SMS Dresden ( 1907 ) SMS " Dresden " ( " His Majesty ' s Ship " Dresden " " ) was the lead ship of her class , built for the Imperial German Navy ( " Kaiserliche Marine " ) . She was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in 1906 , was launched in October 1907 , and completed in November 1908 . She had one sister ship , . Like the preceding " Königsberg " - class cruisers , " Dresden " was armed with ten guns and two torpedo tube s . " Dresden " spent most of her career overseas . After her commissioning , she visited the United States in 1909 during the Hudson - Fulton Celebration . In late 1913 , she was stationed off the Mexican coast to protect German nationals during the Mexican Revolution ; at the end of the conflict the following year , she carried the former dictator Victoriano Huerta to Jamaica , where the British had granted him asylum . She was due to return to Germany in July 1914 , but the outbreak of World War I prevented this from occurring . At the onset of hostilities , " Dresden " operated as a commerce raider in South American waters in the Atlantic , before moving to the Pacific Ocean in September and thereafter joining Maximilian von Spee ' s East Asia Squadron . " Dresden " saw action in the Battle of Coronel in November , where she engaged the British cruiser , and at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December , where she was the only German warship to escape destruction . 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 " Dresden " interned . 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 , but several artifacts , including her bell and compass , have been returned to Germany . Design . " Dresden " 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 Parsons steam turbines , designed to give for a top speed of . The engines were powered by twelve coal - fired Marine - type water - tube boilers . " Dresden " carried up to of coal , which gave her a range of at . She had a crew of 18 officers and 343 enlisted men . The ship was armed with ten 10 . 5 cm SK L / 40 guns in single mounts . Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle , six were located amidships , three on either side , and two were placed side by side aft . The guns could engage targets out to . They were supplied with 1 , 500 rounds of ammunition , for 150 shells per gun . She was also equipped with two torpedo tube s with four torpedo es , mounted on the deck . She was also fitted to carry fifty naval mine s . The ship was protected by an armored deck that was up to thick . The conning tower had thick sides , and the guns were protected by thick shields . Service history . " Dresden " was ordered under the contract name " Ersatz " and was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in 1906 and launched on 5 October 1907 , after which fitting - out work commenced . She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 14 November 1908 . Following her commissioning , " Dresden " was deployed to overseas stations . She made her first trip overseas in September – October 1909 to participate in the Hudson - Fulton Celebration in New York . There , she represented Germany , along with the protected cruiser s and and the light cruiser . She collided with the cruiser in German waters on 16 February 1910 . The collision caused significant damage to " Dresden " , though no one on either vessel was injured . She made it back to Kiel , where repairs were effected . On 6 April 1913 , she and the cruiser were sent to the Adriatic Sea . On 15 April 1914 , " Dresden " steamed to Tampico on Mexico ' s Caribbean coast . In late 1913 , during the Mexican Revolution , the United States sent a squadron to operate off the Mexican coast , ready to intervene to protect American nationals . " Dresden " and several other foreign warships joined the American squadron for the same purpose . In April 1914 , the German - flagged merchant ship arrived in Mexico , carrying a load of small arms for the regime of Mexican dictator Victoriano Huerta . The United States had put an arms embargo into effect in an attempt to reduce the violence of the civil war . The US Navy intercepted " Ypiranga " in the so - called " Ypiranga incident " on 21 April . Shortly thereafter , " Dresden " arrived and confiscated the merchantman and pressed her into naval service to transport German refugees out of Mexico . Despite the American embargo , the Germans nevertheless delivered the weapons and ammunition to the Mexican government on 28 May . On 20 July , when the Huerta regime was toppled , " Dresden " carried Huerta and his family to Jamaica , where Britain had granted them asylum . By this time , the ship was in need of a refit in Germany , and met with her replacement , , on 26 July . But the outbreak of war in Europe shortly thereafter prevented " Dresden " from returning to Germany . World War I . After meeting with " Karlsruhe " , " Dresden " was preparing to return to Germany when the First World War broke out in August 1914 . With the onset of hostilities , the " Admiralstab " ( Admiralty Staff ) ordered " Dresden " to operate as a commerce raider off South America , particularly in the area of the River Plate . On 6 August , " Dresden " encountered the British merchant ship , whose captain professed to know nothing of Britain ' s entry into the war . " Kapitän zur See " ( Captain at Sea ) Fritz Emil von Lüdecke , " Dresden " s commander , allowed " Drumcliffe " to proceed unmolested , in accordance with the rules set forth in the Hague Convention of 1907 . " Dresden " thereafter rendezvoused with the German collier . On 14 August , the cruiser caught the British steamer ; Lüdecke took off the ship ' s crew and then sank the merchantman . " Dresden " captured the British collier on 24 August and sank her after evacuating her crew . On 5 September , " Dresden " put into Hoste Island for engine maintenance . By 8 September , the " Admiralstab " ordered " Dresden " to rendezvous with the light cruiser , which was operating on the Pacific coast of South America . On 16 September , the repairs to " Dresden " s engines were completed , and the ship departed Hoste Island to meet with " Leipzig " . While en route , " Dresden " encountered the French steamer , though Lüdecke refrained from attacking the transport ship , since she had fled into neutral waters . " Dresden " saw no further success against British shipping , and on 12 October , she joined " Vizeadmiral " ( Vice Admiral ) Maximilian von Spee ' s East Asia Squadron , which had crossed the Pacific and was coaling at Easter Island . Thereafter , " Dresden " caught a pair of British merchantmen , bringing her total to four ships and a total of . On 18 October , " Dresden " and the East Asia Squadron , which was centered on the armored cruiser s and , departed Easter Island , bound for the South American coast . They arrived at Más a Fuera island on 26 October . The following evening , the German cruisers escorted the auxiliary cruiser and the merchant ships and to Chile . The flotilla arrived off Valparaiso on 30 October , and the following evening , von Spee received intelligence that a British cruiser was at the Chilean port of Coronel . Von Spee decided that his squadron should ambush the cruiser — — when it was forced to leave port due to Chile ' s neutral status , which required belligerent warships to leave after twenty - four hours . What von Spee did not know was that " Glasgow " was in the company of Rear Admiral Christopher Craddock ' s 4th Cruiser Squadron , which also included the armored cruisers and and the auxiliary cruiser . Battle of Coronel . Early on the morning of 1 November , von Spee took his squadron out of Valparaiso , steaming at south toward Coronel . At around 16 : 00 , " Leipzig " spotted the first smoke column from the leading British cruiser . By 16 : 25 , the other two ships had been spotted . The two squadrons slowly closed the distance , until the Germans opened fire at 18 : 34 , at a range of . The German ships engaged their opposite numbers , with " Dresden " firing on " Otranto " . After " Dresden " s third salvo , " Otranto " turned away after a hit that caused a fire was observed . Following " Otranto " s departure , " Dresden " shifted her fire to " Glasgow " , which was also targeted by " Leipzig " . The two German cruisers hit their British opponent five times . At around 19 : 30 , von Spee ordered " Dresden " and " Leipzig " to launch a torpedo attack against the damaged British armored cruisers . " Dresden " increased speed to position herself off the British bows , and briefly spotted " Glasgow " as she was withdrawing , but the British cruiser quickly disappeared in the haze and gathering darkness . Shortly thereafter , " Dresden " encountered " Leipzig " ; both ships initially thought the other was hostile . " Dresden " s crew was in the process of loading a torpedo when the two ships confirmed each other ' s identity . By 22 : 00 , " Dresden " and the other two light cruisers were deployed in a line to search for the British cruisers , though they found nothing . " Dresden " had emerged from the battle completely unscathed . On 3 November , von Spee took " Scharnhorst " , " Gneisenau " , and " Nürnberg " back to Valparaiso for provisioning and to consult with the " Admiralstab " . Neutrality laws permitted only three belligerent warships in a port at a given time . " Dresden " and " Leipzig " meanwhile remained with the squadron ' s colliers in Más a Fuera . Von Spee returned to Más a Fuera on 6 November , and thereafter detached " Dresden " and " Leipzig " for a visit to Valparaiso , where they also restocked their supplies . The two cruisers arrived on 12 November , left the following day , and rendezvoused with the rest of the squadron at sea on 18 November . Three days later , the squadron anchored in St . Quentin Bay in the Gulf of Penas , where they coaled . Meanwhile , the Royal Navy had deployed a pair of battlecruiser s , and , to hunt down the German squadron . The British ships were commanded by Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee . They left Britain on 11 November , and arrived in the Falkland Islands nearly a month later , on 7 December . There , they joined the armored cruisers , , and , and the light cruisers " Glasgow " and . On 26 November , the German East Asia Squadron left St . Quentin Bay , bound for the Atlantic . On 2 December , they caught the Canadian sailing ship " Drummuir " , which was carrying some of high - grade Cardiff coal . The following morning , the Germans anchored off Picton Island , where they unloaded the coal from " Drummuir " into their own auxiliaries . On the morning of 6 December , von Spee held a council aboard " Scharnhorst " to discuss their next moves . He suggested an attack on the Falklands to destroy the British wireless station and coal stocks there . Lüdecke and the captains of " Leipzig " and " Nürnberg " all opposed the plan , and were in favor of bypassing the Falklands and instead proceeding to the La Plata area to continue to raid British shipping . Regardless , von Spee and those who favored the attack on the Falklands won the argument . Battle of the Falkland Islands . On the afternoon of 6 December , the German ships departed Picton Island , bound for the Falklands . On 7 December , they rounded the Tierra del Fuego and turned north into the Atlantic . They arrived off the Falklands at around 02 : 00 ; three hours later , von Spee detached " Gneisenau " and " Nürnberg " to send a landing party ashore . By 08 : 30 , the ships were approaching Port Stanley , when they noticed thick columns of smoke rising from the harbor . After closing to the harbor entrance , they quickly realized they were confronted by a much more powerful squadron , which was just getting up steam . Von Spee immediately broke off the operation and turned east to flee before the British ships could catch his squadron . By 10 : 45 , " Gneisenau " and " Nürnberg " had rejoined the fleet , and the German auxiliaries were detached to seek shelter in the maze of islands off Cape Horn . The British ships set off in pursuit , and by 12 : 50 , Sturdee ' s two battlecruisers had overhauled the Germans . A minute later , he gave the order to open fire at the trailing German ship , " Leipzig " . Von Spee ordered the three small cruisers to try to escape to the south , while he turned back with " Scharnhorst " and " Gneisenau " in an attempt to hold off the British squadron . Nevertheless , Sturdee had foreseen this possibility , and so had ordered his armored and light cruisers to pursue the German light cruisers . The battlecruisers quickly overwhelmed von Spee ' s armored cruisers , and destroyed them with very heavy loss of life . Meanwhile , " Dresden " , with her turbine engines , was able to outpace her pursuers , and was the only German warship to escape destruction that day . Lüdecke decided to take his ship into the islands off South America to keep a steady supply of coal available . On 9 December , she passed back around Cape Horn to return to the Pacific . That day , she anchored in Sholl Bay , with only of coal aboard . " Oberleutnant zur See " ( Lieutenant at Sea ) Wilhelm Canaris convinced the Chilean naval representative for the region to permit " Dresden " to remain in the area for an extra twenty - four hours so enough coal could be taken aboard so she could reach Punta Arenas . She arrived at there on 12 December , where she received of coal from a German steamer . She took on another of coal on 19 January . On 14 February , " Dresden " left the islands off the South American coast for the South Pacific . On 27 February , the cruiser captured the British barque " Conway Castle " south of the island of Más a Tierra . On 8 March , " Dresden " was drifting in dense fog when lookouts spotted " Kent " , which also had her engines off , about away . Both ships immediately got steam up in their boilers , but " Dresden " eventually escaped after a five - hour chase . The strenuous effort depleted her coal stocks and overtaxed her engines . Lüdecke decided that his ship was no longer operational , and determined to have his ship interned to preserve it . The following morning , she put into Más a Fuera , dropping anchor in Cumberland Bay . Upon the ship ' s arrival , Lüdecke informed the local Chilean official of his intent to be interned . Battle of Más a Tierra . On the morning of 14 March , " Kent " and " Glasgow " approached Cumberland Bay ; their appearance was relayed back to " Dresden " by one of her pinnaces , which had been sent to patrol the entrance to the bay . " Dresden " was unable to maneuver , owing to her fuel shortage , and so Lüdecke signaled that his ship was no longer a combatant . The British disregarded this message , as well as the Chilean vessel that approached them as they entered the bay . " Glasgow " opened fire , in violation of Chile ' s neutrality ; in fact , Britain had already informed Chile that British warships would disregard international law if they located " Dresden " in Chilean territorial waters . Shortly thereafter , " Kent " joined in the bombardment as well . The German gunners fired off three shots in response , but the guns were quickly knocked out by British gunfire . Lüdecke sent the signal " Am sending negotiator " to the British warships , and dispatched Canaris in a pinnace ; " Glasgow " nevertheless continued to bombard the defenseless cruiser . In another attempt to stop the attack , Lüdecke raised the white flag , which finally prompted " Glasgow " to cease fire . Canaris came aboard to speak with Captain John Luce ; the former strongly protested the latter ' s violation of Chile ' s neutrality . Luce simply replied that he had his orders , and demanded an unconditional surrender . Canaris explained that " Dresden " had already been interned by Chile , and thereafter returned to his ship , which had in the meantime been prepared for scuttling . At 10 : 45 , the scuttling charge detonated in the bow and exploded the forward ammunition magazines . The bow was badly mangled ; in about half an hour , the ship had taken on enough water to sink . As it struck the sea floor , the bow was torn from the rest of the ship , which rolled over to starboard . As the rest of the hull settled below the waves , a second scuttling charge exploded in the ship ' s engine rooms . Aftermath . Most of the ship ' s crew managed to escape ; only eight men were killed in the attack , with another twenty - nine wounded . The destruction of his ship had left Lüdecke in shock , and so Canaris took responsibility for the fate of the ship ' s crew . They remained on the island for five days until two Chilean warships brought a German passenger ship to take the men to Quiriquina Island , where they would be interned for the duration of the war . On 5 August 1915 , Canaris escaped from the internment camp , and eventually reached Germany two months later , on 5 October . The wreck lies at a depth of . In 2002 , the first survey of the wreck was done by a team led by James P . Delgado for the " Sea Hunters " documentary produced by the National Underwater and Marine Agency . The team included the archaeologist Dr . Willi Kramer , the first German to visit the wreck since she sank eighty - eight years before . " Dresden " lies on her starboard side pointed north , toward the beach . The wreck is has been heavily damaged ; much of the upper works , including the bridge , the masts , the funnels , and many of the guns have been torn from the ship . The bow has been cut off ; it sits upright on the sea floor . The destruction of the bow was a result of the scuttling charges detonated by the ship ' s crew . The stern is also badly damaged , with the main deck blasted away and many shell holes in the ship ' s side . Some of the damage to the aft part of the ship appears to have been done by an undocumented salvage operation sometime before Delgado ' s survey . According to German records , " Dresden " was carrying gold coins from their colony at Tsingtau ; Delgado speculated that this salvage work was an attempt to retrieve the gold . In 1965 , the ship ' s compass and flags were recovered and returned to Germany , where they are held at the Naval Academy at Mürwik . In 2006 , Chilean and German divers found and recovered " Dresden " s bell , which is now in Germany . CS Forester ' s novel " Brown on Resolution " , and two subsequent movies , were inspired by the " Dresden " ' s escape and subsequent destruction .