Like the preceding Königsberg-class cruisers upon which her design was based, Dresden was armed with ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/40 guns and two torpedo tubes.

After commissioning, she visited the United States in 1909 during the Hudson–Fulton Celebration, before returning to Germany to serve in the reconnaissance force of the High Seas Fleet for three years.

At the onset of hostilities, Dresden operated as a commerce raider in South American waters in the Atlantic, then moved to the Pacific Ocean in September and joined Maximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron.

The primary alteration for the two Dresden-class cruisers, assigned to the 1906 fiscal year, consisted of an additional boiler for the propulsion system to increase engine power.

Dresden carried up to 860 t (850 long tons) of coal, which gave her a range of 3,600 nautical miles (6,700 km; 4,100 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph).

For the year 1911–12, Dresden won the Kaiser's Schießpreis (Shooting Prize) for excellent gunnery amongst the light cruisers of the High Seas Fleet.

[9] On 6 April 1913, she and the cruiser Strassburg were sent from Kiel to the Adriatic Sea,[10] where she joined the Mittelmeer-Division (Mediterranean Division), centered on the battlecruiser Goeben and commanded by Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Konrad Trummler.

She was scheduled to return to the Mediterranean Division, but the Admiralstab (Admiralty Staff) reassigned Dresden to the North American station to protect German interests in the Mexican Revolution.

The German consul in Mexico City requested additional forces, and so Dresden provided a landing party of a maat (Junior Petty Officer) and ten sailors, armed with two MG 08 machine guns.

[13] That month, the German-flagged merchant ship SS Ypiranga arrived in Mexico, carrying a load of small arms for the regime of Mexican dictator Victoriano Huerta.

Upon arriving in Kingston on the 25th, Köhler learned of the rising political tensions in Europe during the July Crisis that followed the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

[12][15] After receiving the order to remain in the Atlantic, Lüdecke turned his ship south while maintaining radio silence to prevent hostile warships from discovering his vessel.

[12] The ship, SS Drumcliffe, whose captain professed to know nothing of Britain's entry into the war, was permitted to proceed unmolested in accordance with the rules set forth in the Hague Convention of 1907.

After departing the atoll, en route to Trindade, Dresden caught the British steamer SS Hyades; Lüdecke took off the ship's crew and then sank the merchantman.

[16][17] On 26 August, while steaming off the mouth of the Río de la Plata, she caught two more British steamers, but the poor condition of Dresden's engines curtailed further operations.

[19] While the ship was there, the HAPAG steamer Santa Isabel arrived from Punta Arenas with news of the war, and the heavy merchant traffic off the western coast of South America.

[18] While en route, Dresden encountered the French steamer SS Ortega; Lüdecke refrained from attacking the transport ship, since she had fled into neutral waters.

[20] Dresden saw no further success against British shipping, and on 12 October, she joined Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Maximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron, which had crossed the Pacific and was coaling at Easter Island.

[22] On 18 October, Dresden and the East Asia Squadron, centered on the armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, departed Easter Island for the South American coast.

The flotilla arrived off Valparaiso on 30 October, and the following evening, Spee received intelligence that a British cruiser was at the Chilean port of Coronel.

The Royal Navy had deployed Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee's pair of battlecruisers, Invincible and Inflexible, to hunt down the German squadron.

With the support of the captains of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, he successfully argued for an attack on the Falklands to destroy the British wireless station and coal stocks there.

Lüdecke and the captains of Leipzig and Nürnberg all opposed the plan, and were in favor of bypassing the Falklands and proceeding to the La Plata area to continue to raid British shipping.

Spee ordered the three small cruisers to try to escape to the south, while he turned back with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in an attempt to hold off the British squadron.

Oberleutnant zur See (lieutenant at sea) Wilhelm Canaris convinced the Chilean naval representative for the region to permit Dresden to remain in the area for an extra twenty-four hours so enough coal could be taken aboard to reach Punta Arenas.

[33] From December to February, the German liner Sierra Cordoba had supplied Dresden and had accompanied her northward to a final coaling at Juan Fernández Islands just before the cruiser was scuttled.

[37] On 8 March, Dresden was drifting in dense fog when lookouts spotted Kent, which also had her engines off, about 15 nautical miles (28 km; 17 mi) away.

[41] Lüdecke sent the signal "Am sending negotiator" to the British warships, and dispatched Canaris in a pinnace; Glasgow continued to bombard the defenseless cruiser.

[45] In 2002, the first survey of the wreck was done by a team led by James P. Delgado for the Sea Hunters documentary produced by the National Underwater and Marine Agency.

According to German records, Dresden was carrying gold coins from their colony at Qingdao; Delgado speculated that this salvage work was an attempt to retrieve these.