:SMS Hay (1860)

{{main|Jäger-class gunboat}}

The {{sclass|Jäger|gunboat|4}} of gunboats came about as a result of a program to strengthen the Prussian Navy in the late 1850s in the aftermath of the dissolution of the {{lang|de|Reichsflotte}} and in the midst of rising tensions with Denmark. In 1859, Prince Regent Wilhelm approved a construction program for some fifty-two gunboats to be built over the next fifteen years, which began with the fifteen vessels of the {{lang|de|Jäger}} class.{{sfn|Nottelmann|pp=65–66}}

{{lang|de|Hay}} was {{convert|41.2|m|ftin|sp=us}} long overall, with a beam of {{convert|6.69|m|ftin|abbr=on}} and a draft of {{convert|2.2|m|abbr=on}}. She displaced {{convert|237|t|LT|lk=on|sp=us}} normally and {{cvt|283|t|LT}} at full load. The ship's crew consisted of 2 officers and 38 enlisted men. She was powered by a pair of marine steam engines that drove one 3-bladed screw propeller, with steam provided by four coal-fired trunk boilers, which gave her a top speed of {{convert|9.1|kn|lk=in}} at {{convert|220|PS|ihp|lk=on}}. As built, she was equipped with a three-masted schooner rig, which was later removed. The ship was armed with a battery of one rifled 24-pounder muzzle-loading gun and two rifled 12-pounder muzzle-loading guns.{{sfn|Gröner|pp=132–133}}{{sfn|Lyon|p=259}}

{{lang|de|Hay}} was built at the J. W. Klawitter shipyard in Danzig. Her keel was laid down in 1859 and she was launched on 14 February 1860.{{sfn|Gröner|pp=132–133}} The ship was named after sharks.{{efn|{{lang|de|Hay}} is an older variation of the German {{lang|de|Haifisch}}.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|p=97}}}} During the launching ceremony, the chain used to lower the ship down the slipway broke, but the ship was not damaged in the accident. After completion in late 1860, {{lang|de|Hay}} was moved to Stralsund and was then laid up on the nearby island of Dänholm.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|p=97}} While out of service, her copper sheathing was removed from her hull so ventilation holes could be cut into the outer planking. Her entire propulsion system, including the masts and the funnel, was removed and a roof was erected over the hull to keep the elements out.{{sfn|Gröner|p=132}}

The ship remained out of service for the next few years. On 8 December 1863, the Prussian Navy ordered the fleet to mobilize, as tensions between Prussia and Denmark over the Schleswig–Holstein question rose sharply. Mobilization meant that Hay and the rest of the gunboats at Stralsund would have to be reconstructed.{{sfn|Greene & Massignani|p=196}} After the start of the Second Schleswig War in February 1864, {{lang|de|Hay}} was recommissioned on 1 March to join I Flotilla Division.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|p=97}} The Prussian gunboat divisions were assigned to guard the main Prussian ports on the Baltic coast, namely Stralsund, Stettin, and Swinemünde after the Royal Danish Navy imposed a blockade of the ports.{{sfn|Embree|p=272}}

The gunboat flotilla was deployed on 17 March to support Captain Eduard von Jachmann's corvettes as they attempted to break the Danish blockade, but the gunboats were only lightly engaged during the ensuing Battle of Jasmund. Jachmann had ordered them to take up a position closer to land to cover a potential withdrawal, and so they were too far to take part in the main action. Nevertheless, as the Danish steam frigate {{HDMS|Tordenskjold|1852|2}} arrived to reinforce the main squadron, {{lang|de|Hay}} and the other gunboats fired on her from afar. {{lang|da|Tordenskjold}}{{'}}s commander ignored the gunboats and continued south to join the fight with Jachmann's corvettes, firing only a few broadsides at the gunboats in passing, with neither side scoring any hits. As the Danes continued south in pursuit of Jachmann's ships, the gunboats withdrew back to Stralsund,{{sfn|Embree|pp=275–278}} though {{lang|de|Hay}}{{'}}s engines broke down and she had to be taken under tow by her sister {{SMS|Sperber|1860|2}}. {{lang|de|Hay}} was decommissioned in Stralsund in October and placed back in reserve.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|p=97}}

The Prussian naval command initially planned on mobilizing {{lang|de|Hay}} at the start of the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, but the war ended quickly in a Prussian victory and activating the ship proved to be unnecessary. The ship was instead eventually recommissioned on 1 July 1869 to serve as a tender for the {{lang|de|Marinestation der Ostsee}} (Baltic Sea Naval Station), based in Kiel. During this period, {{lang|de|Hay}} and the transport {{lang|de|Elbe}} carried a Mine Detachment to Bremerhaven; these mines would later be used to defend the entrance to Jade Bight during the Franco-Prussian War the following year. {{lang|de|Hay}} was then placed back into reserve at Kiel on 20 November. The ship next returned to service on 18 July 1870, under the command of {{lang|de|Leutnant zur See}} (LzS—Lieutenant at Sea) Iwan Friedrich Julius Oldekop, after the start of hostilities with France. Six days later, she joined {{lang|de|Sperber}} and the gunboat {{SMS|Comet|1860|2}} to steam to the North Sea, passing around Denmark and arriving in the mouth of the Elbe river on 28 July. The ship saw no action while patrolling Prussia's North Sea coast, and on 4 April 1871, she left Wilhelmshaven to return to Kiel, this time passing through the Eider Canal.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|p=97}}

After arriving in Kiel on 12 April, she resumed tender duties for the naval station there, and she also served as the tender for the artillery training ship {{SMS|Renown||2}}. {{lang|de|Hay}} was decommissioned on 4 July 1872, but already on 22 July, she was recommissioned to replace her sister {{SMS|Schwalbe|1860|2}}, which was by then no longer fit for service. At this time, LzS Richard Aschenborn took command of the ship. After completing the shooting practice exercise on 5 August, Aschenborn left the ship, and {{lang|de|Hay}} was then moved to Wilhelmshaven and decommissioned there on 7 October.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|pp=97–98}} There, {{lang|de|Hay}} underwent a refit that included replacing her main gun with a more modern, iron 15 cm RK L/22. Her sailing rig was removed and a simple pole mast was fitted for signaling purposes.{{sfn|Gröner|p=132}} The ship never returned to active service, however, and on 7 September 1880, she was struck from the naval register and thereafter converted into a storage hulk in Wilhelmshaven. Her ultimate fate is unknown.{{sfn|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz|p=98}}

{{Notelist}}

{{reflist|20em}}

• {{cite book

|last=Embree

|first=Michael

|year=2007

|title=Bismarck's First War: The Campaign of Schleswig and Jutland 1864

|location=Solihull

|publisher=Helion & Co Ltd

|isbn=978-1-906033-03-3

|ref={{sfnRef|Embree}}

}}

• {{cite book

| last1 = Greene

| first1 = Jack

| last2 = Massignani

| first2 = Alessandro

| year = 1998

| title = Ironclads at War: The Origin and Development of the Armored Warship, 1854–1891

| publisher = Combined Publishing

| location = Pennsylvania

| isbn = 978-0-938289-58-6

| ref = {{sfnRef|Greene & Massignani}}

|name-list-style=amp

}}

• {{cite book

| last = Gröner

| first = Erich

| year = 1990

| title = German Warships: 1815–1945

| volume = I: Major Surface Vessels

| publisher = Naval Institute Press

| location = Annapolis

| isbn = 978-0-87021-790-6

| ref = {{sfnRef|Gröner}}

}}

• {{cite book

| last1 = Hildebrand

| first1 = Hans H.

| last2 = Röhr

| first2 = Albert

| last3 = Steinmetz

| first3 = Hans-Otto

| year = 1993

| title = Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart

| trans-title=The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present

| volume = 4

| language = de

| publisher = Mundus Verlag

| location = Ratingen

| isbn = 978-3-7822-0382-1

| ref = {{SfnRef|Hildebrand, Röhr, & Steinmetz}}

|name-list-style=amp

}}

• {{cite book

| last = Lyon

| first = David

| chapter = Germany

| pages = 240–265

| editor1-last = Gardiner

| editor1-first = Robert

| editor2-last = Chesneau

| editor2-first = Roger

| editor3-last = Kolesnik

| editor3-first = Eugene M.

| year = 1979

| title = Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905

| publisher = Conway Maritime Press

| location = Greenwich

| isbn = 978-0-85177-133-5

|name-list-style=amp

| url-access = registration

| url = https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_l2e2

| ref = {{sfnref|Lyon}}

}}

• {{cite book

|last=Nottelmann

|first=Dirk

|chapter=The Development of the Small Cruiser in the Imperial German Navy Part III: The Gunboats

|editor1-last=Jordan

|editor1-first=John

|publisher=Osprey Publishing

|location=Oxford

|year=2022

|title=Warship 2022

|isbn=978-1-4728-4781-2

|pages=63–79

|ref={{sfnRef|Nottelmann}}

}}

{{Jäger-class gunboat}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hay}}

Category:Jäger-class gunboats

Category:1860 ships

Category:Ships built in Danzig