SMS Meteor (1865)

Painting of Meteor in battle with Bouvet
History
Name:	Meteor
Laid down:	27 June 1861
Launched:	17 May 1865
Commissioned:	6 September 1869
Struck:	27 November 1877
Fate:	Sunk as a target
General characteristics
Class and type:	Camäleon-class gunboat
Displacement:	422 t (415 long tons)
Length:	43.28 m (142 ft)
Beam:	6.96 m (22 ft 10 in)
Draft:	2.67 m (8 ft 9 in)
Propulsion:	1 × Marine steam engine
Speed:	9.3 kn (17.2 km/h; 10.7 mph)
Complement:	71
Armament:	1 × 15 cm (5.9 in) gun 2 × 12 cm (4.7 in) guns

SMS Meteor was a Camäleon-class gunboat of the North German Federal Navy (later the Imperial German Navy) that was launched in 1865. A small vessel, armed with only three light guns, Meteor took part in the Battle of Havana in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War. There, she battled the French aviso Bouvet; both vessels were lightly damaged, though Bouvet was compelled to disengage after a shot from Meteor disabled her engine. After the war, Meteor returned to Germany, where her career was limited; she served briefly as a survey vessel. From 1873 to 1877, she was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea as a station ship in Constantinople during a period of tensions in the Ottoman Empire. After returning to Germany in 1877, she was decommissioned, converted into a coal hulk and expended as a target ship some time later.

Meteor was 43.28 meters (142 ft) long, with a beam of 6.96 m (22 ft 10 in) and a draft of 2.67 m (8 ft 9 in). She displaced 422 metric tons (415 long tons) at full load. The ship's crew consisted of 4 officers and 67 enlisted men. She was powered by a pair of marine steam engines that each drove one 3-bladed screw propeller and two coal-fired trunk boilers, which gave her a top speed of 9.3 knots (17.2 km/h; 10.7 mph) at 320 indicated horsepower (240 kW). As built, she was equipped with a three-masted schooner rig. The ship was armed with a battery of one rifled 15 cm (5.9 in) 24-pounder gun and two rifled 12 cm (4.7 in) 12-pounder guns.