German cruiser Emden
Emden in China, 1931
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| History | |
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| Name: | Emden |
| Namesake: | Emden |
| Ordered: | 1921 |
| Laid down: | 8 December 1921 |
| Launched: | 6 January 1925 |
| Commissioned: | 15 October 1925 |
| Fate: | Scuttled 3 May 1945, scrapped 1949 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 155.1 m (508 ft 10 in) |
| Beam: | 14.2 m (46 ft 7 in) |
| Draft: | 5.3 m (17 ft 5 in) |
| Propulsion: | Steam turbines, 2 shafts, 10 boilers, 46,500 shp (34,700 kW) |
| Speed: | 29.5 knots (54.6 km/h; 33.9 mph) |
| Range: | 6,700 nmi (12,400 km; 7,700 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Boats & landing craft carried: |
6 |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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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 15 cm (5.9 in) guns left over from World War I, mounted in single gun turrets, as mandated by the Allied powers. She had a top speed of 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph).
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.
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 6,000 long tons (6,100 t) 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 Niobe", 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 15-centimeter (5.9 in) guns in four dual mounts, but the Allied powers insisted on single gun turrets. 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.
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