SMS Falke SMS " Falke " was an unprotected cruiser of the , built for the Imperial German Navy . She was the second member of the class of six vessels . The cruiser was laid down in 1890 , launched in April 1891 , and commissioned into the fleet in September of that month . Designed for overseas service , she carried a main battery of eight guns and had a top speed of . " Falke " served abroad for the majority of her career , seeing duty in East Asia , the Central Pacific , and the Americas . She assisted in the suppression of a revolt in Samoa in 1893 , and was damaged in a later uprising there in 1899 . In 1901 , " Falke " was transferred to the American Station , and the following year she took part in the Venezuela Crisis of 1902 – 03 , during which she helped enforce an Anglo - German blockade of the Venezuelan coast . In 1907 , " Falke " was recalled to Germany . She was stricken from the naval register in late 1912 and subsequently broken up for scrap . Design . " Falke " was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of forward . She displaced at full combat load . Her propulsion system consisted of two horizontal 3 - cylinder triple - expansion steam engines powered by four coal - fired cylindrical boilers . These provided a top speed of and a range of approximately at . She had a crew of 9 officers and 152 enlisted men . The ship was armed with eight 10 . 5 cm SK L / 35 quick - firing guns in single pedestal mounts , supplied with 800 rounds of ammunition in total . They had a range of . Two guns were placed side by side forward , two on each broadside in sponsons , and two side by side aft . The gun armament was rounded out by five revolver cannon . She was also equipped with two torpedo tube s with five torpedoes , both of which were mounted on the deck . Service history . " Falke " was laid down at the " Kaiserliche Werft " ( Imperial Shipyard ) in Kiel in 1890 under the contract name " D " . She was launched on 4 April 1891 and commissioned in 14 September of that year . In August and September 1892 , " Falke " participated in the annual fleet training maneuvers , assigned to the III Division , along with the coastal defense ship . " Falke " was thereafter transferred abroad ; while en route to her duty station in the Far East , she stopped at Cape Cross in German South - West Africa in January 1893 . There , her crew removed the padrão that had been placed there by the Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão in the late 15th century . The stone monument was transported back to Berlin for preservation , while a granite copy , carried by the cruiser , was installed in its place in 1895 . " Falke " thereafter served on the East Asia Station with the East Asia Division . In July 1893 , she and her sister ship assisted in the suppression of a local revolt led by Mata ' afa Iosefo in Samoa . They were joined by the old British corvette , and the three vessels bombarded rebel positions on 7 July , forcing their surrender . In 1899 , " Falke " and " Bussard " were transferred to the Australia Station . In March of that year , " Falke " was in the harbor at Apia in the Samoan Islands . Unrest on the island , again instigated by Mata ' afa Iosefo , prompted the American cruiser and the British sloop and torpedo cruiser to shell the rebel positions . Their gunfire was poorly aimed , however , and several shells hit " Falke " . In late 1901 , " Falke " and the protected cruiser were sent to Venezuela in a show of force to compel the Venezuelan government to make reparations for grievances related to internal conflicts in the 1890s . Starting in December 1902 , " Falke " participated in the Venezuela Crisis of 1902 – 1903 . A British merchant ship had been boarded and its crew arrested by Venezuelan forces on 13 December ; in response , British forces bombarded the forts at Puerto Cabello , and enlisted the German squadron to assist them in punishing the Venezuelans . " Falke " and the light cruiser were tasked with blockading the Venezuelan coast , in cooperation with the British squadron . In January 1904 , the ship visited New Orleans with the rest of the American Squadron , which at that time included " Vineta " , " Gazelle " , and the gunboat . " Falke " returned to Germany in 1907 . She was stricken from the naval register on 25 October 1912 and broken up the following year at the " Kaiserliche Werft " in Danzig .