Friedrich Carl remained laid up for the 1878 training cruise that saw the loss of the brand-new ironclad in an accidental collision with Kaiser. She returned to service in May 1879, serving as the flagship of the training squadron, which also included Kronprinz, Preussen, and . The ship remained in service through 1883; later that year, the training cycle concluded with a large-scale simulated attack on Kiel, with Friedrich Carl and the other ironclads acting as an "eastern" opponent. The defenders, led by the corvettes and , were judged to have been victorious. The armored fleet operated entirely under steam power that year, the first time it did so. In 1885, Friedrich Carl had torpedo nets installed; these remained on the ship until 1897. During the 1885 refit, she also received new boilers and a modified funnel that had a second uptake installed. The battery of six 37 mm Hotchkiss guns and five torpedo tubes were also fitted during this modernization. The ship took part in the 1885 maneuvers with the armored corvettes and . In 1887, she was present for the ceremonies marking the beginning of construction of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, which was to link the Kiel with the North Sea. In 1895, the ship was disarmed; she was placed into service as a torpedo test ship on 11 August of that year. She served in this capacity until 21 January 1902, when she was renamed Neptun and used as a harbor ship. Her name was then freed to be reused on the new armored cruiser , which was launched on 22 June 1902. Neptun was formally stricken from the naval register on 22 June 1905 and sold to a Dutch ship-breaking firm in March 1906 for 284,000 gold marks. The ship was then towed to the Netherlands and broken up for scrap. Footnotes Notes Citations References Ships of the Prussian Navy Ironclad warships of the Imperial German Navy Ships built in France 1867 ships