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Arcona at anchor
Class overview
Builders	Königliche Werft, Danzig
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	Augusta-class corvette
Built	1855–1869
In service	1859–1904
Completed	5
Scrapped	5
General characteristics
Type	Steam frigate
Displacement	2,391 t (2,353 long tons)
Length	71.95 m (236 ft 1 in)
Beam	13 m (42 ft 8 in)
Draft	5.55 m (18 ft 3 in)
Installed power	4 × fire-tube boilers 1,365 PS (1,346 ihp)
Propulsion	1 × marine steam engine 1 × screw propeller
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Speed	12.4 knots (23.0 km/h; 14.3 mph)
Range	1,150 nmi (2,130 km; 1,320 mi) at 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Complement	35 officers 345 enlisted men
Armament	6 × 68-pounder guns 20 × 36 pounder guns
Notes

The Arcona class of steam frigates was a class of five vessels built for the Prussian Navy in the late 1850s and 1860s. The class comprised Arcona, Gazelle, Vineta, Hertha, and Elisabeth.

Design

Characteristics

The ships of the class varied slightly in dimensions. Arcona and Gazelle were 71.95 meters (236 ft 1 in) long overall and had a beam of 13 m (42 ft 8 in) and a draft of 5.55 m (18 ft 3 in) forward. They displaced 1,928 metric tons (1,898 long tons) as designed and 2,391 t (2,353 long tons) at full load. The ships had short forecastle and sterncastle decks. Their superstructure consisted primarily of a small deckhouse aft. They had a crew of 35 officers and 345 enlisted men.

The ships' propulsion system consisted of a single horizontal single-expansion steam engine driving a single screw propeller, with steam supplied by four coal-burning fire-tube boilers. Exhaust was vented through a single funnel located amidships. Arcona was rated to steam at a top speed of 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph), but she significantly exceeded this speed, reaching 12.4 knots (23.0 km/h; 14.3 mph) from 1,365 metric horsepower (1,346 ihp). The ship had a cruising radius of about 1,150 nautical miles (2,130 km; 1,320 mi) at a speed of 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph). To supplement the steam engine on long voyages abroad, they carried a full-ship rig with a total surface area of 2,200 m (24,000 sq ft). The screw could be retracted while cruising under sail.

Arcona and Gazelle were armed with a battery of six 68-pounder guns and twenty 36-pounder guns. By 1870, they had been rearmed with a uniform battery of seventeen 15 cm (5.9 in) RK L/22 guns; later in her career, the number of these guns was reduced to eight.

Ships

Service history

Footnotes

Notes

1. Figures are for Arcona
2. According to Dirk Nottelmann, no definitive record of the ship's keel laying is known to exist, but the available evidence suggests work began the same day as Gazelle

Citations

1. ^ Gröner, p. 42.
2. Lyon, p. 250.
3. Nottelmann, p. 114.
4. Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 1, p. 235.
5. Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz Vol. 1, p. 237.
6. ^ Nottelmann, p. 118.
7. ^ Nottelmann, p. 120.
8. ^ Nottelmann, p. 122.
9. ^ Nottelmann, p. 125.

References

• Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships: 1815–1945. Vol. I: Major Surface Vessels. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6.
• Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart [The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in German). Vol. 1. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 3-78220-237-6.
• Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart [The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in German). Vol. 3. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 3-7822-0211-2.
• Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart [The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in German). Vol. 4. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0382-1.
• Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart [The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in German). Vol. 8. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag.
• Lyon, Hugh (1979). "Germany". In Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
• Nottelmann, Dirk (2022). Wright, Christopher C. (ed.). "From "Wooden Walls" to "New-Testament Ships": The Development of the German Armored Cruiser 1854–1918, Part I: "Humble Beginnings"". Warship International. LIX (2): 102–129. ISSN 0043-0374.
• Sondhaus, Lawrence (1997). Preparing for Weltpolitik: German Sea Power Before the Tirpitz Era. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-745-7.

• Arcona-class frigates