HMS Thetis (1846)
| 300px SMS Thetis, circa 1867. | |
| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Thetis |
| Namesake: | Thetis |
| Ordered: | 23 April 1842 & 16 February 1843 |
| Builder: | Devonport dockyard |
| Laid down: | 2 December 1844 |
| Launched: | 21 August 1846 |
| Commissioned: | 30 December 1846 |
| Out of service: | Transferred to the Prussian Navy on 12 January 1855 |
| Career (Prussia) | 50px |
| Name: | SMS Thetis |
| Acquired: | 12 January 1855 |
| Decommissioned: | 28 November 1871 |
| Fate: | Broken up in 1894 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 36-gun fifth-rate frigate |
| Displacement: | 1,894 long tons (1,924 t) |
| Tons burthen: | 1533 bm |
| Length: | 164 ft 7.25 in (50.1714 m) |
| Beam: | 46 ft 8.75 in (14.2431 m) |
| Draught: |
13 ft 10 in (4.22 m) (forward) 15 ft 5 in (4.70 m) (aft) |
| Depth of hold: | 13 ft 6.5 in (4.128 m) |
| Complement: | 330 |
| Armament: |
|
HMS Thetis was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. After nearly a decade of service with the British, she was one of two frigates transferred to Prussia in exchange for two gunboats. She served with the Prussian Navy, the Norddeutsche Bundesmarine and the Kaiserliche Marine as the SMS Thetis until being decommissioned in 1874 and broken up in 1894.
Design and career
The Thetis was the only ship built to her design, which was approved on 16 March 1843. Her builders were Read, Chatfield & Creuze. With the approval of the final order Thetis was laid down at Devonport Dockyard on 2 December 1844. She was launched on 21 August 1846 and duly commissioned for service on 30 December 1846, having cost £40,605, this rising to £51,926 to have her fitted for sea.
From 3 July 1850 to February 1854 her captain was Augustus Leopold Kuper. He commissioned her at Plymouth and sailed her to the south-east coast of America and then the Pacific. Kuper Island, one of the two largest of the Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia, off the east coast of Vancouver Island, is named for him after he surveyed the area from 1851-3. The other large island is named Thetis Island. There is also a Thetis Lake on Vancouver Island.
Fate
After nine years of service she was disarmed and given to the Prussian Government in exchange for two steam gunboats on 12 January 1855. She sailed from Plymouth on 25 March 1855. After serving in the successor navies of the emerging German state, Thetis was struck from the navy list on 28 November 1871. Her internal equipment was removed and she was hulked, eventually being broken up in 1894.
References
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.
- Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif, The Sail and Steam Navy List, All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889, pub Chatham, 2004, ISBN 1-86176-032-9
