SMS Gneisenau
"Gneisenau" was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen, Germany in 1904, under construction number 144. She was launched on 14 June 1906, and commissioned into the fleet nearly two years later on 6 March 1908. The ship cost the German government 19,243,000 goldmarks. The ship had been designed for service with the High Seas Fleet, though it was found to be too weak for service with the battle fleet; instead it was deployed overseas, a role in which it performed well.
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.