SMS Geier
SMS Geier ("His Majesty's Ship Vulture")[a] was an unprotected cruiser of the Bussard class built for the German Imperial Navy (Kaiserliche Marine).Designed for service in Germany's overseas colonies, the ship required the comparatively heavy armament of eight 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/35 guns and a long cruising radius.Geier spent the majority of her career on foreign stations, including tours in the Americas, East Asia, and Africa.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.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.Through the 1870s and early 1880s, Germany built two types of cruising vessels: small, fast avisos suitable for service as fleet scouts and larger, long-ranged screw corvettes capable of patrolling the German colonial empire.General Leo von Caprivi, the Chief of the Imperial Admiralty, sought to modernize Germany's cruiser force.[3] The ship was armed with a main battery of eight 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/35 quick-firing (QF) guns in single pedestal mounts, supplied with 800 rounds of ammunition in total.Rising tensions in Haiti prompted the Admiralstab (Admiralty Staff) to send Geier to the Caribbean, replacing the old ironclad Oldenburg that had been scheduled to deploy there.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.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.[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.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.While cruising Turkish waters in August, she was ordered to replace the light cruiser Breslau in the international naval blockade of Montenegro during the Second Balkan War.[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.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.Graßhoff intended to rendezvous with the East Asia Squadron in the central Pacific, and proceeded through the Bismarck Archipelago before turning north to Kusaie.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.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 (15 km/h; 9.2 mph).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.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.
SMS Geier (1886)German EmpireVultureUS NavyUnited StatesBussard-classunprotected cruiserNormallong tonsFull loadfire-tube boilerstriple-expansion steam enginesscrew propellers10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/35Hotchkiss revolver cannontorpedo tubesBussard classImperial NavyImperial DockyardWilhelmshavenSpanish–American WarBoxer UprisingGerman East AfricaItalo-Turkish WarBalkan WarsMediterraneanlight cruiserKönigsbergQingdaoSingaporeMaximilian von SpeeEast Asia SquadronfreighterHonolulu, Hawaiiscuba divingBussard-class cruiserGermanyavisosscrew corvettesGerman colonial empireLeo von CapriviChief of the Imperial AdmiraltySchwalbe-classunprotected cruiserslong overalldisplacednormallyfunnelmetric horsepowernautical milesmain batterybroadsidetorpedo boatsfitting-outVizeadmiralVictor Valoissister shipssea trialsWest Indiesschool shipsAdmiralstabironcladOldenburgKönig Wilhelmarmored cruiserCharlotte AmalieDanish West IndiesCharlotteSantiago de CubaPernambucoBahía BlancaSaint ThomasSan JuanRear AdmiralWilliam T. SampsonHavanaVeracruzZaragozaMexico CityPorfirio DíazCienfuegosNew OrleansBuenos AiresStraits of MagellanValparaisoCallaoPanamaPuerto San JoséCorintoGuayaquilPuntarenasAcapulcoSan FranciscoVancouverEsquimaltPuerto MonttShandong PeninsulaJiaozhou Bay Leased TerritoryEight Nation AllianceQing ChinaYokohamaHonoluluChefooBohai SeaShanghaiYangtzeChungkingBussardSeeadlerflagshipFürst BismarckDutch East IndiesNagasakiRusso-Japanese WarChemulposchooner barquetopsail schoonerSperberDanzigDar es SalaamMediterranean SeagunboatLoreleyConstantinopleAgadir CrisisPiraeus