SMS Gneisenau (1879)
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SMS Gneisenau was a covered corvette of the Bismarck class that was built for the Imperial Navy in the late 1870s . It was named after the Prussian Field Marshal August Neidhardt von Gneisenau . She was the fifth ship of the class, which included five other ships.
The Bismarck- class corvettes were ordered in the early 1870s as part of a large naval construction program. They were supposed to serve as a fleet scout and on extended missions in the overseas areas of interest of the German Empire . The keel of the Gneisenau was laid in June 1877, the launch took place in September 1879 and the commissioning followed in October 1880. As the main armament, the ship had a battery of ten to sixteen 15 cm ring cannons and a complete sailing rig to supplement the steam engine that was also available on long missions overseas.
The Gneisenau completed two large overseas missions in the first decade of its career. The first was in 1882 to protect German nationals in Egypt during the Urabi uprising . When they arrived, however, British forces had largely defeated the rebels and enabled the Gneisenau to return home quickly. The second, longer deployment took place two years later and lasted from 1884 to 1886. This focused mainly on German colonial efforts in East Africa . The ship was involved in the acquisition of the German East Africa colony in 1885 and then made a trip to the Pacific from 1886 to represent German interests there.
In 1887 Gneisenau began her service as a training ship , which she completed for more than a decade. During this time she was generally engaged in training drives as individual, squadron and fleet exercises. Long-distance journeys frequently alternated between the West Indies and the Mediterranean . During such a training voyage, the ship was pushed into the pier outside of Malaga on December 16, 1900 by strong winds and destroyed, killing 41 officers and crew members. Since the wreck could not be repaired, the ship was sold for scrapping shortly after the accident.
history
Construction and first assignment abroad
The new corvette, ordered as a new build under the contract name "D", was laid down in June 1877 at the Imperial Shipyard in Danzig . It was on September 4, 1879 by Admiral Albrecht von Stosch , head of the Imperial Admiralty , in the name of Gneisenau baptized. The commissioning took place on October 3, 1880 and before the work on the ship was actually completed it was transferred to the Kaiserliche Werft Kiel , where their weapons were installed. Sea trials were then carried out, which lasted from the end of December to February 12, 1881. Your commandant during this time was Captain Bartholomäus von Werner . Then she was decommissioned and initially assigned to the reserve. This followed the general plan of the Admiralty to protect German interests and colony aspirations overseas by using smaller gunboats while larger warships were generally kept in reserve. Only a few larger ships were assigned to a so-called “flying squadron”, which was able to react quickly to crises.
In the early 1880s, French and British influence in Egypt and particularly on the Suez Canal led to the Urabi uprising led by Ahmed Urabi Pasha . In June 1882 the revolutionaries, angry at the foreign influence in their country, murdered fifty Europeans. This prompted the British Royal Navy to Alexandria to shoot and then deploy ground forces to pursue the rebels. After some hesitation because of budget issues, the German government also decided to send warships. First the gunboats Habicht and Möwe were dispatched, but they proved to be inadequate for the task. On August 13, Gneisenau , the corvette Nymphe , the Aviso Zieten and the gunboat Cyclop were commissioned to strengthen the forces on site. The squadron left Kiel on August 19 under the command of the commandant of Gneisenau, Captain Max von der Goltz , who was also appointed commander of the squadron. The ships arrived in Port Said on August 21st . On September 13, the British defeated Urabi's forces in the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir , ending the uprising. At that time the paddle steamer Loreley , the station ship in the Mediterranean from Constantinople , joined the German squadron that remained in the area until December to protect the German embassy in Alexandria. Then the squadron was disbanded and Gneisenau returned to Kiel on December 24th , where it was decommissioned on January 9th, 1883.
Second foreign assignment
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Like all six ships of its class, the Gneisenau was reclassified as a cruiser frigate in 1884.
On October 5, 1884, the ship was put back into service for another voyage abroad to join the newly formed West African cruiser squadron , which was commanded by Rear Admiral Eduard von Knorr on board his flagship Bismarck , the sister ship of the Gneisenau . The new commanding officer of the ship was sea captain Victor Valois . On the way from Kiel to Wilhelmshaven , where the squadron was assembled, Gneisenau ran aground in the thick fog off the island of Lolland and had to be freed from the armored ship Hansa . The ship remained undamaged. The squadron left Wilhelmshaven on October 30 for West Africa . On the Cape Verde Islands , Knorr dispatched Gneisenau to Cape Town , where she arrived on January 8, 1885. Gerhard Rohlfs , who had been appointed consul for Zanzibar , embarked there and brought him to the island on January 28th. On the way there, Valois also had orders to place Santa Lucia Bay under imperial protection. However, the stopover order was withdrawn when it became known that the bay was part of the UK's sphere of interest . Gneisenau then traveled to the port of Lamu to survey the coast of East Africa, in particular the area around the Sultanate of Witu , in order to confirm the German "protectorate" there. Some time later, on April 8, 1885, the Denhardt brothers bought an area of 25 × 25 miles (1,600 km²) from the Sultan of Witu Ahmad ibn Fumo Bakari and applied for a letter of protection from the German Empire. The previous investigations into the area prompted the Reich government to instruct Rohlfs to accept the application and to place the area under German protectorate on May 27th.
Gneisenau had already left East Africa on April 1 for Melbourne , where she was supposed to meet the corvette Augusta in August , which, however , sank in a storm in the Gulf of Aden . Instead, the ship continued to Port Louis , Mauritius . There the Gneisenau joined the cruiser squadron commanded by Commodore Karl Paschen , which also included her sister ship Stosch , the corvettes Prinz Adalbert and Elisabeth and the supply ship Ehrenfels . Paschen had the order to bring his squadron, now called the East African Cruiser Squadron , to East Africa in order to settle disputes with the Sultan of Zanzibar, Barghasch ibn Said , regarding the German ownership claims, which was achieved by the strong naval presence until mid-August.
On August 18, the Bismarck arrived with Admiral Knorr, who replaced Paschen as squadron commander. Knorr sent Gneisenau to Wituland again. The ship arrived there on August 28, and Valois sent a contingent ashore under First Officer Curt von Prittwitz and Gaffron , who held a parade to celebrate the land occupation. After a visit to Sultan Bakari by Valois, the Gneisenau left Lamu on September 6th and went to Kismayo , before continuing to Zanzibar four days later. In the meantime, Paschen had been instructed to form a second cruiser squadron, which should consist of Gneisenau , Prince Adalbert and his flagship Stosch . The squadron was supposed to go to the Karolinen , which was controversial between Germany and Spain at the time . The Gneisenau first traveled to Cape Town, where she arrived on October 11, 1885. There she received the new order to return to East Africa again. On November 9th, she officially became part of Knorr's squadron again, which consisted of Gneisenau , Bismarck and the corvette Olga . Gneisenau patrolled the coast until March 6, 1886 and then traveled to Australia in the squadron association . The squadron then toured some Australian ports as well as New Zealand , Tonga and Samoa . Then Gneisenau was sent to the Gazelle Peninsula on the island of Neupommern to suppress an uprising against German colonial rule. The onward journey then took place again in association with Bismarck and Olga to the Palau Islands , which were part of the Caroline Islands, in order to repeat a landmark that had been set up there in advance, since the German Empire had dropped its claim to the islands in favor of Spain. The three ships then reached Hong Kong on July 23 , where the corvette Carola was waiting to replace the Gneisenau . On July 25, 1886, Gneisenau began the return journey to Germany and reached Kiel on September 27. She was decommissioned there on October 14th.
Use as a training ship
The Gneisenau returned to service on April 13, 1887 under the command of Captain August von Thomsen , now as a training ship for naval cadets and four-year-old volunteers. At the end of May she joined the maneuvering squadron that was present at the ceremony to mark the laying of the foundation stone for the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal on June 3. The squadron took part in the annual fleet maneuvers as II. Division, which began on August 6th. The exercises were completed the following month and the maneuver squadron began the winter training voyage to the Mediterranean. During the voyage, a fire broke out on the flagship Stein and the ship had to be docked for repairs, so from November 19, 1887 to January 8, 1888, the Gneisenau took over the association as the flagship. On the return voyage, the ships stopped at Cape St. Vincent and Funchal before arriving back in Wilhelmshaven on April 10th. Gneisenau was then relocated to Kiel for overhaul work, then carried out some individual training drives and returned to the squadron on June 25th. In the following month, the association accompanied Kaiser Wilhelm II on his north country voyage on board the ironclad Baden .
The winter training trip of 1888 went to the Mediterranean again from September 29th and was after participating in the celebrations for the 25th jubilee of King George I of Greece from October 27th to November 5th in Piraeus and visits to some ports in the Ottoman Empire in Asia Minor and Egypt ended on April 16, 1889 in Wilhelmshaven. Gneisenau was decommissioned on April 30th again in Kiel and officially performed as a training ship on January 1st, 1891. Out of service until April 1, 1892, the Gneisenau then went on a training voyage to the North and Baltic Seas under its new commander, Corvette Captain Felix Stubenrauch . This was followed by the annual fleet maneuvers in August and September and, from October 3rd, the winter training trip, this time to the West Indies and Venezuela . In the Caribbean, the German squadron met the French West Indian squadron for a formal visit between commanders. On the way back to Germany, the squadron stayed in British waters from May 22 to June 21, 1893, as it was taking part in the Cowes Regatta with Wilhelm II on board the Avisos Blitz at that time.
In the second half of the year, the annual fleet maneuvers in August and September took place again, this time as part of the III. Division. During the maneuvers, she collided with the division torpedo boat D2 , which was badly damaged while the Gneisenau was able to continue the exercises. As of September 30, she was taken out of service for repairs. On April 3, 1894, Gneisenau started the summer training trip to Kristiania and then took part in the Kiel Week . After participating again in the fleet maneuvers in August and September in the III. Division, now under Korvettenkapitän Hermann da Fonseca-Wollheim as commander, followed from October 1st the winter training trip to the Mediterranean with stays in Malta and the Aegean Sea . The trip ended on March 27th in Kiel.
The training year 1895 began with exercises in the North Sea and participation in the opening ceremony for the opening of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal on June 21 as part of the newly formed IV Division in the Kiel Fjord . This was followed by renewed exercises in the North Sea and participation in the annual fleet maneuvers within the III. Division. During the exercises, Gneisenau collided with the Danish schooner Delphin off Horns Rev on August 24 and was only able to save three men from her crew before it sank. The annual winter training trip to the West Indies started on September 28th. Stations were Charlotte Amalie , where the Gneisenau crew helped with fire fighting in the port, and Cuba. The ship arrived back in Kiel on March 18. From May 15, Gneisenau carried out another training trip to Bergen . While there, Gneisenau was visited on June 19 by the German imperial family and on July 14 by King Oskar II of Sweden and Norway . On July 18, she returned to Kiel and took part again in the annual fleet maneuvers.
The winter voyage from October 2, 1896 took the Gneisenau back to the Mediterranean. On her return journey in early 1897, she was ordered to Tangier to assert German claims for compensation for a German banker who had been murdered there in December 1896. The stay there lasted from February 27 to March 2, 1897. After arriving in Kiel on March 25th, another stay in dry dock followed. The other events of the year were individual training in the Baltic Sea, participation in the fleet maneuvers and the winter trip to South America with stops in Rio de Janeiro and São Francisco do Sul in Brazil as well as in Havana and on the way back in Key West . She returned to Kiel on March 30th and was taken out of service for another overhaul on April 18th.
The ship was not put back into service until April 9, 1899. This was followed by a practice trip to Norway from July 5th and one to Iceland and Ireland from July 24th. Then the Gneisenau drove into the Mediterranean, visited Jaffa , Beirut and Port Said and then sailed to La Spezia , where they were visited by Empress Friedrich and her daughter Princess Viktoria . Gneisenau reached Kiel on March 23, 1900 and, after minor repairs, began a training trip in the Baltic Sea on May 26. Another brief visit to Bergen followed on September 10th.
loss
On September 18, the Gneisenau left Kiel again to undertake another training run. She toured ports in Spain, Portugal and Morocco and stopped in Malaga on November 13 , where she stayed for almost a month. She left port on December 10th to complete target practice. To do this, she moored in front of the pier , about 800 to 900 m from the bank. On December 16, around 10:30 a.m., the weather worsened considerably with wind force 8. The ship's commander, Captain Kretschmann, ordered to go under steam in order to bring the ship to the safety of the port. Thirty minutes later, miscommunication between the engine room staff and the master led to Kretschmann lifting anchor. The commander believed the engine room had reported a propeller shaft speed of 50 rpm, but the actual speed was 15 rpm, which was not enough to propel the ship. As a result, the now no longer moored ship drifted helplessly in the strong wind.
The crew tried to drop the starboard anchor, but it did not get caught in the stony ground. Gneisenau was repeatedly driven against the pier and hit the stern twice before it turned in the wind and was pushed onto the pier with the bow first on the starboard side, causing it to run aground. A merchant ship tried to help the crew, but could not bring a line to the Gneisenau because the ship was already heeled 35 degrees. Another attempt to rescue a boat from the shore also failed. Furthermore, the wave movement hit Gneisenau's hull against the breakwater and some of her crew tried to get to safety by climbing into the rigging . The ship eventually rolled onto her side and the surviving crew members reached the coast via a lifeline. 41 men were killed in the accident, including Kretschmann and the ship's first officer. Twelve citizens of Málaga died while trying to save the castaways .
The SMS Charlotte and the British ironclad HMS Devastation were sent to help the wounded. Those killed in the sinking were buried in the cemetery of Málaga, the survivors returned to Germany on January 2, 1901 on board the HAPAG steamship SS Andalusia .
Subsequently, the equipment director of the Kaiserliche Werft in Wilhelmshaven , Otto Mandt , examined the wreck to determine whether it could be salvaged. However, the ship was too badly damaged. Instead, the cannons and other valuable equipment were removed and the wreckage blown up to test the strength of the hull structure. The remains of the ship were then sold for scrapping and was demolished on site.
Perished crew members
- Sailor Adam Weiss, b. in Bleiweisshof on December 24, 1878
- Cabin boy Otto Becker, b. in Danzig on September 7, 1884
- Fire master's mate Herwarth Ruhe, b. in Neuenkirchen on April 30, 1875
- Stoker Karl Werchner, b. in Charlottenburg on September 21, 1879
- Carpenter guest Christopf Detlefsen, b. in Nordhusum on December 3, 1878
- Cabin boy Flamin von Sperl, b. in Bamberg on January 23, 1883
- Machinist Karl Seher, b. in Gerlachsheim on November 7, 1872
- Sailor Wilhelm Meyer, b. in Käseburg (Brake / Unterweser) on August 14, 1879
- Cabin boy Eduard Heisel, b. in Flensburg on February 25, 1885
- Cabin boy Wilhelm Petz, b. in Schönberg (Mecklenburg-Strelitz)
- Cabin boy Paul Scharf, b. in Duisburg on March 10, 1883
- Cabin boy Gustav Scheck, b. in Bargstedterfeld 1882
- Cabin boy Carl Johansson, b. in Schwerin
- Cabin boy Richard Groll, b. in Guben on July 24, 1882
Their graves are in the English cemetery in Malaga.
thanks
As a thank you to the citizens of Málaga, a bridge was donated by Germany in 1909, which still crosses the Guadalmedina River as the Puente de los Alemanes (Bridge of the Germans) .
On March 9, 1982, on the occasion of a visit by a German fleet association to Málaga, a check for 115,000 DM from a collection for the preservation of the bridge was handed over by the German ambassador in Spain, Guido Brunner , to the mayor of the city for the renovation of the bridge.
The Gneisenau
Painting of the Gneisenau , Stein and Stosch by Alexander Kircher
Memorial plaque for a machinist
Image of the wrecked ship
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literature
- Gröner, Erich / Dieter Jung / Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945 . tape 1 : Armored ships, ships of the line, battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, gunboats . Bernard & Graefe, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-7637-4800-8 , p. 70 f .
- Erich Gröner: The German warships 1815-1945. Bernard & Graefe. Munich. 1994. ISBN 978-3-76374-809-9 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans-Ulrich Wehler : Bismarck and Imperialism. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-423-04187-0 , p. 294.
- ↑ Otto von Bismarck : Memorandum on the German Protected Areas of December 2, 1885, in: Documents on the negotiations of the Reichstag 1885/86. No. 44, p. 137. ( Digitized version )
- ^ Georg Wislicenus , Willy Stöwer : Germany's sea power . Reprint-Verlag, Leipzig 2007, ISBN 3826223136 , p. 83.
- ↑ Hundimiento de la Fragata Gneisenau
- ↑ Hundimiento de la Fragata Gneisenau
- ↑ Málaga. Die Brücke der Deutschen and SMS Gneisenau ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
