SMS Jagd

Jagd, ordered as a replacement for the old paddle steamer aviso Pommerania using the contract name "Ersatz Pommerania",^[a] was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen in late 1887. She was christened at her launching ceremony by Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Karl August Deinhard on 7 July 1888. After fitting-out work was completed, the ship was commissioned for sea trials on 25 June 1889 under the command of Korvettenkapitän (Corvette Captain) Max Piraly, which ended on 6 April in Kiel, where she was decommissioned on 6 August.^[6][7]

She was recommissioned on 15 April for additional trials that lasted until the end of June. She then escorted Hohenzollern, the yacht of Kaiser Wilhelm II, during his summer cruise to Norwegian waters. After returning to Germany, she was stationed in Kiel as a guard ship from 1 August to 11 September. The ship then moved to Wilhelmshaven, where she was decommissioned on 3 October, thereafter receiving her new gun battery of 8.8 cm guns.^[6]

The ship returned to service in 1891, initially as a guard ship in Wilhelmshaven, during which time she conducted a cruise along Germany's North Sea coast. She thereafter join Hohenzollern for a visit to Amsterdam, Netherlands and then to ports in Norway. During the annual fleet maneuvers held in August and September, she served with the fleet and was tasked with relaying signals between units. She took part in the 1892 fleet maneuvers and beginning on 13 October, she returned to guard duties in Wilhelmshaven. The year 1893 passed uneventfully, and she was decommissioned for a modernization that included replacing her boilers at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Wilhelmshaven. The work lasted into 1894, and upon completion she remained in reserve.^[8]

Jagd was recommissioned on 8 March 1895 under the command of KK Eduard Holzhauer, and in late April, she was the first vessel to pass through the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, before the canal officially opened. She was sent through the canal to determine if it was ready for use; the canal was officially opened on 20 June. Jagd thereafter served with the Maneuver Squadron as an aviso for the rest of the year, and in September, Holzhauer was replaced by KK Carl Friedrich. The ship was then decommissioned in Wilhelmshaven on 19 December. Recommissioned in March 1896 under KK Guido von Usedom, she served in the same role, albeit for what was now I Squadron, for the duration of 1896; during the year, the squadron visited the Netherlands and Norway before being decommissioned in September. KK Hermann Lilie relieved Usedom in September and remained in command during the period in reserve. Recommissioned on 5 March 1897, she again took her place with the squadron, taking part in the fleet maneuvers. Following their conclusion, Lilie left the ship, his place being taken by KK Fritz Sommerwerck. Unlike previous years, she remained in commission through the winter and was withdrawn from service again on 8 March 1898.^[6]

The ship next saw active service on 27 September 1899, when she was recommissioned to replace her sister ship Wacht as the aviso for I Squadron. She remained in service through 1900, though after the fleet maneuvers she was used for fishery protection duties in the North Sea from 14 October to 23 November. She underwent an overhaul in January 1901, and from 28 January to 7 February, she joined the unit that was sent to represent Germany during the funeral ceremonies for Queen Victoria of Britain, who was Wilhelm II's grandmother. KK Hugo von Cotzhausen took command of the ship in March. Following the grounding of the battleship Kaiser Friedrich III off the Adlergrund north of Rügen, Jagd was used to survey the area. Following the conclusion of this work, the navy conducted an examination of Jagd in mid-July and determined that the ship was in such poor condition that she was not worth refitting. She was accordingly decommissioned for the last time on 11 August.^[6]

Jagd was transferred to the list of harbor ships on 3 May 1904, thereafter being used as a harbor ship. She was struck from the naval register on 14 May 1910 and subsequently hulked. She was based in Friedrichsort outside Kiel and used as a firing platform for torpedo training until she was broken up for scrap in 1920 at Rüstringen.^[9][8]

• Dodson, Aidan (2016). The Kaiser's Battlefleet: German Capital Ships 1871–1918. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-229-5.
• Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships: 1815–1945. Vol. I: Major Surface Vessels. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6.
• Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart [The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in German). Vol. 4. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7822-0382-1.
• Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien: ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart (Band 8) [The German Warships: Biographies: A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present (Vol. 8)] (in German). Ratingen: Mundus Verlag.
• Lyon, Hugh (1979). "Germany". In Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
• Sondhaus, Lawrence (1997). Preparing for Weltpolitik: German Sea Power Before the Tirpitz Era. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-745-7.