SMS Planet was a survey ship of the Kaiserliche Marine.[1] Her sister-ship was the SMS Möwe.[2] Planet was built by AG Weser in Bremen, launched on 2 August 1905 and commissioned on 16 November 1905. The crew of the ship consisted of six officers, four deck officers and 81 petty officers, sailors, stokers, and craftsmen.

S.M.S. Planet - depicted on a postcard

At the outbreak of World War I the ship was serving in the German North Pacific islands. On 7 October 1914 the crew of Planet scuttled the vessel off the island of Yap to avoid capture by Japanese naval forces under the command of Rear Admiral Tatsuo Matsumura.[3]

References edit

  1. ^ Phillip G. Pattee (2013). At War in Distant Waters: British Colonial Defense in the Great War. Cleis Press. p. 145. ISBN 9781612511948.
  2. ^ GND 4959351-1 in the Deutschen Nationalbibliothek
  3. ^ http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=hist_fac_pubs [bare URL PDF]