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| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Wolf |
| Operator | Imperial German Navy |
| Ordered | September 1876 |
| Builder | Kaiserliche Werft, Wilhelmshaven |
| Laid down | 1876 |
| Launched | 21 March 1878 |
| Commissioned | 1 October 1878 |
| Decommissioned | 18 July 1905 |
| Stricken | 3 March 1906 |
| Fate | Sold for scrapping, 24 April 1919 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Wolf-class gunboat |
| Displacement | 570 t (560 long tons) |
| Length | 47.2 m (154 ft 10 in) |
| Beam | 7.66 m (25 ft 2 in) |
| Draft | 3.1 m (10 ft 2 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h; 9.8 mph) |
| Range | 1,640 nmi (3,040 km; 1,890 mi) at 9 kn (17 km/h; 10 mph) |
| Complement |
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| Armament |
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SMS Wolf was the lead ship of the Wolf class of steam gunboats built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in the 1870s. The ship was ordered as part of a construction program intended to begin replacing the old Jäger-class gunboats that had been built a decade earlier. Unlike the older ships, Wolf was intended to serve abroad to protect German economic interests overseas. The ship was armed with a battery of two medium-caliber guns and five lighter weapons, and had a top speed of 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h; 9.8 mph).
Wolf spent nearly her entire career in active service on foreign stations over the course of three cruises abroad; she returned to Germany only for overhauls and modifications. The first voyage, from 1878 to 1884, took the ship to East Asia, primarily off the coast of China. On the way home, she was involved in the establishment of the colony of German South West Africa. The next cruise, which lasted from 1886 to 1895, initially returned to East Asian waters, but she spent most of her time abroad in the South Pacific. In 1889, she carried the exiled King of Samoa, Malietoa Laupepa, back to the islands, where he was reinstated as king. In 1891, she rescued survivors from the wrecked Ottoman frigate Ertuğrul.
After returning to Germany in 1895, Wolf was converted into a survey ship, and in this capacity, she was sent to map Germany's colonies in Africa. She operated off the coast of Kamerun and German South West Africa until 1905. Throughout this period, the ship was also used for other tasks, including assisting the colonial Schutztruppe suppress unrest. The ship was struck from the naval register in 1906, converted into a repair ship, and used in that capacity through World War I. In the post-war draw-down of German naval strength in 1919, she was sold to ship breakers and broken up for scrap.