SMS Geier 1918
Marker: recorded wreck position (First World War).
Key facts
| Name | SMS Geier | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1918 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | First World War | derived from year |
| Ship type | steamboat | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | Collision | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | German Empire | Wikidata P137 operator → P17 country |
| Operator | Imperial German Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Conflict | World War I | Wikidata P607 conflict |
| Sea / ocean | North Atlantic Ocean | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | United States | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 50 km from land |
| Position | 34.1870, -76.6021 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
SMS Geier ("His Majesty's Ship Vulture") 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 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/35 guns and a long cruising radius. She had a top speed of 15.5 kn (28.7 km/h; 17.8 mph).
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.
Diving & visiting
The wreckage rests at a depth of 115 feet (35 m) with the top of the wreck situated at 95 feet (29 m). In 2000, the ship was the subject of a Phase II archaeological investigation headed by East Carolina University. The wreck is protected by sovereign immunity and it is therefore illegal to recover artifacts from the site without permission. In 2013, Scuba Diving magazine named USS Schurz as one of the top ten wreck dives in North Carolina.
Location
- Recorded position: 34.1870, -76.6021 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: North Atlantic Ocean
- Nearest coast: United States
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article SMS Geier (revision 1374722117), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Wreck”; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- U-352 1942 · 5 km
- HMT Bedfordshire 1942 · 8 km
- Queen Anne's Revenge 1718 · 57 km
- USS Tarpon 99 km
- SS Dixie Arrow 1942 · 111 km
- U-576 1942 · 135 km
Other wrecks of the World War I
- HMS Pheasant 1917
- HMS Vanguard 1917
- PS Duchess of Montrose 1917
- RMS Laconia 1917
- SM UC-61 1917
- HMS Ariel 1918
- HMS Cassandra 1918
- HMS H5 1918
- HMS Narborough 1918
- SM UB-33 1918
All 163 wrecks of the World War I →
Browse more: North America wrecks · wrecks off United States · North Atlantic Ocean · First World War