- SMS Panther
SMS "Panther" was one of six
gunboat s of the "Iltis"-class of theKaiserliche Marine and, like her sisters, served in Germany's overseas colonies. The ship was launched on1 April 1901 in theKaiserliche Werft ,Danzig . She had a crew of 9 officers and 121 men.The "Panther" became notorious in 1911 when she was deployed to the Morrocan port of
Agadir during the "Agadir Crisis " (also called the "Second Moroccan Crisis"). Germany did this because they wanted to reinforce their demand of the French for regions ofFrench Equatorial Africa . This led to the term "gunboat diplomacy " which was used especially by the British. It involves, originally the deployment of a gunboat but now refers to any armed service, to a region to reinforce a request or demand made diplomatically. It can be said that this boat helped to increase the tension leading up to the First World War and did help to cause it in the end. The "Panther" was supposedly sent to protect German citizens in the port but actually piled pressure onto the French concerning their attempted colonization of Morocco.Years earlier, in 1905, the "Panther" was also deployed to the Brazilian Port of Itajahy, where her crew conducted an unauthorized search and the kidnapping of a German dissident on Brazilian soil. That incident became known as the "Panther Affair" ("Caso Panther"). [cite book |last= Joffily |first= Jose |title= O Caso Panther |year= 1988 |month= October |publisher= Editora Paz e Terra |language= Portuguese ] [cite book |last= Seyferth |first= Giralda |title= O Incidente do Panther (Itajai, SC, 1905) |volume= 4 |year= 1994 |month= November |publisher= Comunicacoes do PPGAS |location= Rio de Janeiro |language= Portuguese ] [cite book |last= Guedes |first= Max Justo |title= O Barao do Rio Branco e a Modernizacao da Defesa |url= http://www.funag.gov.br/biblioteca-digital/biografias-e-memorias |format= PDF |accessyear= 2006 |series= Rio Branco - a America do Sul e a Modernizacao do Brasil |year= 2002 |publisher= Fundacao Alexandre de Gusmao |language= Portuguese |pages= 314-315 ] [cite book |last= Fauchille |first= Paul |title= Revue Generale de Droit International Public |origyear= 1894 |url= http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-73481 |format= PDF |accessyear= 2006 |series= Droit de Gens - Histoire Diplomatique - Droit Penal - Droit Fiscal - Droit Administratif |volume= 13 |year= 1906 |publisher= A. PEDONE, Libraire-Editeur |location= Paris |language= French |pages= 200-206 ] [cite web |url= http://www.millarch.org/ler.php?id=772 |title= A noite em que a Alemanha invadiu o porto de Itajai |accessyear= 2006 |last= Millarch |first= Aramis |year= 1988 |month= October |language= Portuguese ]
The ship was scrapped in 1931.
See also
*
Agadir Crisis
*List of naval ships of Germany References
External links
* [http://www.deutsche-schutzgebiete.de/sms_panther.htm SMS Panther - Kanonenboot der Kaiserlichen Marine (in German)]
* [http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-73481 Chronique des Faits Internationaux (Allemagne et Bresil) 200-206 (in French)]
* [http://www.millarch.org/ler.php?id=772 A noite em que a Alemanha invadiu o porto de Itajai (in Portuguese)]
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