Coastal Defence Ships: Odin Class

[Brian James]

Odin Class Coastal Defence Ship SMS Ägir pictured c1904.She was laid down at the Kaiserliche Werft Shipyards,Kiel in 1892. She was launched on April 3rd 1895 and completed on January15th 1896, after which she underwent a somewhat lengthy period of sea trials. She was commissioned into the German fleet on October 15th 1896, where she served on active duty for the entirety of her peacetime career.
In 1901, Ägir was taken in hand at the Kaiserliche Werft Shipyards at Danzig for an extensive reconstruction. Her old boilers were replaced with eight new Marine type boilers and her length was increased to 282.6 ft. This increased her displacement to 4,376 tons; 4,824 tons at full load. The lengthened hull, which improved her hydrodynamic shape, and the improved boilers increased her speed by a full knot, to 15.5 knots;Her coal storage was increased to 580 tons which allowed her to steam for an additional 800 miles.The modernization work was completed by 1903, at which point she returned to active service.
At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Ägir was assigned to VI Battle Squadron, along with her sister Odin and the six Siegfried Class Coastal Defense Ships. The squadron was disbanded on August 31st 1915 to free up the ships' crews for more important tasks.Ägir was thereafter used as a Barracks Ship in Wilhelmshaven through to the end of the war. She was stricken from the naval register on June 17th 1919 and sold. In 1922, she was rebuilt as a Merchant Ship at the Deutsche Werke Shipyards in Rüstringen. She was operated by A. Bernstein Co., out of Hamburg. She continued in this role until she was wrecked on the island of Gotland off the Karlsö lighthouse on December 8th 1929. Her bow ornament is preserved at the Laboe Naval Memorial at Kiel