10 July with the intention of steaming to Fayal in the Azores. On the 13th, however, they put into port and learned of the rising tension between France and Prussia. The ships therefore returned to Wilhelmshaven immediately, arriving on 16 July. France declared war on Prussia three days later on 19 July. Kronprinz, Friedrich Carl, and König Wilhelm were concentrated in the North Sea at the port of Wilhelmshaven.They were subsequently joined there by the turret ship Arminius, which had been stationed in Kiel. For the duration of the conflict, Kronprinz was commanded by Captain Reinhold von Werner.

Despite the great French naval superiority, the French had conducted insufficient pre-war planning for an assault on the Prussian naval installations, and concluded that it would only be possible with Danish assistance, which was not forthcoming. The four ships, under the command of Vice Admiral Jachmann, made an offensive sortie in early August 1870 out to the Dogger Bank, though they encountered no French warships. Kronprinz and the other two broadside ironclads thereafter suffered from chronic engine trouble, which left Arminius alone to conduct operations. Kronprinz, Friedrich Carl, and König Wilhelm stood off the island of Wangerooge for the majority of the conflict, while Arminius was stationed in the mouth of the Elbe river. On 11 September, the three broadside ironclads were again ready for action; they joined Arminius for another major operation into the North Sea. It too did not encounter French opposition, as the French Navy had by this time returned to France.

Engine problems plagued the ship throughout her career; Kronprinz's engines broke down during the fleet maneuvers in May 1883. Two of the three other armored frigates also broke down, which forced the cancellation of the maneuvers. Kronprinz had anti-torpedo nets installed in 1885; these were removed in 1897. The ship served on active duty with the fleet until 22 August 1901, when she was stricken from the naval register. She was reconstructed at the Imperial Dockyard in Kiel that year. The propulsion system was overhauled and the eight J Penn & Sons boilers were removed. Two Dürr and two Thornycroft boilers were installed in their place. Her barque rig was cut down to 1,409 square meters (15,170 sq ft). After emerging from the reconstruction, Kronprinz served as a training ship for engine-room personnel, based in Kiel. The ship was ultimately sold to Bonn, a German ship-breaking firm, on 3 October 1921 for 5,000,000 marks. Kronprinz was broken up for scrap in Rendsburg-Audorf later that year.