German cruiser Emden Emden was a light cruiser built by the Reichsmarine in the early 1920s . She was the only ship of her class and was the first large warship built in Germany after the end of World War I . She was built at the " Reichsmarinewerft " in Wilhelmshaven ; her keel was laid in December 1921 and her completed hull was launched in January 1925 . " Emden " was commissioned into the German fleet in October 1925 . Her design was heavily informed by the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles and the dictates of the Allied disarmament commission . She was armed with a main battery of surplus guns left over from World War I , mounted in single gun turret s , as mandated by the Allied powers . She had a top speed of . " Emden " spent the majority of her career as a training ship ; in the inter - war period , she conducted several world cruises to train naval cadets . At the outbreak of war , she laid minefields off the German coast and was damaged by a British bomber that crashed into her . She participated in the invasion of Norway in April 1940 , and then resumed training duties in the Baltic Sea . These lasted with minor interruptions until September 1944 , when she was deployed to Norway to serve as the flagship of the minelaying forces there . In January 1945 , she carried the disinterred remains of Paul von Hindenburg from East Prussia to Pillau , to prevent his remains from falling into the hands of the advancing Soviet Army . While undergoing repairs in Kiel , " Emden " was badly damaged by British bombers and later run aground outside the harbor and was blown up . The wreck was ultimately broken up in 1949 . Design . According to Article 181 of the Treaty of Versailles , the treaty that ended World War I , the German Navy was permitted only six light cruisers . Article 190 limited new cruiser designs to and prohibited new construction until the vessel to be replaced was at least twenty years old . Design work on the first new light cruiser , ordered as " " Ersatz " " , began in 1921 . The ship was intended for long - range overseas service , so the designers placed emphasis on a large cruising radius and capacious crew accommodation spaces . The designers wanted to use a main battery of eight guns in four dual mounts , but the Allied powers insisted on single gun turret s . This arrangement placed four guns amidships , which reduced the power of her broadside , as only six guns could fire on either side , as opposed to eight . The ship was based on cruiser designs from late in World War I , primarily due to personnel shortages in the design staff and the closure of the Navy ' s experimental institute . Nevertheless , the ship incorporated major advances over the earlier designs , including large - scale use of welding in her construction and a significantly more efficient propulsion system that gave her a cruising radius fifty percent larger than that of the older ships . " Emden " was laid down at the " Reichsmarinewerft " in Wilhelmshaven on 8 December 1921 and launched on 7 January 1925 . She was commissioned into the fleet nine months later , on 15 October 1925 . General characteristics . " Emden " was long at the waterline and long overall . She had a beam of and a designed draft of ; at standard load , the draft was , and at combat load the draft increased to . Her designed displacement was , with standard and combat displacements . Her hull was constructed with longitudinal steel frames and incorporated seventeen watertight compartments and a double bottom that extended for 56 percent of the length of the keel . She had a waterline armored belt that was thick ; her armored deck was thick , and her conning tower had thick sides . The ship had a standard crew of nineteen officers and 464 enlisted men . While serving on cadet training cruises , her crew numbered twenty - nine officers and 445 enlisted , with 162 cadets . After 1940 , her standard crew was increased to twenty - six officers and 556 enlisted , and after being reduced to a training ship , her crew numbered thirty officers and 653 enlisted men . " Emden " carried six boats . The German Navy regarded the ship as a good sea boat , with slight lee helm and gentle motion in a swell . The cruiser was maneuverable , but was slow going into a turn . Steering was controlled by a single large rudder . She lost speed only slightly in a head sea , but lost up to sixty percent in hard turns . She had a metacentric height of . Machinery . " Emden " was powered by two sets of Brown , Boverie & Co . geared steam turbines ; they drove a pair of three - bladed screws that were in diameter . Steam was provided by four coal - fired Marine - type boilers and six oil - fired Marine boilers divided into four boiler rooms . The engines were rated at and a top speed of . On speed trials , her engines reached and a maximum of . The ship was designed to carry of coal , though additional space could accommodate up to . Oil capacity was as designed , and up to in additional fuel bunkers . This gave the ship a cruising radius of at . At , her range fell to . Electrical power was supplied by two systems of three generators each , with a total combined output of at 220 Volts . Armament . The ship ' s main battery was to have been eight 15 cm SK L / 55 guns in twin turrets , but the Allied disarmament authority refused to permit this armament . Instead , she was equipped with existing stocks of 15 cm SK L / 45 guns in single turrets . The guns were C / 16 models ; they fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of . They could elevate to 40 degrees and had a maximum range of . The eight guns were supplied with a total of 960 rounds of ammunition . " Emden " was also equipped with two 8 . 8 cm SK L / 45 anti - aircraft guns , and a third was later added . These guns had between 900 and 1 , 200 rounds of ammunition in total . As designed , she was to have carried eight deck - mounted torpedo tube s in dual launchers , but only four tubes were fitted as built . In 1934 , these were replaced with more powerful tubes . The ship carried twelve torpedoes . In 1938 , the ship ' s anti - aircraft battery was strengthened . She received two and later four 3 . 7 cm SK C / 30 guns and up to eighteen 2 cm Flak guns . The capacity to carry 120 mines was also added . In 1942 , two of the four torpedo launchers were removed , and she was rearmed with a new model of 15 cm gun . This gun was the Tbts KC / 36 model , and was designed for use on destroyers . It fired a slightly smaller shell at a higher muzzle velocity — . The gun could elevate to 47 degrees for a maximum range of . By 1945 , the ship ' s anti - aircraft battery consisted of nine 3 . 7 cm guns and six 2 cm guns . Service history . After her commissioning in 1925 , " Emden " was used as a training ship for naval cadets . She made a series of world cruises to show the flag in the pre - war period and trained large numbers of cadets . In 1925 – 1926 , a series of modifications were made to the ship , including increasing the height of the second funnel and the installation of a flying bridge at the base of the battle mast , which was shortened by . Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière commanded the ship from September 1928 until October 1930 . In April 1933 , her coal - fired boilers were replaced with more efficient oil - fired boilers . The next year , another series of modifications was made , including reducing the main mast and funnels in height and the installation of a small crane on the starboard side of the main mast . In September 1934 , Karl Dönitz , the future commander of the Kriegsmarine , took command of the ship and remained in the position until September 1935 . " Emden " went into dock for further modifications in 1936 ; the ship ' s masts were again reworked , and the third 8 . 8 cm anti - aircraft gun was added . Leopold Bürkner commanded the " Emden " from 30 July 1937 to 15 June 1938 . After the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 , a degaussing coil was installed just above the waterline to protect the ship from magnetic mines . Her first wartime operation saw her participating in laying a minefield off the German coast in the North Sea on 3 September . She conducted the operation with the other light cruisers " Nürnberg " , " Leipzig " , " Köln " , and " Königsberg " and sixteen destroyer s . After laying her first set of mines , she returned to Wilhelmshaven to restock her mines . While moored in the harbor , she was attacked by British bombers on 4 September ; German anti - aircraft gunners shot down four of the five Blenheim bombers , one of which inadvertently crashed into the ship . Twenty - nine men were killed or wounded in the crash . " Emden " next participated in the invasion of Norway ( " Operation Weserübung " ) . She was part of the ill - fated " Kriegsschiffgruppe 5 " , tasked with taking Oslo . The group ' s flagship , the heavy cruiser " Blücher " , was sunk by the Oscarsborg coastal fortress inside Oslofjord when the squadron attempted to enter the harbor to land troops . After the loss of " Blücher " , " Emden " and the heavy cruiser " Lützow " landed their troops further down the fjord . After the ground troops occupied Oslo , " Emden " entered the port to serve as a joint communications center to coordinate Kriegsmarine , Wehrmacht , and Luftwaffe operations . After the conquest of Norway was complete , " Emden " returned to Germany to serve as a training ship . This lasted until September 1941 . In September 1941 , " Emden " was assigned to an operation in the Gulf of Riga to provide gunfire support to German troops . On the 16th , she was operating off Dagö with " Leipzig " and three torpedo boat s ; the ships came under fire from Soviet coastal batteries , but were undamaged . A group of four Soviet torpedo boats also made an unsuccessful attack on the German squadron . " Emden " was then assigned to the Baltic Fleet , centered on the newly commissioned battleship " Tirpitz " ; the Baltic Fleet was tasked with preventing the Soviet Navy from breaking out of the Baltic . " Emden " and " Leipzig " were the core of the southern group , which was based in Libau . The fleet remained on station only briefly , and by 29 September , the ships were recalled to Gotenhafen . After returning to Germany , " Emden " was assigned to training duties once again . She continued in this role until June 1942 , by which time a major overhaul was in order . The refit was completed in Wilhelmshaven , after which " Emden " returned to training cadets . In September 1944 , she was deployed to Norway , where she served as the flagship of the minelaying forces there . While in Norway , she participated in several minelaying operations through October , when she was transferred to convoy escort duty ; her primary task was to protect convoys in and out of Oslo . This lasted until December , when she ran aground in the Oslofjord off the island of Flateguri . Her guns were removed while repairs were partially effected in the Schichau - Werke . Before departing East Prussia , she took on the remains of Paul von Hindenburg and his wife to carry them to mainland Germany . They had been disinterred to prevent them from falling into the hands of the advancing Soviet Army . The repair work on the ship was not yet completed , and so she was towed to Pillau , where the Hindenburgs ' remains were taken off . " Emden " s engines were put back in working order , though she was incapable of reaching top speed , and her guns were reinstalled . " Emden " departed Pillau on 1 February , bound for Kiel . She arrived on 7 February 1945 and was taken into the Deutsche Werke dockyard to complete the necessary repairs . British bombers attacked the ship twice and damaged her badly . The ship was listing heavily , and so on 14 April , she was towed out into Heikendorfer Bay and run aground . The Germans then blew her up on 3 May to prevent the Allies from capturing the ship . The wreck was ultimately broken up for scrap in 1949 . Her bow ornament is currently on display in the Deutsches Museum in Munich .