SMS Mücke

Mücke sometime in the 1880s to 1897
History
NameMücke
NamesakeMosquito
OperatorImperial German Navy
BuilderAG Weser, Bremen
Laid down1876
Launched5 May 1877
Commissioned25 February 1878
Decommissioned24 September 1900
Stricken18 March 1911
FateBroken up, 1921
General characteristics
TypeGunboat
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 knots (20 km/h; 13 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 Mücke 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. Mücke saw significant service from the mid-1880s to early 1890s during training maneuvers with the rest of the German fleet, frequently serving as a flagship of a gunboat flotilla. After a refit in 1894, the ship spent much of the rest of the decade in reserve, being reactivated for short training periods. In 1911, she was reduced to a training ship, and she was eventually sold to ship breakers in 1921.