SMS Gneisenau
SMS "Gneisenau" was an armored cruiser of the German navy, part of the two-ship . She was named after August von Gneisenau, a Prussian general of the Napoleonic Wars. The ship was laid down in 1904 at the AG Weser dockyard in Bremen, launched in June 1906, and completed in March 1908, at a cost of over 19 million goldmarks. She was armed with a main battery of eight guns, had a top speed of , and displaced at full combat load.
SMS Stosch
"Stosch" was recommissioned on 20 September 1888 to serve as the flagship of the school squadron, replacing "Stein" in that role. At the time, the squadron was commanded by "KAdm" Friedrich von Hollmann, and it included "Gneisenau", their sister , and the corvette . The ships left for an overseas training cruise shortly thereafter, entering the Mediterranean Sea on 29 September. The ships visited ports throughout the Mediterranean individually and as a squadron, and they participated in celebrations commemorating the 25th anniversary of King George I of Greece from 27 October to 5 November in Piraeus. While "Stosch" was in Smyrna, Hollmann and his staff made an official visit to Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire. On 24 February 1889, Hollmann received orders to take the squadron to Egypt, where they were to replace the East Africa Squadron, which was in turn being sent to Samoa, but by the time "Stosch" and the rest of the squadron arrived in Alexandria, the reassignment of the East Africa Squadron had become unnecessary, and so on 20 March, the school squadron was recalled. While the ships were in Palermo, Sicily, the "Admiralität" again reconsidered deploying the ships after the 1889 Apia cyclone sank two German gunboats in Samoa, but again decided against deploying the ships. The squadron arrived back in Wilhelmshaven on 16 April, where the squadron was dissolved and "Stosch" was decommissioned on 27 April.