Ariadne-class corvette

The Ariadne class was a group of three screw corvettes of the North German Federal Navy and Imperial Navy, built in the 1860s and 1870s. The class comprised three ships: Ariadne, Luise, and Freya. The first two vessels were identical, but Freya was built to a modified design with a longer hull, which allowed her to carry more powerful engines and additional coal for the boilers. The ships were ordered as part of a naval construction program directed at strengthening the North German Federal Navy, though by the time they entered service, all of the German states had united into the German Empire. They were intended to serve on extended cruises abroad, protecting German interests overseas. Their primary armament consisted of six or eight 15 cm (5.9 in) guns, and they were fitted with full ship rigs to supplement their steam engines on long voyages abroad.
All three of the ships served extensively on overseas deployments throughout the 1870s and early 1880s, primarily in South America, the Mediterranean Sea, and East Asia. On these voyages, the ships and their captains performed a number of duties, including protecting German nationals during periods of unrest or open warfare in various...