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 (1879)
"Gneisenau" left Zanzibar on 1 April, bound for Melbourne, Australia, where she was to meet the corvette in August, but "Augusta" sank in the Bab-el-Mandeb. "Gneisenau" instead proceeded on to Port Louis on the island of Mauritius. There, she met the cruiser squadron commanded by "Kommodore" Carl Paschen, which included her sister ship and the corvette , the frigate , and the supply ship "Ehrenfels". Paschen had been tasked to take his squadron to East Africa to settle disputes over the German protectorate with the Sultan of Zanzibar, Barghash bin Said, which he accomplished by mid-August. On 18 August, "Bismarck" arrived with Knorr, who replaced Paschen as the squadron commander. Knorr sent "Gneisenau" to Wituland, where Valois informed Bakari that the Sultan of Zanzibar had agreed to recognize the protectorate and stop interfering in the internal affairs of Wituland. After anchoring in Lamu on 28 August, "Gneisenau" sent a contingent ashore, led by the executive officer, Curt von Prittwitz und Gaffron, to hold a parade to celebrate the agreement. Three days later, Valois took three officers and twenty-nine enlisted men to the Witu capital to meet Bakari, returning to the ship on 4 September.