SMS Emden

SMS Emden

SMS Emden was the second and final member of the Dresden class of light cruisers built for the Imperial German Navy. Named for the town of Emden, she was laid down at the Kaiserliche Werft in Danzig in 1906. Emden spent the majority of her career overseas in the German East Asia Squadron, based in Tsingtao, in the Kiautschou Bay concession in China. At the outbreak of World War I, Emden captured a Russian steamer and converted her into the commerce raider Cormoran. In the Battle of Penang, she sank the Russian cruiser Zhemchug and the French destroyer Mousquet. She died in a collision with a tanker in 1915, while en route to K

About SMS Emden in brief

Summary SMS EmdenSMS Emden was the second and final member of the Dresden class of light cruisers built for the Imperial German Navy. Named for the town of Emden, she was laid down at the Kaiserliche Werft in Danzig in 1906. Emden spent the majority of her career overseas in the German East Asia Squadron, based in Tsingtao, in the Kiautschou Bay concession in China. In 1913, Karl von Müller took command of the ship. At the outbreak of World War I, Emden captured a Russian steamer and converted her into the commerce raider Cormoran. In the Battle of Penang, she sank the Russian cruiser Zhemchug and the French destroyer Mousquet. She was attacked by the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney on 9 November 1914. Out of a crew of 376, 133 were killed in the battle. Most of the survivors were taken prisoner; the landing party commandeered an old schooner and eventually returned to Germany. The wreck was quickly destroyed by wave action, and was broken up for scrap in the 1950s. She had one sister ship, Dresden, which was decommissioned in September 1910 after completing trials. On April 12, 1910 Emden left Kiel bound for Ostasi with Kaiser Wilhelm II aboard the yacht Hohenzollern II. She left on 12 April 1910, bound for Kiel with Emiel, but was later reactivated and assigned to the Ostasiwaderwader based at Ostasi, based at Germany’s TsingTao base.

She died in a collision with a tanker in 1915, while en route to Kiel, and her name was changed to SMS Emmen. She is the last German cruiser to be equipped with triple-expansion engines; all subsequent cruisers used the more powerful steam turbines. The ship’s main battery comprised ten 10. 5 cm SK L40 guns in single mounts. The secondary armament consisted of eight 5. 2 cm  SK L55 guns, also insingle mounts, and four torpedo tubes with four torpedoes, mounted below the waterline, and could carry fifty naval mines. She displaced 3,664 metric tons as designed and up to 4,268 t at full load. Her propulsion system consisted of two triple- Expansion steam engines, designed to give 13,315 indicated horsepower for a top speed of 23. 5 knots. The engines were powered by twelve coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers and drove a pair of screw propellers. She carried up to 860 tonnes of coal, which gave a range of 3,760 nautical miles at 12 knots. Emden had a crew of 18 officers and 343 enlisted men. The guns could engage targets out to 12,200 m, and were supplied with 1,500 rounds of ammunition, 150 per gun. The conning tower had 100 mm thick sides, and the guns were protected by 50 thick shields.