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.
SMS Prinz Adalbert (1901)
Repairs were finally completed by September 1915. On 21 September, "Prinz Adalbert" joined a sortie to the Gulf of Finland with the battleships , , , , and and the light cruiser . They encountered no Russian forces and returned to port on the 23rd. Another operation followed on 5 October; this was in company with "Prinz Heinrich" and "Bremen", and was to cover a minelayer as it laid a field to the northwest of Östergarn. The ships completed their mission the next day and returned to port without incident. On 19 October, Hopman transferred his flag to "Roon" and ordered "Prinz Adalbert" to take up a patrol between Fårö and Dagerort. The ship was steaming some 20 miles west of Libau, en route to her patrol area, in company with a pair of destroyers on 23 October when she was intercepted by the submarine . "E8" fired a spread of torpedoes at a range of approximately 1,200 m (1,300 yd), detonating the ship's ammunition magazine. The massive explosion destroyed the ship, which sank immediately with the loss of 672 crew. There were only three survivors. The sinking was the greatest single loss of life for the German Baltic forces during the war.