Emden
Contents
Description
As the German Weimar Republic was recovering from inflation in 1921 after the Great War, the Reichsmarine (Weimar Navy) was in a dire need of modernization. To replace the archaic cruisers that Germany had been allowed to keep and to comply with the tonnage restriction of the Treaty of Versailles, the new cruiser was to be built as soon as possible using the Imperial cruiser SMS Karlsruhe as a template and was armed with whatever Germany had left in their post-war stockpile. The new ship was named Emden after the famous Dresden-class light cruiser - being the third ship to receive this name - and would be launched four years later in 1925.
Throughout her service life, the Emden served as a foundation for the rebuilt Reichsmarine and later Kriegsmarine, being primarily used as a training ship for the slowly expanding and rearmed German navy. While the ship was largely obsolete by the start of World War II in 1939, the Emden would see extensive service both as a training ship and a support vessel, being frequently used for minelaying operations. As the tide of war turned against the Kriegsmarine, Emden would participate in the evacuation of the German Army from East Prussia in January 1945 before having to stay in port for the rest of the war. During this time, she would be frequently damaged by British bombers, and after her hull was critically damaged, Emden was grounded and scuttled on 3 May 1945 to prevent capture.
Introduced in Update 1.83 "Masters of the Sea", the Emden is a natural evolution of the Great War-era SMS Elbing, featuring eight single 150 mm cannons placed along the length of the ship. While her design is rather outdated, the Emden is still capable of holding on her own against light cruisers and destroyers within her rank, being able to take considerable amount of damage, though she would struggle against any newer ships at higher ranks. Emden is in her 1942 configuration, and as such receives substantial anti-air improvements. This makes her quite effective at providing air coverage despite her unassuming appearance.
General info
Survivability and armour
The Emden had very good survivability and the perfect amount of guns coupled with decent reload times and firepower. Together, this means you can output a lot of damage in a short period of time against other ships. The "turtleback" armour on this ship is what makes it special, even though it may not appear to have the best armour, its 50 mm layer along with another highly sloped 40 mm solid armour layer behind it, makes it extremely difficult to sink the light cruiser.
Mobility
When stock, the Emden is noticeably sluggish to move around, with a top speed of only 47 km/h (AB/RB) and very poor traverse speed. After getting repair kits and FPE, rudder replacement should be considered as it helps the Emden be much more nimble.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 64 | 25 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 54 | 22 | |
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
The Emden utilizes eight 15 cm cannons, the same armament found on Type 1936A (Mob), each mounted on a single gun turret. The placements of the guns allowed it to fire four guns from the bow-on and slight angling position. As a light cruiser, the Emden gains access to a powerful APCBC to deal with heavier targets.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 1,000 m | 2,500 m | 5,000 m | 7,500 m | 10,000 m | 15,000 m | ||
| Spgr. L/4.5 Kz (m.Hb) | HE | 37 | 37 | 37 | 37 | 37 | 37 |
| Spgr. L/4.4 Bdz (m.Hb) | SAPBC | 115 | 97 | 74 | 57 | 45 | 35 |
| Spgr. L/4.5 Zt.Z | HE-TF | 37 | 37 | 37 | 37 | 37 | 37 |
| Pzgr. L/3.7 (m.Hb) | APCBC | 236 | 199 | 151 | 117 | 92 | 70 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (s) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| Spgr. L/4.5 Kz (m.Hb) | HE | 835 | 45.5 | 0 | 0.1 | 3.64 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| Spgr. L/4.4 Bdz (m.Hb) | SAPBC | 835 | 45.5 | 0.015 | 7 | 3.03 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
| Spgr. L/4.5 Zt.Z | HE-TF | 835 | 44.8 | 0 | 0.1 | 3.64 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| Pzgr. L/3.7 (m.Hb) | APCBC | 835 | 45.5 | 0.015 | 7 | 1.1 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
Secondary armament
Secondary armament consisted of three 10.5 cm cannons, these cannons is moderately useful at close range against destroyers and PT boats. It has access to a time fuze shell to improve the ship's anti-air capabilities. However, due to low ammunition count, it is advised to manage your AI gunners to not waste it on any targets you can deal with by yourself.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 1,000 m | 2,500 m | 5,000 m | 7,500 m | 10,000 m | 15,000 m | ||
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Kpf.Z | HE | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Bd.Z | HE | 42 | 34 | 25 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Zt.Z | HE-TF | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (s) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Kpf.Z | HE | 785 | 15.1 | 0 | 0.1 | 1,550 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Bd.Z | HE | 785 | 15.1 | 0.015 | 5 | 1,550 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Zt.Z | HE-TF | 785 | 15.1 | 0 | 0.1 | 1,550 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
Anti-aircraft armament
The Emden possess some of the most powerful anti-aircraft armament at its rank. With two Bofors autocannons and twenty 20 mm FlaK cannons placed all over the ship. Any aircraft that were approaching the Emden will be greeted with a bullet storm of large and small calibres. This AA armament is also very useful for fending off PT boats that might come close to it, although it is always recommended to man the gun yourself when the enemy is too close.
Additional armament
The Emden can be outfitted with the following:
- 4 x 53 cm G7a torpedoes (warhead = 280 kg Hexanite)
These torpedoes are standard issue Kriegsmarine torpedoes which had good speed, endurance, and good firing angle (minimum angle 16 degrees).
Usage in battles
The Emden is unusual among light cruisers for having wonderful armour. While the initial row of belt armour is only 50 mm thick, this is backed up by another layer of 40 mm armour in a turtleback layout that gives this ship great anti-torpedo protection, and protects ammo stowage from enemy shells. The guns on the Emden are also good, with the 150 mm cannons doing good damage to enemy cruisers and with good shell velocity. While the rate of fire is good, it falls off once the first stage of 10 rounds is depleted. Also, while you have a lot of guns, they're spread out and rather inaccurate. The broadside is only 6 guns, and the dispersion is pretty poor. The Emden also boasts good AA protection, especially at close range, and its torpedoes have a nasty bite, with good damage and top speed.
The Emden is a slow ship, doing just 47 km/h when stock, which can feel awfully slow after the very fast destroyers that precede it. Also, while the armour protection is great, the crew size is not. Flooding and fires, if they're not quickly brought under control, can be disastrous for an Emden. Combined with the fairly weak deck armour, this makes this ship particularly vulnerable to aircraft, though your AA guns should reduce this risk somewhat.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Very well armoured structure that can take many hits
- Has the German turtleback armour layout, which is quite effective at containing damage
- Possesses powerful 15 cm guns
- Secondary 10.5 cm guns can be used as an anti-aircraft armament with time fuze shell
- Great anti-air armament
- Good bow-on firepower
- Decent torpedo launch angle, capable of launching it directly from the bow
Cons:
- Each 15 cm turrets is poorly protected and will be slowly taken out in a prolonged firefight
- Quite slow and sluggish for a light cruiser, especially when stock
- Has a chance to face heavy cruisers capable of destroying it in a few salvoes
- Very small amount of shells for the secondary guns (10.5 cm), so take care to conserve ammunition by disabling the AI gunners
History
After losing in the First World War and signing the Treaty of Versailles, Germany faced severe restrictions in terms of its military power and the creation of new weapons. As a result, for example, Germany was forbidden from building new cruisers until the service life of those remaining after the war had reached 20 years. However, even in those cases, Germany was not allowed to go beyond strictly defined technical specs when designing a future ship. In 1921, construction of a new light cruiser began in the Wilhelmshaven naval shipyard. The ship was meant to replace the Niobe cruiser, which had been built way back in 1899. After several delays, the cruiser was launched in January 1925 and solemnly named "Emden." The ship inherited the name from a well-known World War I cruiser that had been sunk in the Indian Ocean.
Due to the country's dire economical state, the tactical technical specifications of the new ship ended up being way below those that Germany was allowed to implement in the project. In essence, Emden was obsolete from the construction stage. However, this light cruiser ended up becoming the most upgradable ship of the German fleet. During the 1926-1945 period, extensive work was performed on the cruiser: the coal-fired boilers were replaced with oil-fired ones, new 533 mm torpedo tubes were fitted onto ship, the anti-air armament was significantly improved, the obsolete 150 mm armament of the kaiser era were substituted with more powerful alternatives, and the radar system became subject to numerous upgrades. The cruiser was involved in a lot of adventures during her service time before the start of the war – with eight long-distance cruises under her belt (pun intended), Emden had practically been in every corner of the world. During the Second World War, Emden was primarily used as a training ship and a military communications centre. In 1945, the Emden light cruiser was fatally damaged by a British air dropped bomb and subsequently sunk.
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See also
Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the ship;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
| Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven | |
|---|---|
| Torpedo Boats | |
| Raubtier-class | Jaguar · Leopard · Luchs |
| Light Cruisers | |
| K-class | Köln |
| Leipzig-class | Leipzig |
| Unique Ships | Emden |
| Heavy Cruisers | |
| Deutschland-class | Admiral Graf Spee |
| Battleships | |
| Scharnhorst-class | Scharnhorst |
| See also | Kaiserliche Werft (1871 - 1918) |
| Germany light cruisers | |
|---|---|
| Pillau-class | SMS Elbing |
| Emden* | |
| Königsberg-class | Karlsruhe · Köln |
| Leipzig-class | Leipzig · Nürnberg |
| * Unique ship | |
