The Dresden class was a pair of light cruisers built for the Imperial German Navy in the early part of the 20th century.

Both ships served extensively on foreign stations; Emden was assigned to the East Asia Squadron from her commissioning, and Dresden was sent to Caribbean waters in 1913.

Dresden 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.

A pair of British cruisers violated Chilean neutrality and attacked Dresden while she lay at anchor; the Germans scuttled their ship to prevent her capture.

She captured or sank numerous Entente vessels, including the steamer Ryazan which was converted into the auxiliary cruiser SMS Cormoran.

Shortly thereafter, Emden was caught by the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney off the Cocos Islands and forced to beach after a ferocious engagement.

They carried the same main battery of 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns on a slightly greater displacement with an additional boiler for the propulsion system to increase engine power.

[4] Dresden's propulsion system consisted of two sets of Parsons steam turbines, designed to give 15,000 shaft horsepower (11,000 kW).

[9] Following the rebels' victory the following year, Dresden evacuated the former dictator Victoriano Huerta to Jamaica, where the British had granted him asylum.

[10] Instead, Dresden operated as a commerce raider in South American waters in the Atlantic in the first months of the war before moving to the Pacific Ocean in September and thereafter joining Maximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron.

[12] The second, the Battle of the Falkland Islands, followed in December, where British battlecruisers annihilated the German squadron; Dresden was the only vessel to escape.

Her engines were worn out and she had almost no coal left for her boilers; the ship's captain contacted the local Chilean authorities to have his vessel interned for the duration of the conflict.

She remained with the East Asia Squadron for only a few days, as Müller convinced Spee to detach Emden as an independent raider in the Indian Ocean.

[18] After arriving in the Indian Ocean in September, Emden captured several British merchantmen along the sea lanes from India to Aden.

After a fierce gunnery duel, Sydney caused serious damage to Emden and forced her to beach on North Keeling island.

[19] The wreck was eventually broken up in situ in the early 1950s by a Japanese salvage company, though parts of the ship remain scattered around the area.