SMS Dresden ( 1917 ) SMS " Dresden " was the second and final ship of the of light cruiser s to be completed and commissioned in the " Kaiserliche Marine " . The ship was laid down in 1916 and launched on 25 April 1917 ; she was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 28 March 1918 . She and her sister were the only two of her class to be completed ; eight of her sisters were scrapped before they could be completed . The ships were an incremental improvement over the preceding " Königsberg " class cruisers . " Dresden " was commissioned into service with the High Seas Fleet eight months before the end of World War I ; as a result , her service career was limited and she did not see action . She participated in a fleet operation to Norway to attack British convoys to Scandinavia , but they failed to locate any convoys and returned to port . " Dresden " was to have participated in a climactic sortie in the final days of the war , but a revolt in the fleet forced Admirals Reinhard Scheer and Franz von Hipper to cancel the operation . The ship was interned in Scapa Flow after the end of the war and scuttled with the fleet there on 21 June 1919 , under orders from the fleet commander Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter . Construction . " Dresden " was ordered under the contract name " Ersatz " and was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in 1916 . She was launched on 25 April 1917 , after which fitting - out work commenced . She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 28 March 1918 . 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 eight coal - fired and six oil - fired Marine - type boilers . These provided a top speed of and a range of approximately 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 . These guns fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of . The guns had a maximum elevation of 30 degrees , which allowed them to engage targets out to . They were supplied with 1 , 040 rounds of ammunition , for 130 shells per gun . " Dresden " also carried three L / 45 anti - aircraft guns mounted on the centerline astern of the funnels , though one was removed in 1918 . 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 . After her commissioning , " Dresden " joined the reconnaissance screen for the High Seas Fleet . She was the last light cruiser built by the " Kaiserliche Marine " . The ship was assigned to the II Scouting Group , alongside the cruisers , , , , and . The ships were in service in time for the major fleet operation to Norway in 23 – 24 April 1918 . The I Scouting Group and II Scouting Group , along with the Second Torpedo - Boat Flotilla , were to attack a heavily - guarded British convoy to Norway , with the rest of the High Seas Fleet steaming in support . The Germans failed to locate the convoy , which had in fact sailed the day before the fleet left port . As a result , Admiral Reinhard Scheer broke off the operation and returned to port . In October 1918 , " Dresden " and the rest of the II Scouting Group were to lead a final attack on the British navy . " Dresden " , " Cöln " , " Pillau " , and " Königsberg " were to attack merchant shipping in the Thames estuary while the rest of the Group were to bombard targets in Flanders , to draw out the British Grand Fleet . " Großadmiral " Reinhard Scheer , the commander in chief of the fleet , intended to inflict as much damage as possible on the British navy , in order to secure a better bargaining position for Germany , whatever the cost to the fleet . On the morning of 29 October 1918 , the order was given to sail from Wilhelmshaven the following day . Starting on the night of 29 October , sailors on and then on several other battleships mutinied . The unrest ultimately forced Hipper and Scheer to cancel the operation . During the sailors ' revolt , " Dresden " was ordered to steam to Eckernförde to serve as a relay to Kiel . Communications had been disrupted by major unrest there . The battleship laid in " Dresden " s path , and her unruly crew refused to move out of " Dresden " s way ; " Markgraf " aimed one of her gun turrets at " Dresden " , but then her crew backed down and let " Dresden " leave the port . The ship then went to Swinemünde , where her crew partially scuttled her following reports that mutinous ships were en route to attack the cruisers stationed there . After these proved false , " Dresden " was re - floated and returned to seaworthy condition . This involved removing the ammunition for all of the guns and allowing them to air - dry . Following the capitulation of Germany in November 1918 , most of the High Seas Fleet ' s ships , under the command of Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter , were interned in the British naval base in Scapa Flow . " Dresden " was among the ships interned , but owing to her poor condition following the naval mutiny , she was not able to steam with the rest of the fleet in November . She arrived on 6 December , leaking badly . The fleet remained in captivity during the negotiations that ultimately produced the Versailles Treaty . Von Reuter believed that the British intended to seize the German ships on 21 June 1919 , which was the deadline for Germany to have signed the peace treaty . Unaware that the deadline had been extended to the 23rd , Reuter ordered the ships to be sunk 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 . " Dresden " began to sink at 13 : 50 . Her wreck lies to this day on her port side at the bottom of Scapa Flow to the south east of the island of Cava , in a depth of . Her upper decks have been badly damaged ; her weather deck has fallen off , exposing her internal structure . Her guns are buried in mud .