SMS Cöln ( 1909 ) SMS " Cöln " ( " His Majesty ' s Ship Cologne " ) was a light cruiser of the German " Kaiserliche Marine " ( Imperial Navy ) during the First World War . She had three sister ships , , , and . She was built by the Germaniawerft ; her hull was laid down in 1908 and she was launched in June 1909 . " Cöln " was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet in June 1911 . She was armed with a main battery of twelve 10 . 5 cm SK L / 45 guns and had a top speed of . After her commissioning , she served with the II Scouting Group , part of the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet . " Cöln " was assigned to patrols off the island of Heligoland at the outbreak of World War I in early August 1914 , as the flagship of Rear Admiral Leberecht Maass . At the Battle of Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914 , the German patrol forces were attacked by superior British forces , including five battlecruiser s and several light cruisers . " Cöln " was initially stationed in support of the forces on the patrol line . She attempted to reinforce the beleaguered German forces , and encountered Vice Admiral David Beatty ' s battlecruiser s . She was hit several times by the battlecruisers ' large - caliber guns , but managed to escape in the haze . She inadvertently turned back toward them , however , and was quickly disabled when the battle resumed . The crew abandoned " Cöln " , but German vessels did not search the area for three days , and only one man survived . Design . " Cöln " was ordered under the contract name " Ersatz " and was laid down in 1908 at the Germaniawerft shipyard in Kiel . She was launched on 5 June 1909 and christened by the mayor of Cöln , Max Wallraf , after which fitting - out work commenced . She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 16 June 1911 . The ship was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of forward . She displaced at full combat load . " Cöln " was initially to be powered by two sets of Zoelly steam turbines manufactured by Escher Wyss & Cie . in Zurich . Her propulsion system was revised and instead consisted of two sets of Germaniawerft steam turbines driving four propellers . They were designed to give . These were powered by fifteen coal - fired Marine water - tube boilers . These gave the ship a top speed of . " Cöln " carried of coal that gave her a range of approximately at . " Cöln " had a crew of eighteen officers and 349 enlisted men . The ship was armed with twelve 10 . 5 cm SK L / 45 guns guns in single pedestal mounts . Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle , eight were located amidships , four on either side , and two were side by side aft . She also carried four 5 . 2 cm SK L / 55 anti - aircraft guns . She was also equipped with a pair of torpedo tube s submerged in the hull . She could also carry 100 mines . The conning tower had thick sides , and the deck was covered with up to thick armor plate . Service history . After her commissioning in 1909 , " Cöln " served with the reconnaissance forces of the German fleet . She was assigned to the II Scouting Group , which screened for the battlecruiser s of the I Scouting Group . " Fregattenkapitän " Hans Zenker served as her commander from October 1911 to September 1913 . She was the flagship of Rear Admiral Leberecht Maass . After the outbreak of World War I at the beginning of August 1914 , she and several other cruisers were tasked with patrol duties in the Heligoland Bight . The cruisers were divided with the torpedo boat flotillas , and assigned to rotate through nightly patrols into the North Sea . As part of this operation , " Cöln " conducted a patrol on the night of 15 August with and the I and II Torpedo - boat Flotillas , without incident . At the same time , British submarine s began reconnoitering the German patrol lines . On 23 August , several British commanders submitted a plan to attack the patrol line with the light cruisers and destroyer s of the Harwich Force , commanded by Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt . These ships would be supported by submarines and Vice Admiral David Beatty ' s battlecruiser s and associated light forces . The plan was approved and set for 28 August . The British forces began to leave port on the evening of 26 August , beginning with the submarines assigned to the operation . Most of the surface forces went to sea early on the following morning ; the 7th Cruiser Squadron , which had been added to provide further support to the Harwich Force , left port later in the day . On the morning of 28 August , " Cöln " was re - coaling in Wilhelmshaven . " Mainz " . Her sister was at anchor in the mouth of the Ems , and lay in the entrance to the Weser . These three cruisers were assigned to support the cruisers and , and the aviso , which were stationed on the patrol line that morning . At 07 : 57 , the Harwich Force encountered the outer German torpedo boats , which fled back to the German cruisers on the patrol line . In the ensuing Battle of Heligoland Bight , " Stettin " engaged the British force first , and was quickly reinforced by " Frauenlob " . Upon receiving reports of the action , Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper , the commander of the reconnaissance forces , ordered Maass to deploy his cruisers to support the engaged vessels . At 09 : 30 , " Cöln " steamed out of port . " Cöln " steamed to aid her sister " Mainz " , which was under heavy fire from several British cruisers and battlecruisers . At around 13 : 25 , she came upon the damaged cruiser and several destroyers . " Cöln " engaged the British ships briefly , but was interrupted by the appearance of the British battlecruisers . At 13 : 37 , " Cöln " made a 16 - point turn and returned fire at the battlecruisers ; the British ships turned to port to steam closer to " Cöln " , which in turn similarly altered course to escape . She was hit several times , however , including one hit that killed Maass . At 13 : 56 , another German cruiser arrived on the scene , which distracted the British ships and allowed " Cöln " to slip away to the north . About fifteen minutes later , she turned back south - east to return to port . The reversal of course brought her back in range of the British battlecruisers , however , which quickly opened fire and scored several damaging hits . The order to abandon ship was given , and men began gathering on the deck . Engineers set scuttling charges while the men topside prepared to go into the water . At 14 : 25 , the ship rolled over and sank . The survivors expected the British to pick them up , but they instead departed . German ships searched the area three days later , to find only one survivor , Leading Stoke Neumann ; the rest of the crew had died in the water . The wreck was moved in August 1979 to render it less of an underwater hazard . Some parts of the ship were salvaged and are now preserved in the Cuxhaven Shipwreck Museum .