The Dressden was one of the Coln class of Light Cruisers, laid down in Kiel in 1916 and launched on 24th Arpil 1917. This class was an improved version of the Konigsberg class, and were the start of an ambitious programme of ten vessels that were to be built to plug the gaps left by war losses. However due to material and manpower shortages, only seven were ever launched, and of those only two were actually completed and commissioned.
The Dressden, (not to be confused with the Dressden class of Light Cruisers of which there were two, the Dressden and the Emden of Von Spee fame. This Dressden was scuttled off Chile) was 510 ft overall, 46 ft 11 inches in the beam with a top speed of 27 knots. Her armarment was the same as the Karlesruhe.
I dived this wreck in Oct 1997 and this is what I wrote in my notes.
This is another huge wreck lying on its side in about 32 meters. There is loads of brass on this wreck and with the vis nearly 30 ft we went straight into the engine room and had a great root around. I then swam towards the forward gun and then down towards the stern where we found some huge thrust blocks. On the second dive we went from the gun towards the bow, inside the open bridge and then out onto the fighting top that was lying out across the bottom. We then swam on to the bow then back along the top of the wreck over the bilge keels. The hull was covered with plumose anemones. Again its hard to get a handle on a wreck this size, but what fun trying.
