In
Service: 15 October 1925 to 3 May 1945
Ordered: 1921
Builder: Reichsmarinewerft,
Wilhelmshaven
Construction No: 100
Laid down: 8 December
1921
Launched: 7 January 1925
Commissioned: 15 October 1925
Type: Light cruiser
Class: Emden
Displacement:
5,300 tons standard 6,990 tons full load
Length: 155.1 m
Beam:
14.2 m
Draft: 59.3 m
Propulsion: 2 × shafts, steam
turbines, 4 × boilers, producing up to 45,900 shp
Propellers:
Speed: 29.4 knots
Range: 6,700 nautical miles at 12 knots
Crew: 685 men and officers
Armament: 8 × 15 cm L/45
SK L/45
carried 960 rounds
3 × 10.5 cm L/45 SK C/32 after 1944
3 × 8.8 cm L/45 SK before 1944
carried 900 to 1,200 rounds
4 ×
3.7 cm L/83 SK C/30 after 1944
6 × 2 cm MG L/65 C/30 20 after 1944
4 × 50 cm torpedo tubes
4 × 53.3 cm torpedo tubes after 1934 6
after 1938
12 torpedo's carried
120 mines
Armour Belt 50 mm,
Deck 40 mm, Turrets 20 mm,
Aircraft: Electronics: Operators:
Kriegsmarine
Variants: Emden Königsberg
Karlsruhe Köln
Leipzig Nürnberg
Other: Light cruisers
Articles: The Kriegsmarine light cruiser Emden was the only ship of its class.
The 3rd light cruiser to bear the name, Emden was the first new warship constructed
in Germany after the First World War.
Used mainly as a training vessel,
Emden made many cruises into the Atlantic, Pacific and Mediterranean between 1926
and 1939. For a period , until he was promoted to Captain and transfer to the
1st U-boat flotilla in 1935, Emden was commanded by Karl
Dönitz, who remembered the cruises in his autobiography, Memoirs Ten
Years and Twenty Days.
15 October 1925 The Emden is commissioned.
4
September 1939 Emden was hit during a RAF air raid on Wilhelmshaven, The
Emden managed to shot down a RAF Blendheim bomber which crashed into the bow of
the ship, causing several deaths.
8 April 1940 The Emden
takes part in operation Weserübung (Invasion of Denmark and Norway) along
with Lützow, Blücher, the torpedo boats Möwe, Kondor and Albatros
and the 1st R-Flottilla, The Blücher had 1,000 troops onboard ready for the
invasion of Oslo.
10 April 1940 Emden arrives in Oslo. The
Emden is used as the main communication center in Oslo.
22 August
1941 The Emden is escorted by torpedo boats Kondor and Greif from Frederikshavn
to Norden.
27 September 1941 The Emden is accompanied by
the light cruiser Leipzig, the Emden sinks the Soviet MTB 83.
23 January
1945 The Emden is towed to Pillau by ice breakers. Once there major work
is carried out on one of her engines.
6 February 1945 The
Emden arrives in Kiel after a six day journey from Pillau.
9 April
1945 The Emden is severely damaged in an air attack at Kiel.
14
April 1945 The Emden is towed to Heikendorfer Bucht and beached there.
26 April 1945 The Emden is decommissioned from service.
3 May 1945 The Emden is scuttled and scrapped after the war.
Richard
Foerster
Takes command on 15 October 1925
Ends command on 23 September
1928
Lothar
von Arnauld de la Peri re
Takes command on 23 September 1928
Ends
command on 11 October 1930
Robert
Witthoeft Emden
Takes command on 11 October 1930
Ends command on 22
March 1932
Werner
Grassmann
Takes command on 22 March 1932
Ends command on 1 April 1933
Karl
Dönitz
Takes command on 29 September 1934
Ends command on 21
September 1935
Johannes
Bachmann
Takes command on 21 September 1935
Ends command on 25 August
1936
Walter
Georg Lohmann
Takes command on 25 August 1936
Ends command on 20 June
1937
Bernhard
Liebetanz
Takes command on 20 June 1937
Ends command on 30 July 1937
Leopold
Bürkner
Takes command on 30 July 1937
Ends command on 15 June
1938
Paul
Wever
Takes command on 15 June 1938
Ends command on 5 May 1939
Werner
Lange
Takes command on 5 May 1939
Ends command on 26 August 1940
Hans Mirow
Takes command on 26 August 1940
Ends command on 19 July 1942
Friedrich
Traugott Schmitt
Takes command on 19 July 1942
Ends command on 9 September
1943
Hans
Hengist
Takes command on 9 September 1943
Ends command on 1 March
1944
Hans-Eberhard
Meisner
Takes command on 1 March 1944
Ends command on January 1945
Wolfgang
Kähler
Takes command on January 1945
Ends command on March 1945
Ernst-Ludwig
Wickmann
Takes command on April 1945
Ends command on 3 May 1945
German
Warships, 1815-1945: Major Surface Vessels.
ISBN-10: 0851775330
German
Warships, 1815-1945: U-boats and Mine Warfare Vessels.
ISBN-10: 155750301X
German warships of the Second World War.
ISBN-10: 0668040378
For a complete list of
sources 
