 After reaching the south Pacific, the ships toured Australian ports, New Zealand, Tonga, and Samoa before "Gneisenau" was detached first to the Gazelle Peninsula on the island of New Pomerania to suppress an uprising against German colonial rule.She then went to the Palau Islands, part of the Caroline group, to retrieve a German monument, as Germany had dropped its claim to the islands in favor of Spain.On 25 July, "Gneisenau" began the journey back to Germany, reaching Kiel on 27 September.