SMS Gneisenau (1879)
The crew attempted to drop the starboard anchor, but it did not catch in the stony ground. "Gneisenau" was driven into the mole repeatedly, striking it with her stern twice before being turned and pushed bow-first on the starboard side, forcing her aground. A merchant ship attempted to come to the crew's aid, but they were unable to connect a line between the two ships before "Gneisenau" began to list 35 degrees. A boat from shore also attempted to rescue the crew, but it too was forced ashore in the heavy seas. Wave action quickly smashed "Gneisenau"s hull against the mole, and part of her crew attempted to find safety by climbing the rigging. The ship rolled over onto her side, and the surviving crewmen reached shore with a line. Forty-one men were killed in the accident, including Kretschmann and the ship's first officer. "Charlotte" and the British ironclad were sent to aid the wounded. Those killed in the sinking were buried in Málaga's cemetery, and the survivors returned to Germany aboard the HAPAG steamship on 2 January 1901.
German battleship Gneisenau
At 17:45, the German battleships spotted the British aircraft carrier and two escorting destroyers, and , at a range of some . "Scharnhorst" was closer and therefore fired first. "Scharnhorst" had some boiler difficulty, which reduced her speed to . This allowed "Gneisenau" to overtake her sister during the action. Although the destroyers attempted to cover "Glorious" with smoke screens, the German battleships used their Seetakt radar to assist the gunlaying. In less than an hour's shooting, "Glorious" was reduced to a burning hulk. "Gneisenau" then turned her fire on "Acasta", while "Scharnhorst" dispatched "Ardent". Before "Acasta" was sunk, she fired a spread of torpedoes at "Gneisenau", which the latter successfully evaded. One of them struck "Scharnhorst", however, and caused serious damage. After all three British ships had been sunk, Marschall withdrew his force to Trondheim to conduct emergency repairs to "Scharnhorst". In the meantime, Marschall sortied with "Gneisenau", "Admiral Hipper", and four destroyers, though after two days he returned to Trondheim when it became clear that the British convoys were too heavily guarded.