Originally built for the Imperial Russian Navy under the name Admiral Nevelskoy in 1913, the light cruiser that would later be known as SMS Elbing was confiscated by Germany following the outbreak of the Great War a year later. After being outfitted with German weaponry, Elbing was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 4 September 1915. In her short-lived career of just six months, Elbing participated in only two battles: the first being the inconclusive bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft in April 1916; her second and last battle being the Battle of Jutland between 31 May and 1 June that year. She is notable for being the first ship to score a hit during the engagement, against the British light cruiser HMS Galatea, though the shell failed to detonate. In the ensuing chaos of the battle, Elbing was accidentally rammed by the friendly battleship Posen, resulting in fatal damage that immobilised the ship. After her crew was evacuated via torpedo boats, Elbing was scuttled on 1 June 1916.

The SMS Elbing was introduced in Update "Drone Age". Being a Great War design, Elbing’s characteristics leave much to be desired: The ship is quite slow and sluggish to manoeuvre, and her survivability is poor due to low crew counts and insufficient armour. The ship is armed with eight archaic 150 mm guns, of which only four can be fired from broadsides. Out of the three shells available, only the AP shell is viable, as the HE and SAP shells have laughably low filler and penetration that would struggle to damage destroyers, let alone cruisers. On top of that, the Elbing has terrible secondary armaments and completely lacks AA armaments, resulting in her being extremely vulnerable against PT boats and aircraft. Due to all these factors, the Elbing is heavily reliant on the matchmaking, as she is capable of dealing with weaker destroyers but is otherwise helpless against more advanced ships.