Dresden - class cruiser The " Dresden " class was a pair of light cruiser s built for the Imperial German Navy in the early part of the 20th century . The class comprised , the lead ship , and . Both ships were laid down in 1906 ; " Dresden " was launched in 1907 , and " Emden " followed in 1908 . They entered service in 1908 and 1909 , respectively . The design for the ships was an incremental improvement over the preceding " Königsberg " class , being slightly larger and slightly faster , but with the same primary armament of ten guns . " Dresden " and " Emden " were powered by steam turbines and triple expansion engines , respectively , as part of continued experiments with the new turbine technology . Both ships served extensively on foreign stations ; " Emden " was assigned to the East Asia Squadron from her commissioning , and " Dresden " was sent to Caribbean waters in 1913 . " Dresden " was due to return to Germany for periodic maintenance shortly before the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , but this became impossible with the onset of hostilities . She therefore operated as a commerce raider , before linking up with " Vizeadmiral " Maximilian von Spee ' s East Asia Squadron . " Dresden " thereafter participated in the Battle of Coronel in November 1914 and the Battle of the Falkland Islands the following December . She was the only German vessel to escape destruction at the latter engagement , and she remained at large for several more months . " Dresden " finally put into the Chilean island of Más a Tierra in March 1915 owing to worn - out engines . A pair of British cruisers violated Chilean neutrality and attacked " Dresden " while she lay at anchor ; the Germans scuttled their ship to prevent her capture . " Emden " , meanwhile , had been detached from the East Asia Squadron to pursue an independent commerce raiding campaign in the Indian Ocean . She captured or sank numerous Entente vessels , including the steamer " Ryazan " , which was converted into the auxiliary cruiser " Cormoran " . In September 1914 , " Emden " raided Penang and caught the Russian protected cruiser " Zhemchug " and the French destroyer " Mousquet " and quickly destroyed both ships . Shortly thereafter , " Emden " was caught by the Australian cruiser off the Cocos Islands and forced to beach after a ferocious engagement . Design . The two ships of the " Dresden " class were ordered in the 1905 – 1906 construction program . Their design represents an incremental improvement over the earlier " Königsberg " class . They carried the same main battery of guns on a slightly greater displacement . Like the " Königsberg " s , one ship — " Dresden " — was fitted with a steam turbine engine to compare its performance with the traditional triple - expansion engine in an otherwise - identical sister ship . All subsequent designs of German cruisers utilized turbine propulsion systems . General characteristics . The two " Dresden " - class cruisers were long at the waterline and long overall . They had a beam of and a draft of forward . They displaced as designed and up to at full combat load . Their hulls were constructed with transverse and longitudinal steel frames . The hulls contained thirteen watertight compartments and had a double bottom that extended for 47 percent of the length of the keel . The ships were good sea boats , but they were crank and rolled up to twenty degrees . They were also very wet at high speeds and suffered from a slight weather helm . Nevertheless , the ships turned tightly and were very maneuverable . In a hard turn , their speed fell up to 35 percent . They had a transverse metacentric height of . " Dresden " and " Emden " had a crew of 18 officers and 343 enlisted men . They carried a number of smaller boats , including one picket boat , one barge , one cutter , two yawls , and two dinghies . Machinery . " Dresden " s propulsion system consisted of two Parsons steam turbines , designed to give . " Emden " , instead , was equipped with two triple expansion engines rated at . Both ships had a top speed of . In both vessels , the engines were powered by twelve coal - fired Marine - type water - tube boilers . Both ships carried up to of coal , though their ranges were slightly different , owing to their different propulsion systems . " Dresden " could steam for at , while " Emden " had a range of at . Electrical power was supplied by three turbo - generator s that provided a total of 125 kilowatts at 110 volts . Armament and armor . The ships were armed with ten 10 . 5 cm SK L / 40 guns in single pedestal mounts . Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle , six were located amidships , three on either side , and two were side by side aft . The guns had a maximum elevation of 30 degrees , which allowed them to engage targets out to . They were supplied with 1 , 500 rounds of ammunition , for 150 shells per gun . The ships were also equipped with eight 5 . 2 cm SK L / 55 guns with 4 , 000 rounds of ammunition . All four ships were also equipped with a pair of torpedo tube s with five torpedo es submerged in the hull on the broadside . The ships were protected by an armored deck that was up to thick amidships with thick sloping armor on the sides . The deck was reduced to further aft and then again to toward the stern . The conning tower had thick sides , and the guns were protected by 50 mm thick shields . Service history . " Dresden " . " Dresden " spent most of her career on foreign stations . After her commissioning , she visited the United States in 1909 as part of Germany ' s delegation to the Hudson - Fulton Celebration . She returned to North American waters in late 1913 , when she was stationed off the Mexican coast to protect German nationals during the Mexican Revolution . Following the rebels ' victory the following year , " Dresden " evacuated the former dictator Victoriano Huerta to Jamaica , where the British had granted him asylum . In need of repairs , the cruiser was scheduled to return to Germany in July 1914 , but the outbreak of World War I prevented this from taking place . Instead , " Dresden " operated as a commerce raider in South American waters in the Atlantic in the first months of the war before moving to the Pacific Ocean in September and thereafter joining Maximilian von Spee ' s East Asia Squadron . " Dresden " participated in two major battles with the East Asia Squadron . The first , the Battle of Coronel , took place in November , and " Dresden " engaged the British cruiser . The second , the Battle of the Falkland Islands , followed in December , where British battlecruiser s annihilated the German squadron ; " Dresden " was the only vessel to escape . She eluded her British pursuers for several more months , until she put into Más a Tierra in March 1915 . Her engines were worn out and she had almost no coal left for her boilers ; the ship ' s captain contacted the local Chilean authorities to have his vessel interned for the duration of the conflict . There , she was trapped by British cruisers , including her old opponent " Glasgow " ; the British violated Chilean neutrality and opened fire on the ship . The Germans scuttled " Dresden " and the majority of the crew escaped to be interned in Chile for the duration of the war . The wreck remains in the harbor and was first surveyed in 2002 . " Emden " . Following her commissioning into the fleet , " Emden " was assigned to the East Asia Squadron . In 1913 , " Korvettenkapitän " ( Corvette Captain ) Karl von Müller became the ship ' s commander . At the outbreak of war , " Emden " was the only major German warship in Tsingtao , the main German naval base in Asia . Müller immediately began to operate as a commerce raider , and captured one ship , the Russian steamer " Ryazan " . " Emden " was thereafter ordered to rendezvous with the rest of Spee ' s cruisers . She remained with the East Asia Squadron for only a few days , as Müller convinced Spee to detach " Emden " as an independent raider in the Indian Ocean . After arriving in the Indian Ocean in September , " Emden " captured several British merchantmen along the sea lanes from India to Aden . On 22 September , the ship bombarded Madras , before resuming the hunt for merchant ships . She captured several more vessels , and then raided the port of Penang . There , " Emden " caught the Russian protected cruiser " Zhemchug " in the harbor and quickly destroyed her . As " Emden " was departing , she encountered and sank the French destroyer " Mousquet " . " Emden " thereafter proceeded to the Cocos Islands , where Müller intended to destroy a wireless station . The Australian cruiser reacted to British wireless signals warning of the Germans ' presence . After a fierce gunnery duel , " Sydney " caused serious damage to " Emden " and forced her to beach on North Keeling island . Most of her surviving crew , including Müller , were thereafter taken into captivity . The wreck was eventually broken up " in situ " in the early 1950s by a Japanese salvage company , though parts of the ship remain scattered around the area .