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 Gneisenau
At the outbreak of World War I the East Asia Squadron consisted of "Gneisenau" and "Scharnhorst", and the light cruisers , , and . On 6 August 1914, "Gneisenau", "Scharnhorst", the supply ship "Titania", and the Japanese collier "Fukoku Maru" were still in Ponape; von Spee had issued orders to recall the light cruisers, which had been dispersed on various cruises around the Pacific. "Nürnberg" joined von Spee that day. Von Spee decided the best place to concentrate his forces was Pagan Island in the northern Marianas Islands, a German possession in the central Pacific. All available colliers, supply ships, and passenger liners were ordered to meet the East Asia Squadron there. On 11 August, von Spee arrived in Pagan; he was joined by several supply ships, as well as "Emden" and the auxiliary cruiser "Prinz Eitel Friedrich".