The
keel for
Eber was
laid down at the
AG Vulcan in
Stettin in 1902, much later than her five
sister ships; the ship was initially designated with the provisional name "B". She was
launched on 6 June 1903 and
commissioned into the German fleet on 15 September that year to begin
sea trials. Following the completion of her initial testing,
Eber remained out of service for the next seven years. The lengthy period in the reserve for a brand new vessel prompted an official inquiry from the
Reichstag (Imperial Diet). The
Reichsmarineamt (Imperial Navy Office) reported that
Eber had been intended to serve as a reserve vessel that could be activated to respond to a crisis or to replace a damaged or lost vessel; this response generated laughter during the
Reichstag session when the navy's representative read it.
Eber was activated for her first period of active service in early 1910, to join her sister ship on the western coast of Africa. She departed
Wilhelmshaven, Germany, on 14 April and arrived in
Douala, the capital of the German colony of
Kamerun, on 14 July. The ship's activity during the deployment was characterized by routine visits to ports along the western coast of Africa to
show the flag. The tropical climate was difficult for the crews, which were replaced every year, unlike the two-year term for crews assigned to other foreign stations.
Eber also routinely visited the
Canary Islands and
Cape Town to give the crew respites from the tropical heat; during periods in Cape Town, repair work was typically done as well. In early 1911,
Eber sailed to
Cádiz, Spain, where her annual overhaul was carried out from 7 January to 6 March. On the way back to west Africa, the ship stopped to visit
Casablanca in Morocco.
Eber thereafter arrived in Douala in May, but in late June she was sent back to the Moroccan coast in response to the
Agadir Crisis. She was to replace
Panther, which had stopped there only temporarily on her way back to Germany.
Eber anchored in the Agadir
roadstead with the
light cruiser through November, by which time the crisis had been resolved. During this period, she left only briefly to replenish coal and supplies at
Las Palmas or
Santa Cruz in the Canaries. After
Eber and
Berlin were ordered to leave Morocco, the two ships had to seek shelter at
Tanger and Casablanca to avoid severe storms. By late January 1912,
Eber had arrived back in Douala. In mid-March, she cruised south to visit
German Southwest Africa before proceeding further south to Cape Town on 29 March. There, the ship's captain and first officer were disembarked, as they had fallen seriously ill and had to be returned home. The senior
watch officer temporarily took command while a replacement captain traveled from Germany. In late August and into September,
Eber cruised in the
Congo River, and later that year, she visited
Cabinda in
Portuguese Congo and
Boma in
Belgian Congo. In late November, the outbreak of unrest in
Monrovia, Liberia, prompted
Eber to go there to protect German interests. She was joined by
Panther and the light cruiser . By early February 1913,
Eber had returned to Kamerun, but she was scheduled to be sent south to Cape Town for an overhaul. This order was rescinded, however, after an experiment the previous year with
Panther had demonstrated that it was more cost effective to bring a gunboat back to Germany for the overhaul than it was to pay a foreign shipyard to do the work.
Eber accordingly left Kamerun for Germany at the end of February, and the overhaul was carried out in Wilhelmshaven in May and June.
Eber departed for Kamerun again on 25 June with a survey team aboard, who were to complete the survey of the
Gulf of Guinea, which had been suspended since 1905. In late December 1913, the Detached Division, which included the
dreadnought battleships and and the light cruiser visited the German West African colonies during their long Atlantic cruise; they remained in the area into January 1914 before proceeding further in their voyage.
Eber continued her survey work in the Gulf of Guinea until early July, when she sailed south for another overhaul at Cape Town. The dramatic rise in tensions in Europe between the
Central Powers (which included Germany) and the
Triple Entente over the
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that culminated in the
July Crisis prompted the German navy to cancel
Ebers scheduled overhaul and direct her to return to German colonial territory. She sailed back north on 30 July. The British commander of naval forces in the area, Admiral
Herbert King-Hall, had ordered the local authorities to prevent
Eber from leaving, but they failed to do so.
World War I On 2 August,
Eber arrived in
Lüderitz in German Southwest Africa, where she was then in the range of the
wireless telegraph transmitter in Berlin. There, the ship's commander learned of the
mobilization order that had been issued the previous day. According to the orders,
Eber was to cross the Atlantic to the eastern coast of South America, where she was to locate a German steamer suitable for use as an
auxiliary cruiser, which
Eber was to arm with some of her own guns. In company with several German steamships acting as
colliers,
Eber departed for the coast of Brazil, arriving off the remote Brazilian island of
Trindade and Martim Vaz. There, she remained for the next several days; while waiting for a suitable passenger ship,
Eber briefly met the light cruiser on 20 August. Three days later, the liner arrived, and over the coming days, both of
Ebers 10.5 cm guns were moved to the ship, along with most of her officers and crew. No longer useful as a warship,
Eber was decommissioned on 31 August.
Cap Trafalgar departed on 4 September to begin the
commerce raiding campaign, while
Eber, having been disarmed, sailed under a commercial flag to try to reach a Brazilian port.
Eber reached
Salvador, Bahia on 14 September, where she remained for the next three years.
Cap Trafalgars raiding career was brief; the same day that
Eber arrived in Salvador,
Cap Trafalgar was caught and sunk by the
armed merchant cruiser Carmania. In late 1917, Brazil entered the war on the side of the Triple Entente, and to prevent her capture,
Ebers remaining crew set the ship on fire on 26 October and then
scuttled her by opening her
sea valves. == Notes ==