SMS Salamander (1880)

Salamander's sister ship Natter in Kiel
History
NameSalamander
NamesakeSMS Salamander
OperatorImperial German Navy
BuilderAG Weser, Bremen
Laid downSeptember 1878
Launched6 January 1880
Commissioned4 September 1883
Decommissioned22 September 1891
Stricken28 June 1909
FateAccidentally sank, 1910
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 Salamander 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 Salamander was a purely defensive vessel, she saw little active use, apart from brief stints in active service for sea trials in 1883, followed by annual training exercises held from 1885 to 1891. She was struck from the naval register in 1909 and sold to ship breakers the next year. While en route to the breakers' yard in the Netherlands, she ran aground and could not be freed. The wreck was partially scrapped in situ, but the hull remains and was eventually buried in silt.