SMS Camäleon
Illustration of Camäleon's sister ship Meteor | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Camäleon |
| Operator | |
| Builder | Königliche Werft, Danzig |
| Laid down | September 1859 |
| Launched | 4 August 1860 |
| Commissioned | 6 August 1861 |
| Decommissioned | 1 April 1871 |
| Stricken | 19 March 1872 |
| Fate | Broken up |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Camäleon-class gunboat |
| Displacement | 422 t (415 long tons) |
| Length | 43.28 m (142 ft) |
| Beam | 6.96 m (22 ft 10 in) |
| Draft | 2.67 m (8 ft 9 in) |
| Installed power | 250 PS (250 ihp) |
| Propulsion | 1 × marine steam engine |
| Speed | 9.1 knots (16.9 km/h; 10.5 mph) |
| Complement | 71 |
| Armament |
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SMS Camäleon was the lead ship of the Camäleon class of steam-powered gunboats of the Prussian Navy (later the Imperial German Navy) that was launched in 1860. A small vessel, armed with only three light guns, Camäleon saw little active use. She served during the Second Schleswig War of 1864 and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, but saw no action in either conflict. Her peacetime career was limited to survey work in 1865 and limited tender duties in and around Kiel in 1867–1868. In poor condition by 1872, she was stricken from the naval register and used as a storage hulk in Kiel. She was broken up for scrap some time after 1878.