SMS Geier ("His Majesty's Ship Vulture")[a] was an unprotected cruiser of the Bussard class built for the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine). She was laid down in 1893 at the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven, launched in October 1894, and commissioned into the fleet a year later in October 1895. Designed for service in Germany's overseas colonies, the ship required the comparatively heavy armament of eight 10.5cm (4.1in) SK L/35 guns and a long cruising radius. She had a top speed of 15.5kn (28.7km/h; 17.8mph).
Geier spent the majority of her career on foreign stations, including tours in the Americas, East Asia, and Africa. In 1897, she was deployed to the Caribbean, and during the Spanish–American War the following year, she ferried Europeans out of the war zone to Mexico by crossing the blockade lines around Cuban ports. After being transferred to the western coast of the Americas in 1899, Geier was reassigned to China to help suppress the Boxer Uprising in 1900. She remained in East Asian waters through 1905 before being recalled to Germany for major repairs. In 1911, the ship was assigned to the colony in German East Africa, though she served little time in the area, as the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912 and the Balkan Wars of 1912–13 required German warships in the Mediterranean to safeguard German interests. Geier returned to East Africa in early 1914, but in June that month, the new light cruiserKönigsberg arrived, and Geier headed to China for second deployment there.
Geier was still en route to the German base in Qingdao when war broke out in Europe in August 1914. Slipping out of still-neutral British Singapore days before Britain declared war on Germany, she crossed the central Pacific in an attempt to link up with Maximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron. While at sea, she captured one British freighter, but did not sink her. In need of engine repairs and coal, Geier put into the neutral United States port at Honolulu, Hawaii, in October 1914, where she was eventually interned. After the American entrance into the war in April 1917, the US Navy seized Geier, commissioned her as USS Schurz, and placed her on convoy duty. She was ultimately sunk following a collision with a freighter off the coast of North Carolina, with one man killed and twelve injured. She rests at a depth of 115 feet (35m) and is a popular scuba diving site.
Geier was 83.9 meters (275ft 3in)long overall and had a beam of 10.6m (34ft 9in) and a draft of 4.74m (15ft 7in) forward. She displaced1,608t (1,583 long tons)normally and up to 1,918t (1,888 long tons; 2,114 short tons) at full load. Her propulsion system consisted of two horizontal 3-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines that drove a pair of screw propellers. Steam was provided by four coal-fired cylindrical fire-tube boilers that were ducted into a single funnel. These provided a top speed of 15.5 knots (28.7km/h; 17.8mph) from 2,800 metric horsepower (2,800ihp), and a range of approximately 3,610 nautical miles (6,690km; 4,150mi) at 9kn (17km/h; 10mph). She had a crew of 9 officers and 152 enlisted men.[3]
The ship was armed with a main battery of eight 10.5cm (4.1in) SK L/35 quick-firing (QF) guns in single pedestal mounts, supplied with 800rounds of ammunition in total. They had a range of 10,800m (35,400ft). Two guns were placed side by side forward, two on each broadside, and two side by side aft. The gun armament was rounded out by five 3.7cm (1.5in)Hotchkiss revolver cannon for defense against torpedo boats. She was also equipped with two 45cm (17.7in)torpedo tubes with five torpedoes, both of which were mounted on the deck.[3][4]
Service history
Illustration of Geier overseas
Geier was ordered under the contract name "F" and was laid down at the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven in 1893. She was launched on 18 October 1894, after which fitting-out work commenced. During her launching ceremony, Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Victor Valois christened the ship. She was commissioned into the German Navy on 24 October 1895 for sea trials. Her trials were completed on 21 January 1896, and she was decommissioned temporarily in Kiel. During construction, her design was slightly modified based on experience from her sister ships that had already completed their sea trials. Geier's displacement was increased slightly by around 50t (49 long tons; 55 short tons) compared to the other ships of the class and her stern was modified.[5][6]
First deployment abroad
Geier was recommissioned on 1 December 1897 for her first deployment abroad, to the West Indies. Until then, Germany had relied on school ships to protect German nationals in the region. Rising tensions in Haiti prompted the Admiralstab (Admiralty Staff) to send Geier to the Caribbean, replacing the old ironcladOldenburg that had been scheduled to deploy there. The ironclad König Wilhelm, which had recently been rebuilt into an armored cruiser, was sent to strengthen the German naval contingent. Geier departed Kiel on 9 December and arrived in Charlotte Amalie in the Danish West Indies on 3 January 1898, where she rendezvoused with the school ships Charlotte and Stein. Charlotte and Stein had already taken care of the situation in Haiti, so Geier went to Santiago de Cuba, where she stayed from 24 March to 6 April. She then received an order to visit Brazilian and Argentinian ports; stops included Pernambuco in Brazil (16–20 April) and Bahía Blanca in Argentina (23 April). While she was in the latter port, her tour of South America was cut short due to the outbreak of the Spanish–American War.[6]
Geier in Havana in 1898
On 6 May she arrived in Saint Thomas. She thereafter made trips to Santiago de Cuba and San Juan. While in San Juan on 13–14 May, Geier witnessed an American squadron under Rear AdmiralWilliam T. Sampson bombard the city. The US government permitted Geier to cross the blockade line outside Havana to evacuate twenty civilians of various nationalities and take them to Veracruz in Mexico, arriving on the 29th. There, the governor of the city and the artillery officer from the training ship Zaragoza visited Geier for some practice torpedo launches. While Geier was in Mexico, the German ambassador invited her commander and 27 men to visit Mexico City, where they were received by President Porfirio Díaz.[6]Geier thereafter returned to Cuba. On 16 June, the ship called on the port of Cienfuegos in Cuba. She passed through the American blockade of Santiago de Cuba twice, on 22–29 June and 1–4 August.[7]
After the war ended, Geier visited New Orleans on 14 October, departing eleven days later for the Caribbean. She then resumed her tour of South America that had been interrupted by the war. She typically stopped in ports where significant numbers of Germans had emigrated. While in Buenos Aires, she received an order to proceed to the west coast of the continent. She transited the Straits of Magellan on 20–23 February 1899 and made stops in Valparaiso, Chile, Callao, Peru, and Panama. From 11 to 17 May, she stopped in Puerto San José, Guatemala, where she met a British cruiser; the two ships were sent there to settle financial disputes with the Guatemalan government. Geier's tour continued, with stops in Corinto, Nicaragua, Guayaquil, Ecuador, and Puntarenas, Costa Rica. While in Corinto, she received orders to proceed further north, to the western coast of the United States and Canada. She stopped in Acapulco before arriving in San Francisco on 14 August, where she underwent a boiler overhaul. On 18 September, she departed San Francisco bound for Vancouver, stopping in Esquimalt en route. On 18 October, she left Vancouver and began her return voyage south. She visited Chilean harbors in January and February 1900, including Puerto Montt on 14 February, before turning back north, as she had been assigned to the newly created West American station.[6]
While in Acapulco on 9 July, Geier was ordered to cross the Pacific to join the forces of the Eight Nation Alliance fighting the Boxer Uprising in Qing China. She left port on 11 July for Yokohama, Japan, by way of Honolulu, Hawaii. She arrived in Chefoo on 29 August, where she joined the ships of the East Asia Squadron. Geier first patrolled the Bohai Sea before docking in Qingdao at the German-held Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory in October. On 28 October, she steamed to Shanghai, where she remained until February 1901. Geier then steamed up the Yangtze to Chungking, where she replaced her sister ship Bussard. On 5 April, Geier returned to Qingdao; on the 29th, she was transferred to the coast of central China, where she replaced another sister, Seeadler. Geier returned to Qingdao on 18 July, and began a tour of Korean and Japanese ports four days later with the flagship of the East Asia Squadron, Fürst Bismarck. The next twelve months were filled with cruises in the region.[8]
On 15 October 1902, Geier began a long cruise south to the Dutch East Indies, which also included a stop in Singapore. The ship entered the dry dock in Nagasaki, Japan, for a major overhaul on 2 March 1903, which lasted until 26 April. At this time, Geier was formally assigned to the East Asia Squadron. The ship resumed its normal routine of cruises in East Asian waters with stops in various ports. In February 1904, the Russo-Japanese War broke out; from April to August, Geier was in Chemulpo, which had been captured by the Japanese. By 1905, the ship was suffering wear, having spent over seven years on foreign stations. The repair facilities in Qingdao were insufficient for the amount of work that needed to be done, and so Geier was ordered to return to Germany. She left Qingdao on 14 January and arrived in Kiel on 16 March, where she was decommissioned for a significant period of repair work. Her three-masted schooner barque rig was reduced to a two-masted topsail schooner rig.[8]
Second overseas deployment
Kaiser Wilhelm (center) aboard SMS Geier
In early 1911, Geier was recommissioned to replace the unprotected cruiser Sperber on the East African Station, based in German East Africa. On 2 May she left Danzig, arriving in Kiel the following day. There, she was equipped for the deployment abroad. The ship left Kiel on 8 May and arrived in Dar es Salaam on 9 July, where she joined Seeadler. She cruised the colony's coast, but at the end of September she was ordered to the Mediterranean Sea, as the Italo-Turkish War had broken out on the 29th. At the time, the only German warship in the Mediterranean was the old gunboatLoreley, the station ship in Constantinople; this was a result of the heightened tensions in Europe following the Agadir Crisis in July, as most German warships in European waters had been recalled to Germany.[9]
Geier's departure for the Mediterranean was delayed by a coal fire in Dar es Salaam, which required her crew to put out. She left East Africa on 2 October and arrived in Piraeus, Greece, on 16 October, where she remained until January 1912. She was then formally assigned to the Mediterranean Division, along with the recently arrived battlecruiserGoeben. From mid-April to mid-July, she made trips to provide humanitarian assistance in Libya, Palestine, and the Red Sea. These were interrupted by the arrival of Kaiser Wilhelm II's yacht Hohenzollern; the two ships cruised to the island of Corfu in early May. On 17 July, Geier went to Trieste in Austria-Hungary for an overhaul that lasted until 30 September. She thereafter went on a cruise of the eastern Mediterranean and visited several ports.[10]
She was loading coal in Haifa on 31 January 1913 when a coal dust explosion killed two crew members. While cruising Turkish waters in August, she was ordered to replace the light cruiserBreslau in the international naval blockade of Montenegro during the Second Balkan War. She arrived off the mouth of the Bojana River in Montenegro on 11 August and patrolled it until 14 October, when she was released for a major overhaul in Triest. After repairs were completed on 4 January 1914, she was ordered to return to the East Africa Station. She arrived there on 22 February and conducted a survey of the harbor at Tanga. On 6 May, the ship was formally reclassified as a gunboat. The light cruiser Königsberg arrived on 5 June to replace Geier, which was then reassigned to the South Seas Station, where she would in turn replace her sister Condor.[10]
Geier's captain learned of the rising tensions in Europe following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria while en route to the Pacific. The ship coaled in Singapore on 25–29 July, departing the day after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Geier thereafter proceeded southeast through the Gaspar Strait, rather than north to Qingdao, where he would be expected to go. While off Batavia on 1 August, Geier received the order from Maximilian von Spee, the commander of the East Asia Squadron, to join him at Yap. On 3. August, she received word of the German mobilization and the order to begin cruiser warfare. She coaled at Jampea from the steamer Elmshorn of the Deutsch-Australische Dampfschiffs-Gesellschaft (DADG) on 6 August before steaming north through the Buton Strait. Off Celebes she rendezvoused with the DADG steamer Bochum, which acted as her collier.[10]
Geier's crew made temporary repairs to the ship's engines and boilers before proceeding north to the Palau Islands. Bochum took Geier under tow to conserve coal.[10] On 20 August, she managed to contact the cruiser Emden, which was detached from the East Asia Squadron and operating as a commerce raider. Emden instructed Geier to rendezvous at the island of Anguar, but she was unable to reach the island before Emden departed. Nevertheless, the two ships met at sea the following day; one of Geier's cutters took her commander, Lieutenant Commander Curt Graßhoff, aboard Emden to meet with her captain. Emden then departed for the Molucca Strait, while Geier proceeded to Anguar.[11] After arriving, Geier coaled from the HAPAG steamer Tsingtau. Graßhoff intended to rendezvous with the East Asia Squadron in the central Pacific, and proceeded through the Bismarck Archipelago before turning north to Kusaie.[10] There, on 4 September, Geier captured the British freighterSouthport and disabled the ship's engines before departing. The freighter's crew repaired the damage, however, and Southport made for Australia where she reported the German gunboat's presence.[12]
On 11 September, Geier arrived in Majuro, though the East Asia Squadron had already departed the island on 30 August. By this time, the ship's engines were in such bad shape that she would have been unable to reach Qingdao,[13] though the point was moot, as Japanese forces had already besieged the port.[14] In addition, opportunities for commerce raiding in the area were slim, and there were no suitably fast steamers available to arm as auxiliary cruisers. Graßhoff therefore decided to follow the East Asia Squadron to South America, despite the slow speed of his ship, which was reduced to 8 knots (15km/h; 9.2mph). The Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) steamer Locksun towed Geier to the Marshall Islands, where further repairs were made from 17 to 20 September. By this time, the ship's coal and water supplies were so low that the ship would not be able to continue past Hawaii. She arrived in Honolulu on 15 October, where the then-neutral Americans requested that Geier be interned. Two Japanese ships—the battleship Hizen and the armored cruiser Asama—had been patrolling in the area. Upon learning of the arrival of Geier, the two ships remained just outside the three mile limit to await Geier's departure. Graßhoff was able to delay the internment request until 7 November owing to damage to the ship and poor weather. The following day, the US Navy interned Geier.[12][10][b]
The United States entered the war on the side of the Allies on 6 April 1917. The US Navy seized Geier and refitted her for service in the Navy as a gunboat. The ship was renamed USS Schurz on 9 June, and commissioned on 15 September 1917, under the command of Commander Arthur Crenshaw. Schurz departed Pearl Harbor on 31 October and escorted Submarine Division 3 to San Diego. Arriving on 12 November, she continued on with the submarines K-3, K-4, K-7, and K-8, in early December. At the end of the month, the convoy transited the Panama Canal and proceeded to Honduras. On 4 January 1918, Schurz was relieved of escort duty. She carried the American consul from Puerto Cortes to Omao and back, after which she sailed for Key West. From Florida, she was transferred to New Orleans and then sailed for Charleston, South Carolina on 1 February where she entered dry dock for periodic maintenance.[12]
Assigned to the American Patrol Detachment, Schurz departed Charleston toward the end of April and, for the next two months, conducted patrols and performed escort duty and towing missions along the east coast and in the Caribbean. On 19 June, she departed New York for Key West. At 04:44 on the 21st, southwest of Cape Lookout lightship, she was rammed by the merchant ship Florida. The ship hit Schurz on the starboard side, crumpling that wing of the bridge, penetrating the well and berth deck about 12 feet, and cutting through bunker no. 3 to the forward fire room. One of Schurz's crewmen was killed instantly; twelve others were injured. Schurz was abandoned and sank three hours later. The ship was struck from the Navy list on 26 August 1918.[12]
Wreck
The wreckage rests at a depth of 115 feet (35m) with the top of the wreck situated at 95 feet (29m). In 2000, the ship was the subject of a Phase II archaeological investigation headed by East Carolina University.[15] The wreck is protected by sovereign immunity and it is therefore illegal to recover artifacts from the site without permission.[16] In 2013, Scuba Diving magazine named USS Schurz as one of the top ten wreck dives in North Carolina.[17]
↑ According to the terms of Treaty XIII of the 1907 Hague Convention, warships would normally be interned after spending 24 hours in a neutral port. They could remain in the port longer than 24 hours "on account of damage or stress of weather". See: Hague XIII, Articles 12 and 14.
Maximilian Johannes Maria Hubert Reichsgraf von Spee was a naval officer of the German Kaiserliche Marine, who commanded the East Asia Squadron during World War I. Spee entered the navy in 1878 and served in a variety of roles and locations, including on a colonial gunboat in German West Africa in the 1880s, the East Africa Squadron in the late 1890s, and as commander of several warships in the main German fleet in the early 1900s. During his time in Germany in the late 1880s and early 1890s, he married his wife, Margareta, and had three children, his sons Heinrich and Otto and his daughter Huberta. By 1912, he had returned to the East Asia Squadron as its commander, and was promoted to the rank of Vizeadmiral the following year.
SMS Scharnhorst was an armored cruiser of the Imperial German Navy, built at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany. She was the lead ship of her class, which included SMS Gneisenau. Scharnhorst and her sister were enlarged versions of the preceding Roon class; they were equipped with a greater number of main guns and were capable of a higher top speed. The ship was named after the Prussian military reformer General Gerhard von Scharnhorst and commissioned into service on 24 October 1907.
SMS Gneisenau was an armored cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine, part of the two-ship Scharnhorst class. Named for the earlier screw corvette of the same name, the ship was laid down in June 1904 at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen, launched in June 1906, and commissioned in March 1908. She was armed with a main battery of eight 21 cm (8.3 in) guns, a significant increase in firepower over earlier German armored cruisers, and she had a top speed of 22.5 knots. Gneisenau initially served with the German fleet in I Scouting Group, though her service there was limited owing to the British development of the battlecruiser by 1909, which the less powerful armored cruisers could not effectively combat.
SMS Leipzig was the sixth of seven Bremen-class cruisers of the Imperial German Navy, named after the city of Leipzig. She was begun by AG Weser in Bremen in 1904, launched in March 1905 and commissioned in April 1906. Armed with a main battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and two 45 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes, Leipzig was capable of a top speed of 22.5 knots.
Emden was a light cruiser built for the German Navy in the early 1920s. She was the only ship of her class and was the first large warship built in Germany after the end of World War I. She was built at the Reichsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven; her keel was laid down in December 1921 and her completed hull was launched in January 1925. Emden was commissioned into the fleet in October 1925. Her design was heavily informed by the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles and the dictates of the Allied disarmament commission. Displacement was capped at 6,000 long tons (6,100 t), though like all German warships built in the period, Emden exceeded the size limitations. She was armed with a main battery of surplus 15 cm (5.9 in) guns left over from World War I, mounted in single gun turrets, as mandated by the Allied powers. She had a top speed of 29 knots.
SMS Seeadler was an unprotected cruiser of the Bussard class, the third member of a class of six ships built by the German Kaiserliche Marine. Her sister ships included Bussard, the lead ship, along with Falke, Condor, Cormoran, and Geier. Seeadler was built at the Kaiserliche Werft in Danzig in late 1890, launched in February 1892, and commissioned in August of that year. Intended for colonial service, Seeadler was armed with a main battery of eight 10.5-centimeter (4.1 in) guns and had a top speed of 15.5 knots.
SMS Arcona was the ninth member of the ten-ship Gazelle class of light cruisers that were built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the late 1890s and early 1900s. The Gazelle class was the culmination of earlier unprotected cruiser and aviso designs, combining the best aspects of both types in what became the progenitor of all future light cruisers of the Imperial fleet. Built to be able to serve with the main German fleet and as a colonial cruiser, she was armed with a battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and a top speed of 21.5 knots. Arcona was a modified version of the basic Gazelle design, with improved armor and additional coal storage for a longer cruising range.
SMS Hansa was a protected cruiser of the Victoria Louise class, built for the German Imperial Navy in the 1890s, along with her sister ships Victoria Louise, Hertha, Vineta, and Freya. Hansa was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin in 1896, launched in March 1898, and commissioned into the Navy in April 1899. The ship was armed with a battery of two 21 cm guns and eight 15 cm guns and had a top speed of 19 knots. Though the five Victoria Louise-class cruisers proved to be disappointing in some ways, they marked the beginning of a decade of German cruiser construction.
SMS Fürst Bismarck was Germany's first armored cruiser, built for the Kaiserliche Marine before the turn of the 20th century. The ship was named for the German statesman Otto von Bismarck. The design for Fürst Bismarck was an improvement over the previous Victoria Louise-class protected cruisers—Fürst Bismarck was significantly larger and better armed than her predecessors.
SMS Hertha was a protected cruiser of the Victoria Louise class, built for the German Imperial Navy in the 1890s. Hertha was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in 1895, launched in April 1897, and commissioned into the Navy in July 1898. The ship was armed with a battery of two 21 cm guns and eight 15 cm guns and had a top speed of 19 knots. Though the five Victoria Louise-class cruisers proved to be disappointing in some ways, they marked the beginning of a decade of German cruiser construction.
SMS Irene was a protected cruiser or Kreuzerkorvette of the German Imperial Navy and the lead ship of the Irene class. She had one sister, Prinzess Wilhelm; the two ships were the first protected cruisers built by the German Navy. Irene was laid down in 1886 at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin, launched in July 1887, and commissioned into the fleet in May 1888. The cruiser was named after Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine, sister-in-law of Kaiser Wilhem II. As built, the ship was armed with a main battery of fourteen 15 cm (5.9 in) guns and had a top speed of 18 knots.
SMS Nürnberg, named after the Bavarian city of Nuremberg, was a Königsberg-class light cruiser built for the German Imperial Navy. Her sisters included Königsberg, Stettin, and Stuttgart. She was built by the Imperial Dockyard in Kiel, laid down in early 1906 and launched in August of that year. She was completed in April 1908. Nürnberg was armed with ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns, eight 5.2 cm (2 in) SK L/55 guns, and two submerged torpedo tubes. Her top speed was 23.4 knots.
SMS Leipzig was a German flush-deck steam corvette, the lead ship of the Leipzig class, named after the 1813 Battle of Leipzig. She was built for the Kaiserliche Marine in the 1870s, being laid down in early 1875, launched in September that year, and commissioned into the fleet in May 1877. She had one sister ship, SMS Prinz Adalbert. Intended for long cruises abroad, the ship was fitted with a full ship rig to supplement her steam engine if coal was unavailable. She carried a battery of twelve 17 cm (6.7 in) guns.
SMS Emden was the second and final member of the Dresden class of light cruisers built for the German Kaiserliche Marine. Named for the town of Emden, she was laid down at the Kaiserliche Werft in Danzig in 1906. The hull was launched in May 1908, and completed in July 1909. She had one sister ship, Dresden. Like the preceding Königsberg-class cruisers, Emden was armed with ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and two torpedo tubes.
The Bussard class of unprotected cruisers were built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the late 1880s and early 1890s. The class comprised six ships: Bussard, the lead ship, Falke, Seeadler, Cormoran, Condor, and Geier. Designed for service in Germany's colonial empire, the class emphasized a long-range cruising radius and relatively heavy armament; they were also the last cruisers in the Kaiserliche Marine to be equipped with an auxiliary sailing rig. The ships were equipped with eight 10.5-centimeter (4.1 in) guns.
SMS Luchs was the fourth member of the Iltis class of gunboats built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Other ships of the class are SMS Iltis, SMS Tiger, SMS Eber, SMS Jaguar and SMS Panther.
SMS Tiger was the third member of the Iltis class of gunboats built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Other ships of the class were SMS Iltis, SMS Luchs, SMS Eber, SMS Jaguar and SMS Panther.
SMS Sophie was a member of the Carola class of steam corvettes built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the 1880s. Intended for service in the German colonial empire, the ship was designed with a combination of steam and sail power for extended range, and was equipped with a battery of ten 15-centimeter (5.9 in) guns. Sophie was laid down at the Kaiserliche Werft in Danzig in 1880, she was launched in November 1881, and she was completed in August 1882.
References
Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships: 1815–1945. Vol.I: Major Surface Vessels. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN978-0-87021-790-6.
Halpern, Paul G. (1995). A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN1557503524.
Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert & Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe: Biographien – ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart[The German Warships: Biographies − A Reflection of Naval History from 1815 to the Present] (in German). Vol.3. Ratingen: Mundus Verlag. ISBN978-3-7822-0211-4.
Lochner, R. K. (2002). The Last Gentleman-Of-War: The Raider Exploits of the Cruiser Emden. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN1557505381.
Mooney, James L., ed. (1976). Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Historical Sketches—Letters R through S. Vol.VI. Washington, DC: Department of the Navy. OCLC769806180.
Nottelmann, Dirk (2020). "The Development of the Small Cruiser in the Imperial German Navy". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2020. Oxford: Osprey. pp.102–118. ISBN978-1-4728-4071-4.
Sondhaus, Lawrence (1997). Preparing for Weltpolitik: German Sea Power Before the Tirpitz Era. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN978-1-55750-745-7.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
German Empire 
United States 
