SMS Carola

SMS Carola was the lead ship of the Carola class of steam corvettes built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the 1880s. Intended for service in the German colonial empire, the ship was designed with a combination of steam and sail power for extended range, and was equipped with a battery of ten 15-centimeter (5.9 in) guns. Carola was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin in 1879, launched in November 1880, and completed in September 1881.

Carola was sent abroad twice during her career, the first immediately after entering service in 1881 and lasting into 1883. She sailed to the central Pacific Ocean to protect German interests in Samoa and Melanesia and was the first German warship to reach what would become German Southwest Africa. Her second deployment came in 1886, and lasted into 1891; the tour saw Carola alternate between German East Africa and the central Pacific. During operations in the former from 1888 to 1890, she participated in anti-slave trade operations and helped suppress the Abushiri revolt.

After returning to Germany in 1891, Carola was converted into a gunnery training ship, as she was by then obsolete as a warship. She served in this capacity through the 1890s and early 1900s, before being decommissioned in 1905, sold the following year, and broken up for scrap.

The six ships of the Carola class were ordered in the late 1870s to supplement Germany's fleet of cruising warships, which at that time relied on several ships that were twenty years old. Carola and her sister ships were intended to patrol Germany's colonial empire and safeguard German economic interests around the world.

Carola was 76.35 meters (250 ft 6 in) long overall, with a beam of 12.5 m (41 ft) and a draft of 4.98 m (16 ft 4 in) forward. She displaced 2,424 metric tons (2,386 long tons) at full load. The ship's crew consisted of 10 officers and 246 enlisted men. She was powered by a single marine steam engine that drove one 2-bladed screw propeller, with steam provided by eight coal-fired fire-tube boilers, which gave her a top speed of 13.7 knots (25.4 km/h; 15.8 mph) at 2,367 metric horsepower (2,335 ihp). She had a cruising radius of 3,420 nautical miles (6,330 km; 3,940 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). As built, Carola was equipped with a three-masted barque rig, but she had her rigging reduced in 1891.

Carola was armed with a battery of ten 15 cm (5.9 in) 22-caliber (cal.) breech-loading guns and two 8.7 cm (3.4 in) 24-cal. guns. She also carried six 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss revolver cannons. The 15 cm guns were later reduced to six and then four guns, and the 8.7 cm guns were replaced with a pair of 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/35 guns, eight 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/30 guns, and two 5 cm (2 in) SK L/40 guns.

Carola was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin in late 1879 under the contract designation "E", denoting a new addition to the fleet. She was launched on 27 November 1880, and during the ceremony she was christened Carola in honor of Queen Carola of Saxony. After completing fitting-out work, Carola was commissioned on 1 September 1881 for sea trials, though these lasted just two weeks, as the ship was needed in the central Pacific Ocean to protect German interests in the region. Carola left Kiel on 18 October, bound for Australia; from there, she proceeded north to Apia in Samoa, where she relieved the gunboat Möwe on 15 April 1882. After arriving, Carola took the German consul in Samoa on a tour of the islands to meet with the Samoan chiefs Malietoa Laupepa and Tupua Tamasese Titimaea. She cruised to visit Tonga, New Zealand, and the Society Islands; in the latter archipelago, she helped suppress a fire in Papeete on the island of Tahiti.

Carola returned to Apia, where she was joined by the gunboat Hyäne. The two vessels began a trip to the Bismarck Archipelago on 22 November. On the way, Carola independently visited Tuvalu and the Carteret Islands before rejoining Hyäne in Matupi Harbor. The ships proceeded to the Hermit Islands, where locals had murdered two Germans and nine native employees of a German company. Carola and Hyäne were ordered to punish those responsible for the killings. They sent landing parties ashore to track them down, but the murderers fled to another island. After an extensive search that involved destroying local farms and huts, the Germans captured two men who were involved in the killings; both were executed. The two ships returned to Matupi, and on 16 January 1883, Carola departed for Sydney, Australia, stopping in the Duke of York Islands on the way. She sailed to Buka Island to search for a French expedition that had gone missing, but she was unable to locate the explorers. She remained in Buka from 20 to 24 January in a previously unused harbor, which was named "Queen Carola Harbor" in honor of the ship's namesake.