SMS Gneisenau

: This article is about the WWI armoured cruiser 'Gneisenau'; for the World War II battlecruiser of the same name, see German battlecruiser Gneisenau.

Related Topics:
World War II - Battlecruiser - German battlecruiser Gneisenau

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SMS Gneisenau was an armoured cruiser of the German navy. Launched on 14 June 1906, together with her sister ship SMS Scharnhorst, they were improvements on the previous Yorck class armoured cruiser. After commissioning, these 2 ships formed the core of the German East Asia cruiser squadron based at Qingdao (then Romanised as Tsingtao) in China under Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee. On the outbreak of the First World War, the squadron left Qingdao after Japan entered the war on the Allied side, and engaged in a period of commerce raiding before encountering and defeating a weaker British force and sinking the British armoured cruisers HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth under Admiral Sir Christopher Craddock at the Battle of Coronel off the coast of Chile on 1 November 1914.

Related Topics:
Armoured cruiser - German - 14 June - 1906 - SMS ''Scharnhorst'' - Yorck - Qingdao - China - Maximilian von Spee - First World War - Japan - Commerce raiding - British - ''HMS Good Hope'' - ''HMS Monmouth'' - Christopher Craddock - Battle of Coronel - Chile - 1 November - 1914

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On 8 December 1914, after passing into the South Atlantic through the Straits of Magellan, the squadron launched an attack on the Falkland Islands in an attempt to get coal for the ship's bunkers. However, they encountered a much more powerful British force, which included the battlecruisers HMS Invincible and HMS Inflexible, which proceeded to destroy the German ships in the first Battle of the Falkland Islands. Gneisenau was lost with most of its crew, although some survivors were picked up by the British.

Related Topics:
8 December - South Atlantic - Straits of Magellan - Falkland Islands - Battlecruiser - ''HMS Invincible'' - ''HMS Inflexible'' - Battle of the Falkland Islands

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