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 Hessen
SMS "Hessen" was the third of five pre-dreadnought battleships of the . She was laid down in 1902, was launched in September 1903, and was commissioned into the German "Kaiserliche Marine" (Imperial Navy) in September 1905. Named after the state of Hesse, the ship was armed with a battery of four guns and had a top speed of . Like all other pre-dreadnoughts built at the turn of the century, "Hessen" was quickly made obsolete by the launching of the revolutionary in 1906; as a result, she saw only limited service with the German fleet.