 She also carried six Hotchkiss revolver cannon.The new corvette, ordered under the contract name "D", was laid down in June 1877 at the "Kaiserliche Werft" (Imperial Shipyard) in Danzig (Gdańsk).She was launched on 4 September 1879, and was christened with the name "Gneisenau", after the veteran of the Napoleonic Wars and Prussian military reformer "Generalfeldmarschall" (Field Marshal) August von Gneisenau, during the launching ceremony by Admiral Albrecht von Stosch, the head of the "Kaiserliche Admiralität" (Imperial Admiralty).