German Cruiser Emden - Design

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 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.

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.