SMS Natter (1880)

Natter in Kiel
History
NameNatter
NamesakeSMS Natter
OperatorImperial German Navy
BuilderAG Weser, Bremen
Laid downJuly 1879
Launched29 September 1880
Commissioned20 May 1881
Decommissioned24 September 1900
Stricken18 March 1911
FateBroken up, 1946
General characteristics
Class & typeWespe-class gunboat
Displacement
Length46.4 m (152 ft 3 in)
Beam10.6 m (34 ft 9 in)
Draft3.2 to 3.4 m (10 ft 6 in to 11 ft 2 in)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed11.1 knots (20.6 km/h; 12.8 mph)
Range700 nmi (1,300 km; 810 mi) at 7 knots (13 km/h; 8.1 mph)
Complement
  • 3 officers
  • 73–85 enlisted
Armament1 × 30.5 cm (12 in) MRK L/22 gun
Armor
  • Belt: 102 to 203 mm (4 to 8 in)
  • Barbette: 203 mm (8 in)
  • Deck: 44 mm (1.7 in)

SMS Natter was an ironclad gunboat of the Wespe class built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the 1870s. The ships, which were armed with a single 30.5 cm (12 in) MRK L/22 gun, were intended to serve as part of a coastal defense fleet. Because Natter was a purely defensive vessel, she saw little active use, apart from brief stints in active service for sea trials after she was completed in 1881, followed by short training exercises in 1884 and then annually from 1894 to 1900. Natter was struck from the naval register in 1911, renamed Stromquelle I and stationed in Wilhelmshaven. She was renamed Natter in 1924 and used as a training ship through 1945. The ship was eventually broken up in 1946.