SMS Augsburg was a Kolberg-class light cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) during the First World War.

The primary objective during their design process was to increase speed over the earlier vessels; this required a longer hull to fit an expanded propulsion system.

The ship carried a pair of pole masts with platforms for searchlights, one directly aft of the conning tower, and the other closer to her stern.

She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 1 October 1910,[6] initially under the command of Korvettenkapitän (KK—Corvette Captain) Ernst-Oldwig von Natzmer.

She then embarked on sea trials that lasted into 1911; while still on her initial testing on 17 January, she took part in salvage operations for the sunken U-boat U-3 in Heikendorfer Bay.

During the German fleet's annual autumn training exercises in August and September, Augsburg was temporarily assigned to II Scouting Group.

While moored in Sonderburg, Augsburg was driven to sea by severe storms and then ran aground south of the bridge that connected Alsen to the mainland.

[5] Following the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, she was assigned to the Coastal Defense Division of the Baltic Sea, under the command of Rear Admiral Robert Mischke.

The cruisers laid a minefield off the port and bombarded the city; during the operation, Augsburg fired the German fleet's first shells during the war.

During the latter period, on 17 August, Augsburg, Magdeburg, three destroyers, and the minelayer Deutschland encountered a pair of powerful Russian armored cruisers, Admiral Makarov and Gromoboi.

The Russian commander, under the mistaken assumption that the German armored cruisers Roon and Prinz Heinrich were present, did not attack and both forces withdrew.

The first began on the 1st; at around midnight on the night of 1–2 September, Augsburg came under attack by the Russian destroyer Novik, which launched torpedoes at the ship, though they missed.

Also in early September, the light forces in the Baltic were reinforced with the IV Battle Squadron, composed of the older Braunschweig and Wittelsbach-class battleships, and Blücher.

On 7 September, Augsburg and the torpedo boat V25 steamed into the Gulf of Bothnia and sank the Russian steamer Uleaborg off Raumo.

On 17 November, Friedrich Carl struck mines off Memel and sank; Augsburg assisted in rescuing her crew, and she resumed her old role as Behring's flagship until 7 December, when she was replaced by the armored cruiser Prinz Adalbert.

In addition, IV Scouting Group, consisting of four light cruisers and twenty-one torpedo boats, was sent from the North Sea to reinforce the operation.

[16][17] During one of these sorties, Augsburg and Lübeck were to lay a minefield near the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, but a submarine attack on the cruiser Thetis, prompted the German naval command to cancel the operation.

[16] During that operation, the Russian Kasatka-class submarine Okun fired two torpedoes at Augsburg on the night of 28 June, though both missed.

[19] On 1 July, Augsburg, Roon, Lübeck, and seven torpedo boats escorted the minelaying cruiser SMS Albatross while she laid a field off Bogskär.

After finishing laying the minefield, Karpf sent a wireless transmission informing headquarters he had accomplished the mission, and was returning to port.

Karpf dispersed his force shortly before encountering the Russians; Augsburg, Albatross, and three torpedo boats steamed to Rixhöft while the remainder went to Libau.

A significant detachment from the High Seas Fleet, including eight dreadnoughts and three battlecruisers, went into the Baltic to clear the Gulf of Riga of Russian naval forces.

Augsburg was assigned to the newly created VI Scouting Group, which was led by the light cruiser Kolberg.

In April and May alone, Augsburg, the cruiser Strassburg, and the auxiliary minelayers Deutschland and Rügen laid a total of 3485 mines.

Augsburg participated in an experimental air raid on the port of Reval in July; she and several other ships each embarked a single aircraft for the attack, which was carried out successfully.

This service lasted through June, and on 20 July, she was transferred to the High Seas Fleet to replace the cruiser Stettin as the flagship of the minesweeping force.

These ships were tasked with clearing channels in the minefields that surrounded German ports, to ensure safe access by the fleet and its U-boats.

The minesweeping force was based at Cuxhaven, and was commanded by Kapitän zur See (Captain at Sea) Karl August Nerger, who flew his flag aboard Augsburg.

[25] The terms of the Armistice required the bulk of the High Seas Fleet to be interned at Scapa Flow for the duration of negotiations for the final peace treaty,[26] but Augsburg was not included in the list of ships.

[27] In the subsequent Treaty of Versailles that formally ended the conflict, Augsburg was listed as a warship to be surrendered to the Allied powers; she was to be disarmed in accordance with the terms of the Armistice, but her guns were to remain on board.