Adler von Lübeck

Adler von Lübeck (German for Eagle of Lübeck), also called Der Große Adler or Lübscher Adler, was a 16th-century warship of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck, Germany. Adler von Lübeck was one of the largest ships in the world at her time, being 78.30 m long overall and displacing 2–3,000 tons.

Adler von Lübeck by Olaf Rahardt, painted in 2004.
History
Lübeck
Name	Adler von Lübeck
Builder	Wallhalbinsel in Lübeck
Laid down	1565
Launched	March 1566
Commissioned	1567
Fate	Broken up in 1588
General characteristics
Displacement	2,000–3,000 tons
Length	78.30 m (256.9 ft) (overall)
Beam	14.50 m (47.6 ft)
Draught	5.30 m (17.4 ft)
Propulsion	Sails — 1,793.53 m2
Complement	1,000: 350 crew & 650 marines
Armament	138 cannon Bronze guns: 8 × 48 pounders 6 × 24 pounders 26 × 10 pounders 4 × 5 pounders 8 × 3 pounders Iron guns: 10 × 6 pounders 40 × 11⁄2 pounders 36 × varying calibre
Notes	Height from waterline to top of mainmast: 62.51 m

The war galleon was built by Lübeck during the Northern Seven Years' War to escort her convoy of merchant ships in the Baltic and North Sea. However, Adler von Lübeck was never put into action, since Lübeck had already entered peace negotiations with Sweden at the time of the ship's completion. After the Treaty of Stettin (1570), Großer Adler was converted into a freighter for trade with the Iberian Peninsula. The ship was dismantled in 1588 after twenty years of service.

Dimensions

The Lübeck chronicler Peter van der Horst — relying on the building contract of the ship — gave the following dimensions of Adler von Lübeck:

• Length of head knee: 10.45 m (18 ells)
• Length of keel: 36 m (62 ells)
• Length from stern post to stern post: 49 m (85 ells)
• Length from head knee to stern gallery: 64 m (111 ells)
• Length overall: 78.30 m (256.9 ft)
• Clear beam inboards: 13.84 m (24 ells)
• Beam inboards: 13.84 m (48 ft)
• Beam: 14.50 m
• Height overall: 62.15 m

The gun arrangements of the ship have been preserved in the artillery manual of the artillery master Hans Frese.

Gallery

• 
  Model ship #1 in the Ratskeller at Lübeck
• 
  Model ship #2 in the Ratskeller at Lübeck
• 
  Model ship #2 in the Ratskeller at Lübeck
• 
  Model ship in the Deutsches Museum at München
• 
  Painting in the Schiffergesellschaft at Lübeck
• 
  Pintle and gudgeon rudder as used by the Adler

See also

• List of world's largest wooden ships
• List of ships of the Hanseatic League

Further reading

In chronological order

Articles & monographs

• Van der Horst(e), Peter (1676): "Beschreibung von der Kunst der Schiffahrt – Zum andernmahl auffgeleget und mit einem Anhang vermehret, worin beschrieben wird der Anfang und Fortgang der Schiffahrt", 2nd. ed., Schmalhertzens Erven, Lübeck (PDF)
• Pâris, Charles François-Edmond (1882-1892): "Le Musée de Marine du Louvre", Paris
• Pâris, Charles François-Edmond (1962): "Souvenirs de Marine", Partie 1-5, Hinstorff, Rostock [Reprint]
• Nance, Robert Morton & Anderson, Roger C. (1912): "A Sixteenth Century Ship of Lübeck", The Mariner's Mirror, pp. 152–153
• Arenhold, Lüder, (1913): "The Adler of Lübeck", The Mariner's Mirror, pp. 152–153
• Anderson, Roger C. (1913): "Guns of Adler of Lübeck", The Mariner's Mirror, pp. 153, 222, 250, 285 & 345
• Kloth, Herbert: "Lübecks Seekriegswesen in der Zeit des nordischen 7-jährigen Krieges 1563-1570", Zeitschrift des Vereines für lübeckische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, Vol. 21 (1923), pp. 1–51 & 185-256 plus Vol. 22 (1923–25), pp. 121–152 & 325-379 Details on a number of details on construction, rigging, equipment and crew of the Adler von Lübeck are scattered throughout the article
• Anderson, Roger C. (1939): "The Mars and the Adler", The Mariner's Mirror, pp. 296–299 [+plates]
• Reinhardt, Karl (1943): "Der Adler von Lübeck", Die Seekiste - Schiffsmodellbau, Berlin, Iss. 12
• Pietsch, Ulrich (1982): "Die Lübecker Seeschiffahrt vom Mittelalter bis zur Neuzeit", Catalogue of the Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte der Hansestadt Lübeck, Lübeck ISBN 3-9800517-1-4
• Kirsch, Peter (1988): "Die Galeonen. Große Segelschiffe um 1600", Bernard & Gräfe Verlag, Koblenz, p. 67

Modern model ships

• Reinhardt, Karl (1938): "Adler von Lübeck", Zeitschrift des Vereines für lübeckische Geschichte und Altertumskunde, Vol. 29, Iss. 2, pp. 293–332
• Marquardt, Karl Heinz (c. 1965): "Adler von Lübeck AD 1565", 35 pp., 4 drawings Ship model of the Graupner company
• Aarhuus, Norbert (1982): "Adler von Lübeck", Modellbauwerft, Verlag für Technik und Handwerk, Baden-Baden, Iss. 6, pp. 496–500 Article on the Graupner model
• Author unknown (1984): "Adler von Lübeck. MBH-Miniplan 67", Modellbau-Heute (MBH), Militärverlag der DDR, Berlin, Iss. 7, p. 16
• Author unknown (1994): "Adler von Lübeck", Modellbauwerft, Verlag für Technik und Handwerk, Baden-Baden, Iss. 8, p. 27

External links

• Deutsche Museumswerft: Adler von Lübeck (in German)
• Technical data of the Adler von Lübeck (in German)
• Hanseatic league