They were assigned to the II Scouting Group, and participated in an abortive fleet operation to Norway to attack British convoys.

To replace them, the Kaiserliche Marine ordered ten new cruisers built to a modified Königsberg-class design.

The hulls were divided into twenty-four watertight compartments and incorporated a double bottom that extended for forty-five per cent of the length of the keel.

They carried several smaller vessels, including one picket boat, one barge, one cutter, two yawls, and two dinghies.

[2] Their propulsion systems consisted of two sets of steam turbines, which drove a pair of screw propellers that were 3.50 m (11 ft 6 in) in diameter.

[2] The engines were rated to produce 31,000 shaft horsepower (23,000 kW) for a top speed of 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph).

At a higher speed of 25 kn (46 km/h; 29 mph), the range fell considerably, to 1,200 nmi (2,200 km; 1,400 mi).

The ships also carried three 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/45 anti-aircraft guns mounted on the centerline astern of the funnels, though one was removed in 1918.

[1] They were assigned to the II Scouting Group, alongside the cruisers Königsberg, Pillau, Graudenz, Nürnberg, and Karlsruhe.

[6] In October 1918, the two ships and the rest of the II Scouting Group were to lead a final attack on the British navy.

Cöln, Dresden, Pillau, and Königsberg were to attack merchant shipping in the Thames estuary while the rest of the Group were to bombard targets in Flanders, to draw out the British Grand Fleet.

[5] Scheer intended to inflict as much damage as possible on the British navy, in order to secure a better bargaining position for Germany, whatever the cost to the fleet.

"[10] Following the capitulation of Germany in November 1918, most of the High Seas Fleet's ships, under the command of Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, were interned in the British naval base in Scapa Flow.

Reuter believed that the British intended to seize the German ships on 21 June 1919, which was the deadline for Germany to have signed the peace treaty.

On the morning of 21 June, the British fleet left Scapa Flow to conduct training maneuvers, and at 11:20 Reuter transmitted the order to his ships.

The navy considered selling the vessels for conversion into cargo ships, even those like Ersatz Karlsruhe that had had little work done; according to the proposals, they would have received diesel engines from unfinished U-boats.

By 1920, the Deutsches Petroleumgesellschaft had acquired the rights to the ships, planning to convert them into oil tankers, and this plan was approved by the Naval Inter-Allied Commission of Control, which specified that any military features in the ships (to include side and deck armor and torpedo bulkheads) were to be removed and destroyed by 31 July 1921.

[14] While the conversion program was underway, in May 1920, the postwar German navy requested permission to use the incomplete hull of Magdeburg for the new cruiser Emden.

Britain initially approved the request, but France and Italy were unwilling to allow any alteration to the Versailles terms to avoid setting the precedent for further revisions.

Both vessels had been launched at some point to clear the slipway, and by August 1920, Ersatz Emden had been towed to Bremen.