January 7, 1925 at the Reichsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven, Germany the first heavy warship built by Germany since the end of the Great War, the light cruiser Emden, was launched. The construction of the ship took four years, mostly due to the disastrous financial situation in post war Germany. She was christened by frau von Müller, widow of Korvettenkapitän Karl von Müller, commanding officer of the cruiser Emden, one of the most successful raiders of the Great War which was finally trapped and destroyed by HMAS Sydney.

The new Emden became almost as famous as her namesake, making a number of world cruises visiting ports in Portugal, Africa, Japan, Chile, Brazil, U.S.A., Greece, Samoa, Africa, New Zealand, India, China, Thailand, Ceylon, South Africa, Yugoslavia, Mexico, Central America, Philippines, Hawaii and many more places. She may have been the best traveled ship in the Kriegsmarine. She was commanded by a number of men including at least two former U-boat commanders, Fregattenkapitän (later Vizeadmiral) Lothar von Arnauld de la Periére, the top scoring U-boat ace of all time and Fregattenkapitän (later Großadmiral) Karl Dönitz.

While Emden was a well known ship before the war, she played a relative small part in Hitler's war. She was fourteen years old in 1939 and was used only on a limited bases, and was finally destroyed in 1945.