{"id":5356,"date":"2026-01-27T09:08:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T14:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/?p=5356"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:04:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T02:04:31","slug":"the-perils-of-gunboat-diplomacy-the-german-east-asia-squadron-at-manila-bay-1898","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/?p=5356","title":{"rendered":"The Perils of Gunboat Diplomacy: The German East Asia Squadron at Manila Bay, 1898"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew McGregor<\/strong><\/p>\n

AIS Historical Perspective<\/strong><\/p>\n

January 27, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

When America went to war with Spain in 1898, its focus was primarily on Cuba, and secondarily on the Caribbean as a whole. While a plan existed to take the war to the Spanish mainland, it was never implemented, having little to do with America\u2019s ultimate war aims. 9700 miles away from the Cuban theater of the war, the Philippines, a Spanish colony for over three centuries, remained a strategic afterthought in Washington. Nonetheless, it was in the Philippines that the Americans won their first great battle of the war only days after declaring war on Spain. Commodore George Dewey achieved a decisive victory at Manila Bay when his squadron of modern warships destroyed a decrepit squadron of Spanish ships manned by untrained sailors. The sudden triumph outstripped American planning; with Washington still unsure of next steps. What happened after the battle is rarely remembered today, but involved the arrival at Manila of a superior German fleet whose behavior, intentional or not, was intimidating enough that it brought the United States and Imperial Germany to the brink of war.<\/p>\n

The Early German Naval Presence in Asian Waters<\/strong><\/p>\n

After various wars of unification and intense diplomatic negotiations, the southern German states joined the North German Confederation in 1871 to form the new Prussian-led German Empire with Otto von Bismarck and the Hohenzollern royal family at the helm. Before this time, only Brandenburg and Prussia of the German states had made small and ultimately unsuccessful attempts at establishing foreign colonies. Bismarck opposed any shift to European-style overseas colonialism; Prussia had always relied on a powerful land-based military, but had only a weak and tiny navy. Nonetheless, the new empire required an international presence, and by the 1880s Germany was fielding a number of small warships in East Asia and the Pacific as part of the new Kaiserliche Marine<\/em> (Imperial Navy).<\/p>\n

The most prominent of these was the steam frigate SMS Elisabeth<\/em>, originally commissioned into the North German Federal Navy in 1868 (SMS stands for Seiner Majest\u00e4t Schiff<\/em> – German: His Majesty’s Ship<\/em>). The Elisabeth<\/em> arrived in the Far East in 1881, where it became the flagship of a naval squadron consisting of the corvettes Stosch<\/em>, Stein<\/em> and Leipzig<\/em>, the gunboat Wolf<\/em> and its sister-ship Iltis. <\/em>The squadron was disbanded in 1885, leaving only the Iltis <\/em>(1878), the gunboat Nautilus<\/em> (1871) and the Elisabeth<\/em>, which was transferred to eastern African waters in June 1881. The squadron was reformed as the East Asia Cruiser Squadron in January 1888, but was disbanded again in May as the larger ships were sent to East Africa to support colony building there. By late 1893, only the gunboats Wolf<\/em> and Iltis<\/em> remained in Asian waters.<\/p>\n

The Iltis<\/em> began East Asian service in 1880, fighting pirates near Taiwan and protecting German nationals during disturbances on the Chinese coast. The Iltis<\/em> toured the Philippines, including the Sulu Archipelago, in March 1881. A ship of 490 metric tons, it was armed with two 4.9-inch guns. The Iltis<\/em> was sent to Korea in 1894 to secure the German embassy at Inchon during the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1896). The gunboat was also present at the Japanese destruction of the Chinese fleet at the Battle of the Yalu River. In July 1896, the Iltis<\/em> was ordered to Tsingtao to investigate the suitability of the northern Chinese port for a permanent German naval station, but a powerful storm broke the ship on a reef, with the loss of 71 members of its crew.<\/p>\n

The German East Asia Cruiser Squadron in 1898<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the beginning of the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), the protected cruiser Irene<\/em> was sent to Asia to become the flagship of the newly formed East Asia Cruiser Squadron (Kreuzerdivision in Ostasien<\/em>) under Rear Admiral Paul Hoffman. In 1895, several older ships were sent home as the Iltis<\/em> and Irene<\/em> were joined by the Irene\u2019s sister-ship Prinzess Wilhelm<\/em>, the armored cruiser Kaiser <\/em>(1874) and its sister-ship Deutschland<\/em> (1874), the protected cruiser Kaiserin Augusta<\/em> (1892) the unprotected cruiser Cormoran<\/em> (1893), the gunboat Gefion<\/em> (1893) and the steam corvette Arcona<\/em> (1885).<\/p>\n

Known to the German navy as \u201ccruiser-corvettes,\u201d the protected cruisers Irene<\/em> and Prinzess Wilhelm <\/em>were launched in 1887. The ships, at 4271 metric tons, were highly sea-worthy, but slow, with a typical cruising speed of only nine knots due to a design flaw. Each ship had fourteen Krupp 5.9-inch guns and three torpedo tubes. They were modernized in 1893 before the Irene<\/em> was sent to East Asia in 1894, with the Prinzess Wilhelm<\/em> following in 1895.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The British-built ironclad Kaiser\u2019<\/em>s rigging and sails were removed in 1883 and replaced by two heavy military masts. The ship was rebuilt in 1891-95 as an armored cruiser of 7645 metric tons. The Kaiser<\/em> was armed with eight 10.2-inch guns in a central casemate battery (soon overtaken by the turret battery design used in later ships) and five torpedo tubes. Its sister-ship Deutschland, <\/em>also a member of the East Asia squadron, was rebuilt at the same time. They were the last of Germany\u2019s foreign-built capital ships.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>SMS Kaiser<\/em>, 1887<\/strong><\/p>\n

A protected cruiser of 6056 metric tons, the Kaiserin Augusta<\/em> was launched in 1892. The only one of her class, this unique ship was designed for overseas duty (most German cruisers were designed for dual use overseas or with the home fleet). It joined the East Asia squadron in 1897, armed with 12 5.9-inch guns and five torpedo tubes after an 1896 upgrade. The cruiser\u2019s bow was also reinforced for ramming. The Kaiserin Augusta<\/em> was considered a fast ship, having crossed the Atlantic at an average speed of 21.5 knots (24.7 miles per hour).<\/p>\n

The Gefion<\/em> was an unprotected gunboat of 3746 metric tons at its launch in 1893. The ship was designed for colonial service or use as a commerce raider in times of war. Armed with ten 4.1inch guns and two torpedo tubes, the Gefion<\/em> had the greatest range in the German fleet \u2013 3500 knots (4000 miles). It joined the East Asia squadron in May, 1898.<\/p>\n

The Cormoran <\/em>was a Bussard<\/em>-class unprotected cruiser of 1612 metric tons, independently stationed in the Pacific, but ready to join the East Asia squadron whenever needed. Like the Kaiserin Augusta<\/em>, it was built solely for overseas duty. Launched in 1892, the ship carried a main battery of eight 10.5-centimeter (4.1\u00a0in) guns with two deck-mounted torpedo tubes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>SMS Arcona<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Arcona<\/em> was a screw-corvette, one of six ships of the Carola<\/em>-class equipped with steam and sail for overseas service. The 2662-ton Arcona<\/em> carried ten 5.9-inch guns and two 3.4-inch guns. The corvette made two visits to the Philippines in 1895 and 1896 to help protect Europeans during local disturbances, landing German marines on its second visit.<\/p>\n

Most of the early work of the squadron consisted of surveying, fighting pirates and protecting German nationals and interests in the Pacific and along the Chinese and Korean coasts. Visits to Nagasaki, Formosa, Port Arthur and Vladivostok were common, as well as occasional patrols of the Yangtze River.<\/p>\n

Germany Contests Spanish Control of the Caroline Islands <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Caroline Island group is a Pacific Ocean archipelago of some 500 small coral islands. Beginning in 1525, Spain made sporadic attempts to establish sovereignty over the archipelago. When they renewed such attempts in 1885 by adding the region to the Spanish East Indies, German and British trade missions were already active on the islands. Spanish attempts to collect customs duties on German commercial activities saw the arrival of the gunboat Iltis<\/em> to raise the German flag at Yap (four islands surrounded by a common coral reef) on August 2, 1885, despite the presence of two Spanish warships that ultimately did nothing. Spanish discretion proved the better part of valor; Pope Leo XIII was called on to mediate and conflict was averted when Germany accepted the Pope\u2019s affirmation of Spanish sovereignty. This did not, however, end German interest in the archipelago.<\/p>\n

A German Naval Base in China \u2013 1897<\/strong><\/p>\n

The German squadron used Britain\u2019s Hong Kong harbor as a base, but this arrangement was unsatisfactory for several reasons. Thus, a \u201cGerman Hong Kong\u201d was sought. Numerous ideas were advanced and rejected, including the Kaiser\u2019s suggestion of a joint German\/Japanese occupation of Taiwan (this would have proved interesting when the two nations became enemies in 1914). Another possibility was China\u2019s Bay of Jiaozhou; the surrounding region of Shandong (where German missionaries were already active) was rich in coal and iron ore.<\/p>\n

Tirpitz took over the East Asia Squadron in June 1896, tasked with finding a permanent base for his itinerant fleet on the Chinese coast. When China refused Germany\u2019s request for a naval port, the Kaiser ordered plans to be made for a takeover of Jiaozhou Bay and the fishing village of Tsingtao (or Quindao, now a city of over 7 million people with a historical district of German colonial-era buildings). After Admiral Tirpitz returned to Germany to become the architect of the German High Seas Fleet (Hochseeflotte<\/em>), his successor, Rear Admiral Otto von Diederich (appointed June 1897) failed in his efforts to negotiate the German Navy\u2019s use of China\u2019s Kiaochou Bay in June 1897.<\/p>\n

A pretext for occupation opened up in November 1897, when two German Catholic missionaries were publicly slaughtered in Shandong. Kaiser Wilhelm styled himself as the personal protector of the mission, and immediately ordered the East Asia Cruiser Squadron into action, against the advice of Tirpitz. The Kaiser<\/em>, Prinzess Wilhelm<\/em> and Cormoran<\/em> took part in the capture of Kiaochou Bay on November 14, 1897 (Irene<\/em> was in dry-dock at the time).<\/p>\n

The German landing party took only two hours to seize Kiaochou and drive out its commander, General Chang, who was put under house arrest. An attempt organized by General Chang from his home to retake the port two weeks later was repulsed by the guns of the Kaiser<\/em> and the Prinzess Wilhelm.<\/em> Chang was sent under guard to the Prinzess Wilhelm.<\/em> Marines of the Seebataillon<\/em> arrived in January 1898 to consolidate control.<\/p>\n

On March 6, 1898, Germany signed a 99-year lease with China for Shandong, without rent. The region came under the authority of the Imperial Navy rather than the usual colonial administration of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n

German Interest in the Philippines<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the 1860s, Prussian merchants and gunrunners became involved with the Muslim sultan of the Sulu Archipelago, which was under blockade by the Spanish, who claimed the territory in the south Philippines. After German unification in 1871, Madrid feared the newly emergent German Empire intended to take the Sulu Archipelago or even the entire Philippines and began seizing German merchant ships headed to the archipelago, some of which carried cargoes of old muskets and ammunition destined for Muslim rebels. The result of this minor crisis was twofold: a growing interest in Filipino affairs in Berlin and a realization that a growing German presence in the Asia\/Pacific region required greater naval support than just the old Prussian steam corvette Nymphe<\/em>, a veteran of wars against Denmark and France and Germany\u2019s lone ship in the vast Pacific. In 1873, the Nymphe<\/em> visited the sultan of the Sulu Archipelago, who asked for his realm to become a protectorate of the German Empire to free Sulu from Spanish rule. When the request reached Berlin, it was rejected by Bismarck, who replied pragmatically that the German navy was still too weak for Berlin to become involved in such projects. Despite this, some in the German foreign office would remember the sultan\u2019s appeal over twenty years later when it suddenly became of importance.<\/p>\n

When the Philippine Revolution broke out in August 1896, the cruiser Arcona<\/em> was sent to Manila to protect German residents and interests, provoking new suspicions that Germany had designs on the Spanish colony. The Arcona<\/em> was relieved by the Irene<\/em> on December 25. Days later, the Spanish executed Jos\u00e9 Rizal, a German-educated Filipino revolutionary with many German connections who the Spanish believed was in favor of a German takeover of the colony. Though his family pleaded for German intervention, Tirpitz declined and the Irene<\/em> left on January 3, 1897. When other revolutionaries petitioned for a German protectorate, Wilhelm became convinced there was popular demand in the Philippines for German sovereignty. The Kaiser was alarmed in March 1898 when the German consul in Hong Kong reported American preparations for an assault on Manila, which Wilhelm had already decided should belong to Germany. This attitude on the part of the emperor himself might have contributed to the decision to send an oversized naval representation to Manila at the time of the American attack. Direct action in support of the Spanish was not favored due to differences in Berlin over the power of the Americans. Nonetheless, the Kaiser believed the Philippines should not come under the control of a foreign power without Germany receiving some form of compensation.<\/p>\n

That the Germans were serious about expansion in the Asia\/Pacific was demonstrated when it was decided to double the strength of the German naval deployment in the region. The Kaiser was delighted with his new acquisition in China and sent out a second division of the East Asia Cruiser Squadron under the command of his brother, Prince Heinrich. Consisting of the flagship Deutschland<\/em>, the Kaiserin Augusta<\/em> and the Gefion,<\/em> the squadron left for China on December 15, 1897, with the Kaiser instructing them: “Should anyone seek to hinder you in the proper exercise of our legitimate rights, go for them with a mailed fist.” The squadron arrived in Tsingtau harbor on May 5, 1898.<\/p>\n

The German consul in Manila believed the Filipino insurgents were open to the establishment of a kingdom, possibly with a German prince at its helm. Bernhard von B\u00fclow, the aristocratic German foreign secretary, disputed the consul\u2019s report and informed the Kaiser that this scenario was unlikely and could create conflict with both Britain and America, something the Kaiser did not want under any circumstances. German diplomats suggested to their American counterparts that an American takeover of the Philippines might require German compensation, possibly in the form of coaling stations or harbors in the Sulu archipelago, where Germany had longstanding interests. Possible sites for German bases in the archipelago included Port Dalrymple on Jolo Island and Isabela on Basilan Island. German diplomats tried but failed to persuade Washington that Sulu had been a Prussian protectorate since 1873.<\/p>\n

Outbreak of the Spanish-American War<\/strong><\/p>\n

Spain, once the world\u2019s greatest imperial power, was reduced by the late 19th<\/sup> century to minor possessions in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, the most valuable of which were Cuba and the Philippines. Spain\u2019s much-diminished army struggled to hold on in the face of rebellions in all its colonies, while its overseas fleet consisted mainly of outdated, poorly maintained ships capable of colonial duty but little else. During the three centuries of Spanish rule in the Philippines, military mutinies were a regular occurrence, usually happening in response to Spanish abuses of their own locally-raised troops or Filipino civilians.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Spanish Rear Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasar\u00f3n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In August 1896, a fractious nationalist group called Katipunan launched the Filipino Revolution. By 1897, the movement was still unsuccessful in its independence campaign, and the revolution\u2019s leaders (including leader Emilio Aguinaldo) came to an arrangement with the Spanish; in exchange for amnesty and a monetary indemnity, they agreed to exile in Hong Kong. Future Spanish dictator Lieutenant Colonel Miguel Primo de Rivera went with them as hostage for the indemnity payment.<\/p>\n

The Battle of Manila Bay\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Following the Maine<\/em> incident in Havana and exaggerated claims of Spanish colonial atrocities repeated in the American press, Washington declared war on Spain on April 25, 1898. In a war largely engineered by imperially-minded political opportunists with the support of a jingoistic press, the United States embarked on a military campaign to seize Spain\u2019s overseas possessions (with the exception of its African colonies).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Battle of Manila Bay, <\/em>by Ildefonso Sanz Dom\u00e9nech<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shortly after the declaration of war, the US Asiatic Squadron left Hong Kong for Manila to attack the Spanish squadron of decaying ships based there. The American squadron, commanded by US Civil War veteran Commodore George Dewey, had no permanent base in the East, frequenting Chinese and Japanese ports to supply itself.<\/p>\n

The US Asiatic Squadron included four protected cruisers: the flagship Olympia<\/em> (1892, 5870 tons, four 8-inch guns, 10 5-inch guns), the Baltimore<\/em> (1888, 4600 tons, four 8-inch guns, six 6-inch guns), the Raleigh<\/em> (1892, 3200 tons, one 6-inch gun, ten 5-inch guns) and the Boston<\/em> (1884, 3200 tons, two 8-inch guns, six 6-inch guns). There were also two smaller gunboats, the Concord<\/em> and Petrel<\/em>, the McCulloch,<\/em> a revenue cutter, and a collier and transport ship.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Spanish Cruiser Reina Cristina<\/em> (1887)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The much weaker Spanish squadron was led by its flagship, the Reina Cristina <\/em>(1887), an unprotected cruiser of 3,042 tons (smaller than all four American cruisers), with six 6.4-inch guns that became the main target of American fire when the battle began. The Reina Cristina<\/em> was supported by the Castilla <\/em>(1881), an unprotected cruiser of 3,289 tons, with a ram bow and four 5.9-inch and two 4.7-inch guns. Unfortunately, the Castilla<\/em> was largely immobile due to problems with her propeller shaft and was forced to fight the battle while still at anchor until she was sunk. The Reina Cristina<\/em> was destroyed by shellfire with heavy loss of life before being scuttled.<\/p>\n

Other Spanish ships included:<\/p>\n