SMS Schwalbe (1860)

Schwalbe was built at the A. G. Nüscke shipyard in Grabow. Her keel was laid down in 1859 and she was launched on 14 February 1860.^[2] The ship was named for the swallow. After completion, she was laid up on the island of Dänholm near Stralsund.^[4] 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 to protect her hull.^[5]

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 Schwalbe and the rest of the gunboats at Stralsund would have to be reconstructed.^[6] She remained out of service until the start of the Second Schleswig War in February 1864. She was commissioned on 1 March, under the command of Fahnrich zur See Karl August Deinhard, and assigned to II Flotilla Division.^[4] 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.^[7] She saw no action during the short war, and she was placed back in reserve in October.^[4] On 20 October, the combatants signed the Treaty of Vienna, formally ending the conflict.^[8]

Schwalbe was recommissioned again on 27 July 1870 following the start of the Franco-Prussian War, and three days later she was moved to the North Sea via the Eider Canal. She again saw no combat, only carrying out defensive patrols to guard the entrance to Jade Bight, and was decommissioned at Geestemünde on 5 October. During an inspection at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Shipyard) in Kiel in 1872, Schwalbe was found to be in poor condition, and she was struck from the naval register on 19 March. She was used for several years as a barge in Kiel under the name Minenprahm Nr. 1 (Mine Barge No. 1), but the date of her breaking up are not recorded.^[4]

• Embree, Michael (2007). Bismarck's First War: The Campaign of Schleswig and Jutland 1864. Solihull: Helion & Co Ltd. ISBN 978-1-906033-03-3.
• Greene, Jack & Massignani, Alessandro (1998). Ironclads at War: The Origin and Development of the Armored Warship, 1854–1891. Pennsylvania: Combined Publishing. ISBN 978-0-938289-58-6.
• 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. 7. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. OCLC 310653560.
• Lyon, David (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. pp. 240–265. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
• Nottelmann, Dirk (2022). "The Development of the Small Cruiser in the Imperial German Navy Part III: The Gunboats". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2022. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp. 63–79. ISBN 978-1-4728-4781-2.