SMS Gneisenau (1879)

Gneisenau in the 1890s
History
German Empire
Name	SMS Gneisenau
Namesake	Field Marshal August von Gneisenau
Builder	Kaiserliche Werft Danzig, Danzig
Laid down	June 1877
Launched	4 September 1879
Completed	3 October 1880
Fate	Sunk in storm off Málaga, Spain, 16 December 1900
General characteristics
Class and type	Bismarck-class corvette
Displacement	Full load: 2,994 t (2,947 long tons)
Length	82 m (269 ft)
Beam	13.7 m (44 ft 11 in)
Draft	5.2 m (17 ft 1 in)
Installed power	2,866 ihp (2,137 kW) 4 × fire-tube boilers
Propulsion	1 × screw propeller 1 × marine steam engine
Speed	13.8 knots (25.6 km/h; 15.9 mph)
Range	2,380 nmi (4,410 km; 2,740 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	452 (including trainees)
Armament	14 × 15 cm (5.9 in) guns 2 × 88 mm (3.5 in) quick-firing guns 6 × 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss revolver cannon

SMS Gneisenau was a Bismarck-class corvette built for the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) in the late 1870s. The ship was named after the Prussian Field Marshal August von Gneisenau. She was the fifth member of the class, which included five other vessels. The Bismarck-class corvettes were ordered as part of a major naval construction program in the early 1870s, and she was designed to serve as a fleet scout and on extended tours in Germany's colonial empire. Gneisenau was laid down in June 1877, launched in September 1879, and was commissioned into the fleet in October 1880. She was armed with a battery of fourteen 15 cm (5.9 in) guns and had a full ship rig to supplement her steam engine on long cruises abroad.

Gneisenau went abroad on two major foreign deployments in the first decade of her career. The first, in 1882, was to protect German nationals in Egypt during the 'Urabi revolt, though by the time she arrived, British forces had largely defeated the rebels, allowing Gneisenau to return home. The second, lengthier deployment came two years later and lasted from 1884 to 1886, and primarily focused on German colonial designs on eastern Africa. She was involved in the seizure of the colony of German East Africa in 1885, and she briefly toured German interests in the Pacific Ocean in 1886.

In 1887, Gneisenau began her service as a training ship, a role she held for more than a decade. During this period, she was generally occupied with training cruises and individual, squadron, and fleet training. Long-distance cruises frequently alternated between the West Indies and the Mediterranean Sea. While on one such cruise on 16 December 1900, the ship was driven into the mole outside Málaga by heavy winds and destroyed, with the loss of 41 officers and crew. Her wreck proved impossible to salvage, and so she was sold for scrap shortly after the accident.