WDS 1/1250 WDS BM K 64 SMS Leipzig, German armoured steam corvette, 1888
SMS Leipzig was named after the Battle of Leipzig of 1815 and was the lead ship of her class, the later sister-ship was Prinz Adalbert. She was fitted with 12x17cm (6.7in) guns and, because she was intended for overseas deployment, she was fitted with a full set of sails. The model has two funnels, so it best represents the ship after her 1888 refit and modernisation.
This model was made by Welt der Schiffsminiaturen, WDS BM K 64 and is only available to special order.
Leipzig was commissioned in 1877 befre trials and having her guns installed. In October of 1877 she embarked cadets for training and set off for East Asia via Nicaragua and Hawaii, returning to Germany two years later, going in to reserve on her return. Her second round the world cruise took place in 1882-84, when a young Franz von Hipper was a cadet on board, with a flag raising in German Southwest Africa colony on the return. From 1885-88 she was re-ffitted and re-engined and had two forward-facing torpedo tubes fitted above the waterline at the bow.
In 1889, she went to German East Africa (modern day Tanzania) to help put down the Abushiri Revolt and then went on to East Asia with a sqadron of gunboats. This squadron alternated between China and Chile where German colonists needed support in the Civil War, returning to Europe in 1893 when a refit in Capetown during the voyage showed that she needed a new engine. After returning to Wilhelmshaven, it was decided that this was uneconomic and she was hulked as a barracks ship and training vessel and in WW1 she was used as a training and depot ship for U-boats. She sank at her moorings in 1919 and was raised and scrapped in 1921.