SMS Cöln (1909)

SMS Cöln ("His Majesty's Ship Cologne") was a Kolberg-class light cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) during the First World War. She had three sister ships, SMS Kolberg, Mainz, and Augsburg. She was built by the Germaniawerft in Kiel; her hull was laid down in 1908 and she was launched in June 1909. Cöln was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet in June 1911. She was armed with a main battery of twelve 10.5 cm SK L/45 guns and had a top speed of 25.5 kn (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph). After her commissioning, she served with the II Scouting Group, part of the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet.

Cöln was assigned to patrols off the island of Heligoland at the outbreak of World War I in early August 1914, as the flagship of Rear Admiral Leberecht Maass. At the Battle of Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914, the German patrol forces were attacked by superior British forces, including five battlecruisers and several light cruisers. Cöln was initially stationed in support of the forces on the patrol line. She attempted to reinforce the beleaguered German forces, and encountered Vice Admiral David Beatty's battlecruisers. She was hit several times by the battlecruisers' large-caliber guns, but managed to escape in the haze. She inadvertently turned back toward them, however, and was quickly disabled when the battle resumed. The crew abandoned Cöln, but German vessels did not search the area for three days, and only one man survived.