Station Service (Navy)

Warships of the Imperial Navy performed station service overseas to protect the interests of the German Empire . This included securing sea routes and ports and combating piracy . For the suppression of uprisings sometimes been Marines embarked. Were employed abroad cruiser and type-neutral station vessels (stationary).

Since the autumn of 1867, important foreign stations in Germany have been in Cape Town and Zanzibar City for West and East Africa , Sydney and Apia for the South Sea station, Yokohama and Hong Kong for East Asia and Constantinople for the Mediterranean . From 1894, own bases were added in Cameroon , German South West Africa , German East Africa , German Samoa and Kiautschou .

Occupation of overseas stations (1914)

Australia: Gunboats Geier and Cormoran ; Survey ship Planet ; Government ship Komet
East Africa: Small cruiser Königsberg ; Survey ship seagull
West Africa: Gunboats Boar and Panther
America: Small cruisers Karlsruhe and Dresden
Mediterranean: Battle cruiser Goeben ; Small cruiser Breslau ; Station yacht Loreley .

Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans Otto Steinmetz: The German warships. Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present . 10 volumes. Köhler, Herford 1973 ff.
Hans Jürgen Witthöft : Stations abroad , in: Lexicon on German naval history . 2 volumes. Koehler, Herford 1977.
Erich Gröner, Dieter Jung, Martin Maass: Colonial vehicles , in: The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 7 . Pp. 216-225. Bernard & Graefe, Koblenz 1997.