They displaced 4,570 t (4,500 long tons) at full load and were rated at a top speed of 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph), though all four vessels exceeded that figure on trials.

She conducted a series of raids on Russian positions culminating in a sweep into the Gulf of Finland that resulted in her grounding off the Estonian coast.

Russian cruisers seized the stranded ship and captured code books; they gave one copy to the British Royal Navy, which used it to great advantage.

She operated primarily in the Black Sea against the Russian Navy, but in January 1918 she ventured into the Mediterranean and was mined and sunk after the Battle of Imbros.

They saw action at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in August 1914 and served in the reconnaissance screen for the battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group on several bombardments of the British coast in 1914–1915.

[1] The design incorporated a number of innovations, including a new longitudinal frame system in the hull, the development of which delayed construction by three to four years.

They were the first German light cruisers to incorporate an armor belt at the waterline;[3] this increased the strength of the hull and became standard practice in warship construction for decades.

The hulls were built with longitudinal steel frames and contained fourteen watertight compartments in Magdeburg, Strassburg, and Stralsund.

The German Navy regarded the ships as good sea boats, with slight weather helm and gentle motion in a swell.

Stralsund initially had three Bergmann turbines with three 2.75 m (9 ft) screws, though by the end of the war the center shaft was removed.

All four propulsion systems were rated at 25,000 shaft horsepower (19,000 kW), but reached significantly higher speeds in service.

[4] The ships' turbines were powered by sixteen coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers, although they were later altered to use fuel oil that was sprayed on the coal to increase its burn rate.

[4] The four Magdeburg-class ships were armed with a main battery of twelve 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/45 guns in single pedestal mounts.

[1] Magdeburg was ordered under the contract name "Ersatz Bussard" and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen in 1910 and launched on 13 May 1911, after which fitting-out work commenced.

[1] Strassburg was ordered under the contract name "Ersatz Condor" and was laid down at the Kaiserliche Werft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven in 1910 and launched on 24 August 1911, after which fitting-out work commenced.

Stralsund was ordered under the contract name "Ersatz Cormoran" and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in 1910 and launched on 4 November 1911, after which fitting-out work commenced.

[4] Magdeburg was used as a torpedo test ship after her commissioning until the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, when she was brought to active service and deployed to the Baltic.

On the 26th, she participated in a sweep of the entrance to the Gulf of Finland; while steaming off the Estonian coast, she ran aground off the island of Odensholm and could not be freed.

[12] Midilli was active in laying minefields off the Russian coast, bombarding Russian ports and installations and, because of a shortage of Ottoman merchant ships, transporting troops and supplies to the Black Sea ports supplying Ottoman troops fighting in the Caucasus Campaign.

[16] Strassburg spent the first year of her service overseas, after which she was assigned to the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet.

[7] She saw significant action at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in August 1914 and participated in the raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December 1914.

[19] She saw action during Operation Albion in the Gulf of Riga in October 1917, including screening for the battleships König and Markgraf during the Battle of Moon Sound.

[24] She saw significant action in the early years of World War I, including several operations off the British coast and the Battles of Heligoland Bight and Dogger Bank, in August 1914 and November 1915, respectively.