The class was a pair of light cruisers built for the Imperial German Navy in the early part of the 20th century. The class comprised , the lead ship, and . Both ships were laid down in 1906; was launched in 1907, and followed in 1908. They entered service in 1908 and 1909, respectively. The design for the ships was an incremental improvement over the preceding , being slightly larger and slightly faster, but with the same primary armament of ten guns. and were powered by steam turbines and triple expansion engines, respectively, as part of continued experiments with the new turbine technology.
Both ships served extensively on foreign stations; was assigned to the East Asia Squadron from her commissioning, and was sent to Caribbean waters in 1913. was due to return to Germany for periodic maintenance shortly before the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, but this became impossible with the onset of hostilities. She therefore operated as a commerce raider, before linking up with Maximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron. thereafter participated in the Battle of Coronel in November 1914 and the Battle of the Falkland Islands the following December. She was the only German vessel to escape destruction at the latter engagement, and she remained at large for several more months. finally put into the Chilean island of Más a Tierra in March 1915 owing to worn-out engines. A pair of British cruisers violated Chilean neutrality and attacked while she lay at anchor; the Germans scuttled their ship to prevent her capture.
, meanwhile, had been detached from the East Asia Squadron to pursue an independent commerce raiding campaign in the Indian Ocean. She captured or sank numerous Entente vessels, including the steamer , which was converted into the auxiliary cruiser . In September 1914, raided Penang and caught the Russian protected cruiser and the French destroyer and quickly destroyed both ships. Shortly thereafter, was caught by the Australian cruiser off the Cocos Islands and forced to beach after a ferocious engagement.
Design
The 1898 Naval Law authorized the construction of thirty new light cruisers; the program began with the , which was developed into the and es, both of which incorporated incremental improvements over the course of construction. The two ships of the class were ordered in the 1905–1906 construction program. Their design represented an incremental improvement over the earlier class. They carried the same main battery of guns on a slightly greater displacement with an additional boiler for the propulsion system to increase engine power. Like the s, one ship——was fitted with a steam turbine engine to compare its performance with the traditional triple-expansion engine in an otherwise-identical sister ship. All subsequent designs of German cruisers utilized turbine propulsion systems.
General characteristics and machinery
The two -class cruisers were long at the waterline and long overall. They had a beam of and a draft of forward. They displaced as designed and up to at full load. Their hulls were constructed with transverse and longitudinal steel frames. The hulls contained thirteen watertight compartments and had a double bottom that extended for 47 percent of the length of the keel.
The ships were good sea boats, but they were crank and rolled up to twenty degrees. They were also very wet at high speeds and suffered from a slight weather helm. Nevertheless, the ships turned tightly and were very maneuverable. In a hard turn, their speed fell up to 35 percent. They had a transverse metacentric height of . and had a crew of 18 officers and 343 enlisted men. They carried a number of smaller boats, including one picket boat, one barge, one cutter, two yawls, and two dinghies.
s propulsion system consisted of two sets of Parsons steam turbines, designed to give . , instead, was equipped with two triple expansion engines rated at . Both ships had a top speed of . In both vessels, the engines were powered by twelve coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers. Both ships carried up to of coal, though their ranges were slightly different, owing to their different propulsion systems. could steam for at , while had a range of at . Electrical power was supplied by three turbo generators that provided a total of 125 kilowatts at 110 volts.