 Gneisenau in the 1890s
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| 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 |
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| Propulsion |
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| 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 |
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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.