SMS Vineta (1897)

Vineta in 1902
History
German Empire
Name	Vineta
Namesake	Vineta
Builder	Kaiserliche Werft, Danzig
Laid down	1896
Launched	9 December 1897
Commissioned	13 September 1899
Stricken	6 December 1919
Fate	Scrapped in 1920
General characteristics
Class and type	Victoria Louise-class protected cruiser
Displacement	Normal: 5,885 t (5,792 long tons) Full load: 6,705 t (6,599 long tons)
Length	110.5 m (363 ft)
Beam	17.6 m (58 ft)
Draft	7.08 m (23.2 ft)
Installed power	12 × Dürr boilers 10,000 PS (9,900 ihp)
Propulsion	3 × triple-expansion steam engines 3 × screw propellers
Speed	19.6 knots (36.3 km/h; 22.6 mph)
Range	3,412 nmi (6,319 km; 3,926 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	31 officers 446 enlisted men
Armament	2 × 21 cm (8.3 in) guns 8 × 15 cm (5.9 in) guns 10 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) guns 10 × 3.7 cm (1.5 in) Maxim machine cannon 3 × 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Deck: 4 to 10 cm (1.6 to 3.9 in) Turrets: 10 cm Casemates: 10 cm Conning tower: 15 cm (5.9 in)

SMS Vineta was a protected cruiser of the Victoria Louise class, built for the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) in the 1890s. Vineta was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in 1895, launched in April 1897, and commissioned into the Navy in July 1898. The ship, named for the semi-legendary medieval town of Vineta, was armed with a battery of two 21 cm guns and eight 15 cm guns and had a top speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).

Vineta served abroad in the American Station for the first several years of her career. While on station in the Americas, she participated in the Venezuela Crisis of 1902–1903 and bombarded several Venezuelan fortresses. She returned to Germany in 1905 and was used as a torpedo training ship in 1908. She was modernized in 1909–1911, after which she was used as a school ship for naval cadets. In November 1912, she participated in an international naval protest of the First Balkan War. At the outbreak of World War I, Vineta was mobilized into V Scouting Group, but served in front-line duty only briefly. She was used as a barracks ship after 1915, and ultimately sold for scrapping in 1920.