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 Gneisenau
The flotilla was reinforced with the arrival of "Emden" and "Nürnberg"; the ships then departed the central Pacific, bound for Chile. On 13 August the captain of "Emden", Commodore Karl von Müller, persuaded von Spee to detach his ship for commerce raiding. On 14 August, the East Asia Squadron departed Pagan for Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The ships again coaled after their arrival on 20 August. In order to keep the German high command informed, von Spee detached "Nürnberg" on 8 September to Honolulu to send word through neutral countries. "Nürnberg" brought back news of the Allied capture of the German colony at Samoa on 29 August. "Gneisenau" and "Scharnhorst" sailed to Apia to investigate the situation, but on 14 September found no suitable targets.