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
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".