Magdeburg - class cruiser The " Magdeburg " class of light cruiser s was a group of four ships built for the German " Kaiserliche Marine " ( Imperial Navy ) . The class comprised , the lead ship , , , and . All four ships were laid down in 1910 and were completed by the end of 1912 . They were armed with a main battery of twelve 10 . 5 cm guns , though over the course of their careers , " Breslau " , " Strassburg " , and " Stralsund " were rearmed with more powerful 15 cm guns . They displaced at full load and were rated at a top speed of , though all four vessels exceeded that figure on trials . " Magdeburg " was used as a torpedo test ship before the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , after which she was assigned to the Baltic . She conducted a series of raids on Russian positions culminating in a sweep into the Gulf of Finland that resulted in her grounding off the Estonian coast . Russian cruisers seized the stranded ship and captured code books ; they gave one copy to the British Royal Navy , which used it to great advantage . " Breslau " was assigned to the " Mittelmeerdivision " with the battlecruiser in 1912 and remained in the Mediterranean until the outbreak of war . After evading British warships , the two vessels reached Constantinople , where they were transferred to the Ottoman Navy . She operated primarily in the Black Sea against the Russian Navy , but in January 1918 she ventured into the Mediterranean and was mined and sunk after the Battle of Imbros . " Strassburg " and " Stralsund " served with the High Seas Fleet in the North Sea against the British . They saw action at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in August 1914 and served in the reconnaissance screen for the battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group on several bombardments of the British coast in 1914 – 1915 . " Stralsund " was also present at the Battle of Dogger Bank , but was not heavily engaged . " Strassburg " saw action during Operation Albion against the Russians in the Baltic . Both ships were surrendered to the Allies after the end of the war ; " Strassburg " was ceded to Italy and renamed " Taranto " ; she served with the Italian Navy until 1943 , when she was scuttled after the Italian surrender . She was raised by the Germans and sunk by Allied bombers twice in 1943 – 1944 , and finally scrapped in 1946 – 1947 . " Stralsund " was given to France and renamed " Mulhouse " . She served only until 1925 , when she was placed in reserve . She was ultimately broken up in 1935 . Design . The design for the ships of the " Magdeburg " class was prepared in 1908 – 1909 . The design incorporated a number of innovations , including a new longitudinal frame system in the hull , the development of which delayed construction by three to four years . The hull form was also redesigned to improve efficiency , and a new clipper bow was used instead of the old cruiser ram bow . They were the first German light cruisers to incorporate an armored belt at the waterline ; this increased the strength of the hull and became standard practice in warship construction for decades . The quarterdeck was cut down to provide a location to drop mines . All of these features became standard for subsequent German cruiser designs . General characteristics and machinery . The ships of the " Magdeburg " class were long at the waterline and long overall . They had a beam of and a draft of forward and aft . They displaced at full combat load . The hulls were built with longitudinal steel frames and contained fourteen watertight compartments in " Magdeburg " , " Strassburg " , and " Stralsund " . " Breslau " s hull was divided into sixteen watertight compartments . All four vessels had a double bottom that extended for forty - five percent of the length of the hull . The four vessels each had a crew of 18 officers and 336 enlisted men . They carried a number of smaller boats , including one picket boat , one barge , one cutter , two yawls , and two dinghies . The German Navy regarded the ships as good sea boats , with slight weather helm and gentle motion in a swell . The cruisers were maneuverable , but were slow going into a turn . Steering was controlled by a single large rudder . They lost speed only slightly in a head sea , but lost up to sixty percent in hard turns . They had a transverse metacentric height of . Their propulsion systems consisted of steam turbines of various types . Each ship had turbines built by different manufacturers to evaluate each design and configuration . " Magdeburg " had three engines produced by Bergmann , which drove three propellers . " Breslau " was equipped with two pairs of AG Vulcan turbines , which powered four 3 - bladed screws in diameter . " Strassburg " had a pair of Marine - type turbines with two wide propellers . " Stralsund " initially had three Bergmann turbines with three 2 . 75 m screws , though by the end of the war the center shaft was removed . All four propulsion systems were rated at , but reached significantly higher speeds in service . The ships ' turbines were powered by sixteen coal - fired Marine - type water - tube boilers , although they were later altered to use fuel oil that was sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate . These were divided into five boiler rooms on the centerline . These gave the ships a top speed of , though on speed trials all four ships exceeded this by at least half a knot . The ships carried of coal , and an additional of oil that gave them a range of approximately at . At , the range fell considerably to . " Magdeburg " , " Strassburg " , and " Stralsund " each had four turbo generators with a combined output of at 220 Volts ; " Breslau " only had two generators . Armament and armor . The four " Magdeburg " - class ships were armed with twelve 10 . 5 cm SK L / 45 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 . The guns had a maximum elevation of 30 degrees , which allowed them to engage targets out to . They were supplied with 1 , 800 rounds of ammunition , for 150 shells per gun . They were also equipped with a pair of torpedo tube s with five torpedo es submerged in the hull on the broadside . The ships could also carry 120 mines . Over the course of their careers , the ships all had their armament upgraded , with the exception of " Magdeburg " . In 1916 , two of " Breslau " s 10 . 5 cm guns were replaced with 15 cm SK L / 45 guns , which had a range of . The following year , the remaining ten 10 . 5 cm guns were replaced with six 15 cm guns . In 1915 , " Strassburg " was rearmed with seven 15 cm guns , two 8 . 8 cm SK L / 45 guns , and two deck - mounted 50 cm torpedo tubes . " Stralsund " was modified similarly , though her submerged torpedo tubes were removed during the refit . The ships were protected by a waterline armored belt that was thick amidships and thick on the bow . The stern was unarmored . The deck was covered with up to 60 mm thick armor plate forward , thick amidships , and thick aft . Sloped armor 40 mm thick connected the deck and belt armor . The conning tower had thick sides and a 20 mm thick roof . A rangefinder was added with thick steel plating . The main battery guns had thikc gun shields . Construction . " Magdeburg " was ordered under the contract name " " Ersatz " " and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen in 1910 and launched on 13 May 1911 , after which fitting - out work commenced . She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 20 August 1912 . " Breslau " was ordered under the contract name " " Ersatz " " and was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin in 1910 . At her launching ceremony on 16 May 1911 , she was christened by the mayor of Breslau , the ship ' s namesake . After her launching , fitting - out work commenced and lasted until mid - 1912 . She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 20 August 1912 . " Strassburg " was ordered under the contract name " " Ersatz " " and was laid down at the " Kaiserliche Werft " shipyard in Wilhelmshaven in 1910 and launched on 24 August 1911 , after which fitting - out work commenced . She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 9 October 1912 . " Stralsund " was ordered under the contract name " " Ersatz " " and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in 1910 and launched on 4 November 1911 , after which fitting - out work commenced . She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 10 December 1912 . Service history . " Magdeburg " . " Magdeburg " was used as a torpedo test ship after her commissioning until the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , when she was brought to active service and deployed to the Baltic . In the Baltic , " Magdeburg " fired the first shots of the war against the Russians on 2 August , when she shelled the port of Libau . She participated in a series of bombardments of Russian positions until late August . On the 26th , she participated in a sweep of the entrance to the Gulf of Finland ; while steaming off the Estonian coast , she ran aground off the island of Odensholm and could not be freed . A pair of Russian cruisers appeared and seized the ship . Fifteen crew members were killed in the brief engagement . They recovered three intact German code books , one of which they passed to the British . The ability to decrypt German wireless signals provided the British with the ability to ambush German units on several occasions during the war , including the Battle of Jutland . The Russians partially scrapped " Magdeburg " while she remained grounded before completely destroying the wreck . " Breslau " . Following her commissioning , " Breslau " and the battlecruiser were assigned to the " Mittelmeerdivision " in response to the Balkan Wars . After evading British warships in the Mediterranean to reach Constantinople , " Breslau " and " Goeben " were transferred to the Ottoman Empire in August 1914 , to entice the Ottomans to join the Central Powers in World War I . The ships were renamed " Midilli " and " Yavuz Sultan Selim " , respectively , and saw extensive service with the Ottoman fleet , primarily in the Black Sea against the Russian Black Sea Fleet . The two ships , along with several other Ottoman vessels , raided Russian ports in October 1914 , prompting a Russian declaration of war . " Midilli " was active in laying minefield s off the Russian coast , bombarding Russian ports and installations and , because of a shortage of Ottoman merchant ships , transporting troops and supplies to the Black Sea ports supplying Ottoman troops fighting in the Caucasus Campaign . She was lightly damaged several times by Russian ships , but the most serious damage was inflicted by a mine in 1915 , which kept her out of service for half of a year . The ship was mined and sunk in January 1918 during the Battle of Imbros in which " Yavuz Sultan Selim " was also mined and badly damaged . The majority of her crew were killed in the sinking . " Strassburg " . " Strassburg " spent the first year of her service overseas , after which she was assigned to the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet . She saw significant action at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in August 1914 and participated in the raid on Scarborough , Hartlepool and Whitby in December 1914 . By 1916 , the ship was transferred to the Baltic to operate against the Russian Navy . She saw action during Operation Albion in the Gulf of Riga in October 1917 , including screening for the battleship s and during the Battle of Moon Sound . She returned to the North Sea for the planned final operation against the British Grand Fleet in the last weeks of the war , and was involved in the mutinies that forced the cancellation of the operation . The ship served briefly in the new " Reichsmarine " in 1919 before being transferred to Italy as a war prize . She was formally transferred in July 1920 and renamed " Taranto " for service in the Italian Navy . In 1936 – 1937 , she was rebuilt for colonial duties and additional anti - aircraft guns were installed . She saw no significant action during World War II until the Armistice that ended Italy ' s participation in the war . She was scuttled by the Italian Navy , captured and raised by the Germans , and sunk by Allied bombers in October 1943 . The Germans raised the ship again , which was sunk a second time by bombers in September 1944 . " Taranto " was finally broken up for scrap in 1946 – 1947 . " Stralsund " . " Stralsund " was assigned to the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet for the majority of her career . She saw significant action in the early years of World War I , including several operations off the British coast and the Battles of Heligoland Bight and Dogger Bank , in August 1914 and November 1915 , respectively . She was not damaged in either action . The ship was in dockyard hands during the Battle of Jutland , and so she missed the engagement . After the end of the war , she served briefly in the " Reichsmarine " before being surrendered to the Allies . She was ceded to the French Navy , where she served as " Mulhouse " until 1925 . She was formally stricken in 1933 and broken up for scrap two years later .