Ship Modelers Database
Image: Public domain (UK Crown copyright expired — photo taken prior to 1 June 1957) · commons.wikimedia.org
SMS Emden 1916
Scrapped (1926) — previously scuttled/beached at Scapa Flow in 1919 and ceded to France
SMS Emden was a German Königsberg-class light cruiser of the Kaiserliche Marine, built during the First World War and named in honor of the famous raider SMS Emden lost at the Battle of Cocos in 1914. She mounted a commemorative Iron Cross on her stem-head and, under Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, served as flagship of the interned German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow in 1919.
Kits of this ship
+ Add a kit| S.M.S. Emden | Revell | 1:350 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued | |
| German WWI Light Cruisers SMS Dresden & SMS Emden | Revell | 1:350 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued | |
No image | Deans Marine SMS Emden (R/C ready) | Deans Marine | 1:96 (1/8 in=1 ft) | Pre-formed Hull | Available |
No image | SMS Emden (Heritage Series) | Blue Ridge Models | 1:700 | Resin | Available |
No image | SMS "Emden" German light cruiser 1914 | Armo | 1:700 | Resin | Available |
| SMS Emden (DELUXE Edition) | Flyhawk Model | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued | |
| SMS Emden DELUXE SET Version | Flyhawk Model | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
No image | SMS Dresden & SMS Emden Set | Flyhawk Model | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available |
No image | SMS Emden | HP Models | 1:700 | Resin | — |
Plans
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Build logs
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Resources
+ Submit a resourceHistory & specifications
- Military Wiki: Königsberg-class cruiser (1915)Article
Overview of the class and the internment/scuttling events at Scapa Flow affecting Emden and her sisters.
- Wikipedia: Königsberg-class cruiser (1915)Website
Class-level article covering the four Königsberg-class cruisers including Emden, useful for comparing sister ships and understanding the Scapa Flow scuttling context.
- Wikipedia: SMS Emden (1916)Website
Main reference for the ship's design, specifications, and full service/fate history.
Museums & archives
- IWM: Ship's Bell (SMS Emden 1916)Museum
Imperial War Museum object record confirming class, dimensions, armament, and fate; useful primary-source specs for modelers.
Photos
- Wikimedia Commons: Category SMS Emden (ship, 1916)Photo
Hosts freely-licensed historical photographs of the ship at Scapa Flow useful for modelers seeking reference imagery.
History
Service history
Laid down in December 1914 at AG Weser in Bremen under the contract name "Ersatz Nymphe," she was launched on 1 February 1916 and commissioned on 16 December 1916, after which she served primarily as a torpedo-boat flotilla leader. Her most notable combat action was Operation Albion in October 1917, where she bombarded Russian shore batteries and engaged Russian destroyers in the Baltic, and she also led a minor raid against British shipping in the North Sea in December 1917. Interned at Scapa Flow after the Armistice, she was beached rather than sunk by British sailors during the German fleet's mass scuttling on 21 June 1919.
Notable facts
Awarded to France as a war prize in 1920, Emden was so badly damaged by the scuttling and beaching that the French Navy never placed her in active service, instead using her as an explosives-testing target before scrapping her at Caen in 1926. Her ship's bell is preserved in the Imperial War Museum's collections, and period photographs of her at Scapa Flow remain a popular visual reference for modelers depicting the fleet internment.