The first tranche of vessels to fulfill this requirement, the Gazelle class, were designed to serve both as fleet scouts and as station ships in Germany's colonial empire.

Leipzig carried up to 860 t (850 long tons) of coal, which gave her a range of 4,690 nautical miles (8,690 km; 5,400 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).

[5] Leipzig was ordered under the contract name "N"[b] and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen on 12 July 1904 and launched on 21 March 1905, after which fitting-out work commenced.

The ship concluded the initial period of service as the escort for Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was traveling on his annual summer cruise aboard the HAPAG steamer Hamburg.

She later steamed up the Yangtze river with the squadron commander aboard, Vizeadmiral (VAdm—Vice Admiral) Carl von Coerper; the gunboat Tiger and the torpedo boat S90 accompanied Leipzig on the trip.

Leipzig made a shorter voyage in the Yellow Sea in August; that month, Korvettenkapitän (KK—Corvette Captain) Richard Engel took command of the ship.

[7] Leipzig was dry-docked at Hong Kong for periodic maintenance in January 1909, and while there, she received orders to sail to German Samoa after the work was completed.

Unrest against German rule threatened to break out, and the colonial governor, Wilhelm Solf, requested assistance from the East Asia Squadron.

[8] In early 1910, Leipzig and Scharnhorst met the gunboat Luchs in Hong Kong, and the three vessels embarked on a voyage south.

Leipzig and the armored cruiser Gneisenau steamed to Calcutta, India, in early 1911 to meet Crown Prince Wilhelm, who was on a tour of East Asia.

In March, the new squadron commander, Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Günther von Krosigk, came aboard the ship to make a visit to Japan, where he met Emperor Meiji.

While she was in Vladimir Bay in Russia in mid-August, Schröder learned of heightened tensions with France as a result of the Agadir Crisis; the Russians had severed the telegraph lines, however, so he could not communicate with Germany.

The ship received a garbled wireless message that indicated Krosigk was to deploy his squadron to the Indian Ocean, but seeking confirmation, he dispatched Leipzig to Vladivostok, Russia, despite the risk of entering the port of France's ally.

Leipzig remained in the port from 15 to 18 August, exchanging telegraphs with Germany; by that time, the crisis had passed, and Krosigk decided to take his squadron south, through the Yellow Sea, before arriving in Qingdao on 15 September.

[9] On 10 October, the 1911 Revolution broke out against Qing rule in China; since the unrest threatened foreign interests in the country, Krosigk deployed the ships of the squadron to defend German nationals, as did several other navies.

Leipzig, which by then had Krosigk aboard, was forced to leave Hankou in November due to falling water levels in the Yangtze, and she joined Gneisenau in Shanghai.

In May 1914, Leipzig received orders to replace the light cruiser Nürnberg, which was cruising off the Pacific coast of Mexico to protect German interests during the Mexican Revolution.

Leipzig transferred forty civilians to the neutral US armored cruiser USS California and then made preparations for wartime operations.

[11] Leipzig anchored at Magdalena Bay in Mexico to await developments, and on 5 August, Haun learned of the state of war between Germany and the Triple Entente.

The established mobilization plan called for the ships of the East Asia Squadron to unite, but Leipzig lacked collier support.

She stopped in San Francisco to take on coal, but was unable to fully replenish her bunkers due to the United States' strict adherence to neutrality laws.

[12][13][14] She got underway two days later, headed further south in accordance with instructions from the German naval command, and on 11 September she stopped and sank the British oil tanker Elsinore.

[12][13][14] The ship thereafter stopped to allow the crew to clean her badly fouled boiler tubes, before resuming her voyage to Easter Island.

There, on 14 October, she joined the rest of the East Asia Squadron, by which time the unit was under the command of VAdm Maximilian von Spee.

[20] In the aftermath of the Battle of Coronel, Spee decided to return to Valparaiso to receive further orders; while Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Nürnberg went into the harbor, Leipzig and Dresden escorted the colliers to Mas a Fuera.

[22] The Germans approached Port Stanley, the capital of the Falklands, early on the morning of 8 December; the British quickly spotted them, and raised steam to go out and meet them.

Spee signaled "Leipzig released" at 13:15 and five minutes later instructed the other light cruisers to flee while Scharnhorst and Gneisenau turned on their pursuers, in the hope that he could cover their escape.

In the ensuing action, both ships were hit several times, forcing Glasgow to break off and fall behind the more powerful armored cruisers.

At 19:20, Haun issued the order to scuttle his wrecked ship; the British approached and opened fire on the stricken cruiser at close range, killing large numbers of the crew.