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Gunboat Photo Archive

Gunboat Schurz


Schurz served the Navies of Germany and the United States.

Sunk 21 June 1918
Gunboat:

  • Laid down in 1894 as the unprotected cruiser SMS Geier by the Imperial Dockyard, Wilhelmshaven, Germany
  • Launched 18 October 1894
  • Acquired by the Navy 6 April 1917
  • Renamed Schurz 9 June 1917
  • Commissioned USS Schurz 15 September 1917
  • Sunk 21 June 1918 after being struck by the SS Florida off Cape Lookout Lightship, 130 miles east of Wilmington, NC
  • Struck from the Navy list 26 August 1918.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,630 t.
  • Length 254'
  • Beam 32' 1"
  • Draft 14' 2"
  • Speed 16 kts.
  • Complement 197
  • Armament: Four 5" mounts
  • Propulsion: One triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    SMS Geier
    Schurz 87k Imperial German Navy unprotected cruiser SMS Geier at anchor, circa 1894
    Bundesarchiv, Bild (National Archives, Photo) 134-C0105 / CC-BY-SA 3.0    		 Robert Hurst
    Schurz 62k Kaiser Wilhelm II (center) and officers on the bridge of the small cruiser SMS Geier, circa 1894
    Photo from Bundesarchiv, Bild 134-B2651 / CC-BY-SA 3.0
    Schurz 73k The unprotected cruiser SMS Geier entering Havana Harbor, Cuba, in 1898
    Image from Marine Rundschau, 1899. Pub. Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn (and son), Berlin
    Schurz 178k Colored postcard illustration of the German cruiser SMS Geier, off shore, circa 1901 by Ernst Reventlow
    Image from The German fleet: its development and organization, by Max Schröder-Greifswald (1858–1948), Pub. Zweibrücken (Twin Bridges): Lehmann. OCLC 681106880
    Schurz 112k Photo courtesy U.S. Warships of World War I Mike Green
    Schurz 181k Interred at Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii
    Photo by Herbert B. Turner
    National Archives photo 45499708    		 David Wright
    Schurz 260k 4 February 1917
    Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. Smoke is from boilers sabotaged by her German crew
    Photo by Herbert B. Turner
    National Archives photo 45499710
    USS Schurz
    Schurz 86k Carl Christian Schurz; March 2, 1829 – May 14, 1906) was a German revolutionary, American statesman and reformer, U.S. Minister to Spain, Union Army General in the American Civil War, U.S. Senator, and Secretary of the Interior. He was also an accomplished journalist, newspaper editor and orator, who in 1869 became the first German-born American elected to the United States Senate
    Photo from Wikipedia    		 Tommy Trampp
    Schurz 132k Replacement photo: Off the foot of Market Street, San Diego, California, in November-December 1917
    Courtesy of the San Diego Maritime Museum, 1983
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 94909    		 Original photo: Robert Hurst
    Replacement photo: Mike Green
    View the Gunboat Schruz
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval Historical Center website
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