SMS Emden ( 1916 ) SMS " Emden " ( " His Majesty ' s Ship " Emden " " ) was a German light cruiser belonging to the " Königsberg class " , built during the First World War . " Emden " served in the German Imperial Navy until the end of the war , at which point she was ceded to France . The ship was named after the previous , which had been destroyed at the Battle of Cocos earlier in the war . She mounted an Iron Cross on her stem - head in honor of the earlier " Emden " . The new cruiser was laid down in 1914 at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen , launched in February 1916 , and commissioned into the High Seas Fleet in December 1916 . Armed with eight 15 cm SK L / 45 guns , the ship had a top speed of . After her commissioning , she was assigned to serve as a flotilla leader for torpedo boat s . She participated in only one major action , Operation Albion , in October 1917 . There , she shelled Russian gun batteries and troop positions and engaged Russian destroyer s and gunboat s . The ship also led a successful , albeit minor , operation against British shipping in the North Sea in December 1917 . After the end of the war , she was interned with the rest of the German fleet in Scapa Flow . On 21 June 1919 , the interned fleet scuttled itself , though " Emden " was run aground by British ships before she could sink completely . Ceded to France in the Treaty of Versailles , she was too badly damaged by the attempted scuttling and beaching to see service with the French Navy , so was instead used as a target after 1922 , and broken up for scrap in 1926 . Construction and specifications . " Emden " was ordered under the contract name " Ersatz " and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen in 1914 . She was launched on 1 February 1916 , after which fitting - out work commenced . She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 16 December 1916 . The ship was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of forward . She displaced at full combat load . Her propulsion system consisted of two sets of steam turbines powered by ten coal - fired and two oil - fired Marine - type boilers . These provided a top speed of and a range of at . The ship was armed with eight 15 cm SK L / 45 guns in single pedestal mounts . Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle , four were located amidships , two on either side , and two were arranged in a super firing pair aft . They were supplied with 1 , 040 rounds of ammunition , for 130 shells per gun . " Königsberg " also carried two L / 45 anti - aircraft guns mounted on the centerline astern of the funnels . She was also equipped with a pair of torpedo tube s with eight torpedoes in deck - mounted swivel launchers amidships . She also carried 200 mines . The ship was protected by a waterline armored belt that was thick amidships . The conning tower had thick sides , and the deck was covered with 60 mm thick armor plate . Service history . In October 1917 , " Emden " was serving as the flagship of Commodore Paul Heinrich , the commander of torpedo - boat s assigned to Operation Albion . For the initial assault on 12 October , " Emden " was tasked with bombarding a Russian gun emplacement at Pamerort ; Heinrich was given command of the landings there . At 06 : 08 , " Emden " opened fire on the gun battery . Her first two salvos fell short , but the third hit and disabled the telephone wires and speaking tubes , which rendered central control of the Russian guns impossible . By 07 : 00 , the Russian guns were silenced and German troops began to go ashore unopposed . Two and a half hours later , a pair of Russian destroyer s attempted to intervene , but " Emden " engaged them and drove them off . The next morning , a group of eight Russian destroyers made an attack on the German fleet . " Emden " moved forward at around 07 : 45 to support the German screen , and at 07 : 56 , she opened fire on the three leading destroyers at a range of . " Emden " s salvos straddled the destroyers several times , raining shell splinters down on the Russians . They suffered no casualties , but the wireless equipment for the destroyer " Grom " was disabled . At 09 : 30 , another pair of destroyers briefly engaged " Emden " . The weather had by then become poor , but the Germans had erected a signal station at Pamerort to assist " Emden " in directing her fire . At around 12 : 20 , the Russian gunboat " Chivinetz " arrived with a pair of destroyers ; she was intended to use her long - range guns to drive off " Emden " . She arrived at 13 : 00 and briefly engaged " Emden " . Neither ship was hit , though " Emden " straddled the gunboat several times before " Chivinetz " retreated . On 14 October , " Emden " participated in an operation to clear the Kassar Wiek — the body of water between the islands of Dagö and Ösel — of Russian naval forces . She and the battleship were to steam to the entrance to Soelo Sound , where they could support the force of torpedo - boats tasked with sweeping the Kassar Wiek . Four Russian destroyers approached " Emden " , but kept out of range of her guns . " Kaiser " , however , was in range , and at approximately 11 : 50 , she opened fire . She quickly scored a hit on the destroyer " Grom " . The round failed to explode and passed through " Grom " , causing the ship to begin sinking . The other destroyers subsequently steamed off at high speed . " Emden " remained in her position outside Soelo Sound after the sweep was completed , through the next day . The following day , " Emden " initiated the bombardment of Dagö , starting at 15 : 00 . On the morning of the 18th , " Emden " bombarded Russian positions on Dagö again ; she fired 170 shells and forced the Russians to retreat . By 20 October , the islands were under German control and the Russian naval forces had either been destroyed or forced to withdraw . The " Admiralstab " ordered the naval component to return to the North Sea . In December 1917 , " Emden " led a raid on British shipping in the North Sea . Early on the 11th , " Emden " and the II Flotilla left port ; the torpedo - boat flotilla split in half off the Dogger Bank to search for the British convoy , while " Emden " stood by in support at the Dogger Bank . The torpedo boats sank four of six steamers located and did not encounter any British warships . The torpedo - boats rejoined " Emden " late on the 12th and returned to port . In October 1918 " Emden " was to have taken part in the final fleet action against the British Fleet , but the operation was aborted after the outbreak of mutiny in the German Fleet . Fate . After the Armistice with Germany in November 1918 most of the High Seas Fleet ' s ships , under the command of Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter , were interned at the British naval base at Scapa Flow . " Emden " was among them . While at Scapa Flow , the crew of the battleship harassed Reuter incessantly , until the British allowed him to transfer his flag to " Emden " , where he remained for the remainder of the internment . The fleet remained interned during the negotiations that ultimately produced the Versailles Treaty . Reuter believed the British intended to seize his fleet on 21 June 1919 , which was the deadline for Germany to sign the peace treaty . Unaware that the deadline had been extended to the 23rd , Reuter ordered the ships to be scuttled at the next opportunity . On the morning of 21 June the British fleet left Scapa Flow to conduct training maneuvers , and at 11 : 20 Reuter transmitted the order to his ships . " Emden " , however , did not sink ; British ships towed her close to shore where she was beached and later re - floated . " Emden " was awarded to the French Navy on 11 March 1920 , but unlike their other war prize cruisers she was so badly damaged by flooding and beaching that the French could not put her into service . Instead she was used as an explosives testing target and ultimately broken up for scrap in Caen in 1926 .