SMS Emden ("His Majesty's Ship Emden") was the second and final member of the Dresden class of light cruisers built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy). Named for the town of Emden, she was laid down at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Dockyard) in Danzig in 1906. The hull was launched in May 1908, and completed in July 1909. She had one sister ship, Dresden. Like the preceding Königsberg-class cruisers, Emden was armed with ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and two torpedo tubes.
Emden spent the majority of her career overseas in the East Asia Squadron, based in Qingdao, in the Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory in China. In 1913, Karl von Müller took command of the ship. At the outbreak of World War I, Emden captured a Russian steamer and converted her into the commerce raider Cormoran. Emden rejoined the East Asia Squadron, then was detached for independent raiding in the Indian Ocean. The cruiser spent nearly two months operating in the region, and captured nearly two dozen ships. On 28 October 1914, Emden launched a surprise attack on Penang; in the resulting Battle of Penang, she sank the Russian cruiser Zhemchug and the French destroyer Mousquet.
Müller then took Emden to raid the Cocos Islands, where he landed a contingent of sailors to destroy British facilities. There, Emden was attacked by the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney on 9 November 1914. The more powerful Australian ship quickly inflicted serious damage and forced Müller to run his ship aground to avoid sinking. Out of a crew of 376, 133 were killed in the battle. Most of the survivors were taken prisoner; the landing party, led by Hellmuth von Mücke, commandeered an old schooner and eventually returned to Germany. Emden's wreck was quickly destroyed by wave action, and was broken up for scrap in the 1950s.
The 1898 Naval Law authorized the construction of thirty new light cruisers; the program began with the Gazelle class, which was developed into the Bremen and Königsberg classes, both of which incorporated incremental improvements over the course of construction. The primary alteration for the two Dresden-class cruisers, assigned to the 1906 fiscal year, consisted of an additional boiler for the propulsion system to increase engine power.
Emden was 118.3 meters (388 ft 1 in) long overall and had a beam of 13.5 m (44 ft 3 in) and a draft of 5.53 m (18 ft 2 in) forward. She displaced 3,664 metric tons (3,606 long tons) as designed and up to 4,268 t (4,201 long tons) at full load. The ship had a minimal superstructure, which consisted of a small conning tower and bridge structure. Her hull had a raised forecastle and quarterdeck, along with a pronounced ram bow. She was fitted with two pole masts. She had a crew of 18 officers and 343 enlisted men.
Her propulsion system consisted of two triple-expansion steam engines drove a pair of screw propellers. Steam was provided by twelve coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers that were vented through three funnels. The propulsion system was designed to give 13,500 metric horsepower (9,900 kW) for a top speed of 23.5 knots (43.5 km/h; 27.0 mph). Emden carried up to 860 metric tons (850 long tons) of coal, which gave a range of 3,760 nautical miles (6,960 km; 4,330 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). Emden was the last German cruiser to be equipped with triple-expansion engines; all subsequent cruisers used the more powerful steam turbines.
The ship's main battery comprised ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/40 guns in single pivot mounts. Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle; six were located on the broadside, three on either side; and two were placed side by side aft. The guns could engage targets out to 12,200 m (40,000 ft), and were supplied with 1,500 rounds of ammunition, 150 per gun. The secondary armament consisted of eight 5.2 cm (2 in) SK L/55 guns, also in single mounts. She had two 45 cm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes with four torpedoes, mounted below the waterline, and could carry fifty naval mines.
The ship was protected by a curved armored deck that was up to 80 mm (3.1 in) thick. It sloped downward at the sides of the hull to provide defense against incoming fire; the sloped portion was 50 mm (2 in) thick. The conning tower had 100 mm (3.9 in) thick sides, and the guns were protected by 50 mm (2 in) thick gun shields.
The contract for Emden, ordered as ersatz (replacement) Pfeil, was placed on 6 April 1906 at the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Dockyard) in Danzig. Her keel was laid down on 1 November 1906. She was launched on 26 May 1908 and christened by the Oberbürgermeister (Lord Mayor) of the city of Emden, Dr. Leo Fürbringer. After fitting-out work was completed by 10 July 1909, she was commissioned into the fleet. The new cruiser began sea trials that day but interrupted them from 11 August to 5 September to participate in the annual autumn maneuvers of the main fleet. During this period, Emden also escorted the imperial yacht Hohenzollern with Kaiser Wilhelm II aboard. Emden was decommissioned in September after completing trials.
On 1 April 1910 Emden was reactivated and assigned to the Ostasiengeschwader (East Asia Squadron), based at Qingdao in Germany's Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory in China. The concession had been seized in 1897 in retaliation for the murder of German nationals in the area. Emden left Kiel on 12 April 1910, bound for Asia by way of a goodwill tour of South America. A month later, on 12 May, she stopped in Montevideo and met with the cruiser Bremen, which was assigned to the Ostamerikanischen (East American) Station. Emden and Bremen stayed in Buenos Aires from 17 to 30 May to represent Germany at the celebrations of the hundredth anniversary of Argentinian independence. The two ships then rounded Cape Horn; Emden stopped in Valparaíso, Chile, while Bremen continued on to Peru.
The cruise across the Pacific was delayed because of a lack of good quality coal. Emden eventually took on around 1,400 t (1,400 long tons; 1,500 short tons) of coal at the Chilean naval base at Talcahuano and departed on 24 June. The cruise was used to evaluate the ship on long-distance voyages for use in future light cruiser designs. Emden encountered unusually severe weather on the trip, which included a stop at Easter Island. She anchored at Papeete, Tahiti to coal on 12 July, as the bunkers were nearly empty after crossing 4,200 nautical miles (7,800 km; 4,800 mi). The ship then proceeded to Apia in German Samoa, arriving on 22 July. There, she met the rest of the East Asia Squadron, commanded by Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Erich Gühler. The squadron remained in Samoa until October, when the ships returned to their base at Qingdao. Emden was sent to the Yangtze River from 27 October to 19 November, which included a visit to Hankou. The ship visited Nagasaki, Japan, before returning to Qingdao on 22 December for an annual refit. The repair work was not carried out; the Sokehs Rebellion erupted on Ponape in the Carolines, which required Emden's presence; she departed Qingdao on 28 December, and Nürnberg left Hong Kong to join her.
The two cruisers reinforced German forces at Ponape, which included the old unprotected cruiser Cormoran. The ships bombarded rebel positions and sent a landing force, which included men from the ships along with colonial police troops, ashore in mid-January 1911. By the end of February the revolt had been suppressed, and on 26 February the unprotected cruiser Condor arrived to take over the German presence in the Carolines. Emden and the other ships held a funeral the following day for those killed in the operation, before departing on 1 March for Qingdao via Guam. After arriving on 19 March, she began an annual overhaul. In mid-1911, the ship went on a cruise to Japan, where she accidentally rammed a Japanese steamer during a typhoon. The collision caused damage necessitating another trip to the drydock in Qingdao. She returned to the Yangtze to protect Europeans during the Chinese Revolution that broke out on 10 October. In November, Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Maximilian von Spee replaced Gühler as the commander of the East Asia Squadron.