SMS Hela was an aviso built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the mid-1890s, representing the culmination of the aviso development in Germany. Laid down in December 1893 at AG Weser in Bremen, she was launched on 28 March 1895 and commissioned in 1896 after final fitting at Wilhelmshaven. She was the last vessel of her type to be constructed by Germany, embodying significant design improvements over earlier classes like Wacht and Meteor, which had proven disappointing in service. Measuring approximately 104.6 meters (343 ft 2 in) in length overall and a beam of 11 meters (36 ft 1 in), Hela displaced around 2,027 tons at standard load, increasing to roughly 2,082 tons fully loaded. Her steel hull featured transverse and longitudinal frames, with twenty-two watertight compartments above the armored deck and ten below, and included a pronounced ram bow. She had a minimal superstructure, consisting of a small conning tower and a raised forecastle deck extending from the stem to the funnel, with two light pole masts. Hela was powered by two triple-expansion steam engines, each driving a screw propeller, and six locomotive boilers supplied steam. She could reach speeds of up to 20 knots during trials. Her armament included four 8.8 cm (3.5 in) quick-firing guns and six 5 cm (2 in) guns, along with three 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes with eight torpedoes. Her armor was light, with a 20-25 mm steel deck, 30 mm conning tower armor, and a 40 mm armored coaming for the uptakes. Her service life was relatively short. After sea trials in 1896, engine damage delayed her entry into active service until 1898. She served primarily as a fleet scout and flotilla leader, participated in the suppression of the Boxer Uprising in China, and later served as a training ship after extensive reconstruction from 1903 to 1910. During World War I, Hela was assigned to patrol the German Bight. On 13 September 1914, while conducting a training exercise near Helgoland, she was torpedoed by the British submarine HMS E9 and sank within 15 minutes. Despite sinking rapidly, her crew was nearly fully rescued, and she holds the distinction of being the first German ship sunk by a British submarine in the war. Her loss prompted the German navy to relocate training exercises to the Baltic Sea, marking a significant event in early WWI naval warfare.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.