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.
Channel Dash
On 11 February 1942, the "Kriegsmarine" ships left Brest at and escaped detection for more than twelve hours, approaching the Strait of Dover without discovery. The "Luftwaffe" conducted "Unternehmen Donnerkeil" (Operation Thunderbolt) to provide air cover and as the ships neared Dover, the British belatedly began operations against the German ships. The RAF, the Fleet Air Arm, Navy and coastal artillery operations were costly failures but "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" hit mines in the North Sea and were damaged ("Scharnhorst" being put out of action for a year). By 13 February, the ships had reached German ports, Winston Churchill ordered an inquiry into the debacle and "The Times" denounced the British fiasco. The "Kriegsmarine" judged the operation to have been a tactical success and a strategic failure, by exchanging a threat to Atlantic convoys by German surface ships for a hypothetical threat to Norway. On 23 February, "Prinz Eugen" was torpedoed off Norway, repaired and spent the rest of the war in the Baltic. "Gneisenau" went into a dry dock and was bombed on the night of never to sail again; "Scharnhorst" was sunk at the Battle of the North Cape on 26 December 1943.