Emden

Type:
Cruiser
Class:
Emden (Single ship Class)
Builder:
Reichsmarinewerft
Wilhelmshaven, Germany
Hull Number:
N/A
Ordered:
N/A
Commissioned:
October 15, 1925
Keel Laid:
December 8, 1921
Decommissioned:
April 26, 1945
Launched:
January 7, 1925
Stricken:
N/A
Fate:
Destroyed with charges May 3, 1945, wreck scrapped in 1947.

(Damaged by RAF aircraft at Kiel Apr. 14, 1945 and grounded to avoid sinking on
Heikendorfer Bight.)


Dimensions, Machinery and Performance

Length:
508' 6"
Engines:
2 Blohm & Voss geared steam turbines
Beam:
47"
Boilers:
10 Schulz-Thornycroft Marine type (oil fired)
Draft:
19"
Shafts:
2
Displacement:
5,600 std / 6,990 full
SHP:
46,500
Speed:
29 knots
Crew:
630
Range:
5,300 NM @ 18 knots


Armament As Built
Number Carried
Type
Arrangement
Maximum Range / Ceiling
8
15cm/45 (5.9")
SK L/45

single turrets
19,250 @ 30° (10.9 miles)
3
8.8cm/45 (3.5")
SK L/45

single mounts
12,900 yards @ 45° (7.3 miles)
4
50cm (19.7")
torpedo tubes
2 twin launchers
up to 9,190 yards (5.2 miles)
up to 35 knots
362 lb. charge


Combat Victories
Date
Name
Type
Tons
Nationality
Notes
Sept. 27, 1941
M-83
Motor Torpedo Boat
USSR
Assisted


Commanders
From
To
Name
Oct. 15, 1925
Sept. 1928
Kapitän zur See Kurt Foerster
Sept. 1928
Oct. 1930
Kapitän zur See Lothar von Arnauld de la Perièr
Oct. 1930
Mar. 1932
Kapitän zur See Witthoeft-Emden
Mar. 1932
Apr. 1933
Fregattenkapitän Werner Grassmann
Sept. 1934
Sept. 1935
Fregattenkapitän Karl Dönitz
Sept. 1935
Aug. 1936
Kapitän zur See Johannes Bachmann
Aug. 1936
July 1937
Kapitän zur See Walter Lohmann
July 1937
June 1938
Kapitän zur See Leopold Bürkner
June 1938
May 1939
Kapitän zur See Paul Wever
May 1939
Aug. 26, 1940
Kapitän zur See Werner Lange
Aug. 26, 1940
July 1942
Kapitän zur See Hans Mirow
July 1942
Sept. 1943
Kapitän zur See Friedrich Schmitt
Sept. 1943
Feb. 1944
Kapitän zur See Hans Hengist
Feb. 1944
Jan. 1945
Kapitän zur See Hans-Eberhard Meisner
Jan. 1945
Mar. 1945
Kapitän zur See Wolfgang Kähler

Mar. 1945

Apr. 1945
Fregattenkapitän Wickmann


Notes
1925-1938:
Training and 11 goodwill cruises.
Mar. 1933-
Sept. 1934:

Period of decommissioning for refit at Wilhelmshaven.
Sept. 4, 1939:
Attacked by RAF at Wilhelmshaven, shot down a Bristol Blenheim bomber which crashed
the bow of the ship killing several crewmen.

April 1940:
Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Norway. Transported troops from Swinemünde
to Oslo, Norway.

Mid 1940:
Transferred to Gothenburg and used for training.
Sept. 1941:
Bombarded Russian shore batteries at Cape Ristna on Ösel.
Sept. 27, 1941:
Assisted Leipzig in sinking the Soviet torpedo boat M-83.
Nov. 1941-
June 1942:

Used for training.
June-Nov. 1942:
Refit at Wilhelmshaven.
Late 1944:
Mine laying operations in the Skagerak.
Early 1945:
Damaged by Russian air attack at Königsberg. Towed to Kiel for repairs which last until
April 1945.

April 14, 1945:
Damaged by RAF aircraft at Kiel, Germany and grounded on the Heikendorfer Bight to
avoid sinking. Ship damaged beyond repair and destroyed with explosive charges
May 3, 1945.


Notes:
Emden was the first German ship to loose a crewman aboard ship during World War 2 when an
RAF aircraft that had been damaged crashed into the ship on the Jade Estuary. Several crewmen
were killed.

While on a tour in the Far East one of Emden's crew failed to return from a stroll in the jungle,
it is thought that he was killed and eaten by a lion.


Class Overview
Builder's Data
Page published June 11, 2007