SMS Geier was an unprotected cruiser built for the Imperial German navy in 1893, and later came under American control during the midd stage of ww1 when she was interned in Hawaii at the beginning of the war. She was laid down in 1893 and launched a year later before entering service in 1895. The ship was designed to operate overseas in German colonies and to protect those colonies, and so came with an armament of 105mm guns, but no armour and a top speed of 15 knots, which in later years proved to be fairly slow. She was sunk in June 1918 by a collision with a freighter off the coast of North Carolina where shee rests to this day, albeit the wreck is not in good condition.