SMS Emden (1916)

History

The Konigsberg class was adopted by the German Imperial Navy as a group of four light cruisers shortly before the First World War (1914-1918). Such ships differed from the traditional armored cruisers of the day, which were generally smaller and lighter, but carried much the same type of protection as their larger cousins. The Konigsberg class was built between 1914 and 1917 as the successor to the phasing out Blumer class and served until the last year of the war, 1918. Of the four completed, three survived the war.

The class itself was replaced by the upcoming Cohen-class cruisers.

The members of the

Konigsberg class are SMS Konigsberg, SMS Karlsruhe, SMS Emden and SMS Nurnberg.

SMS Emden (named after the city of Emden) laid the keel in 1915 by the Bremen contractor AG Weser. By this time, the war had been going on for several months, beginning in July 1914.

While many had blissful thoughts about the new European conflict that ended that Christmas, the front was deadlocked in bloody trench warfare that ensured the war was a years-long commitment for all parties. Emden was launched on February 1, 1916, and officially commissioned on December 16 of the same year.

As planned, the SMS Emden has a displacement of 6,000 tons (short), a length of 497 feet, a beam of 47 feet, and a draft of 19.5 feet. Her propulsion system outputs 31,000 shp to 2 shafts under the stern, allowing a speed of 27.5 knots and a range of 4,850 nautical miles.

Her crew of 475 was led by 17 officers. Her armament is guided by the 8 x 15 cm SK L/45 main guns, with two main guns in every four main turrets, with two turrets mounted in the front and two in the rear, providing lethal flanks. These are supported by 3 x 8.8 cm (3.5 in) L/45 anti-aircraft guns (AA) and 4 x 50 cm (20 in) torpedo tubes.

She also carried 200 mines. Protection includes 60mm on the belt and 600mm on the deck.

Her profile includes a bridge superstructure mounted in the fore part of the midship, mounted on one of two towering masts. The other is placed on the rear superstructure. Three funnels in the boat complete her silhouette. Her masthead is the Iron Cross of the original SMS Emden, a warship launched in 1908 that was lost in the Battle of Cocos in November 1914.

Overall, she was a surface vessel of conventional design and layout at the time.

Fast, well-armored and heavily armed, SMS Emden began her wartime career in 1917. Her primary duty during her early involvement was to lead the torpedo boat formation, and it wasn't until Operation Albion that she saw her actual war combat operations. Operation Albion was a combined land and sea campaign by the Germans to take over the Russian Republic's West Estonia Islands (Baltic Territory). The operation ended with a German victory and spanned from September 29 to October 20, 1917. During this operation, Emden's artillery was used to shell Russian positions and deter enemy surface ships.

Following this operation, she was used against British shipping in North Sea waters.

By 1918, the German Navy was planning a large-scale catastrophic operation against the British fleet, but a military mutiny ended the effort. SMS Emden, along with many other German warships, attempted to sink, but the arrival of the British warship prevented her from sinking completely.

After the war, the ship was given to France as a trophy, but her condition made her unfit to continue her career as a member of the rebuilding French navy. As such, she was left stranded and eventually used as a bomb target in 1922, and her body was abandoned in 1926.

Specification

Basic

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Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Wing