Her hull was constructed with longitudinal steel frames and incorporated seventeen watertight compartments and a double bottom that extended for 56 percent of the length of the keel. She had a waterline armored belt that was thick; her armored deck was thick, and her conning tower had thick sides. The ship had a standard crew of nineteen officers and 464 enlisted men. While serving on cadet training cruises, her crew numbered twenty-nine officers and 445 enlisted, with 162 cadets. After 1940, her standard crew was increased to twenty-six officers and 556 enlisted, and after being reduced to a training ship, her crew numbered thirty officers and 653 enlisted men. Emden carried six boats. The German Navy regarded the ship as a good sea boat, with slight lee helm and gentle motion in a swell. The cruiser was maneuverable, but was slow going into a turn. Steering was controlled by a single large rudder. She lost speed only slightly in a head sea, but lost up to sixty percent in hard turns. She had a metacentric height of . Machinery Emden was powered by two sets of Brown, Boveri & Co. geared steam turbines; they drove a pair of three-bladed screws that were in diameter. Steam was provided by four coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers and six oil-fired Marine water-tube boilers divided into four boiler rooms. The engines were rated at and a top speed of . On speed trials, her engines reached and a maximum of . The ship was designed to carry of coal, though additional space could accommodate up to . Oil capacity was as designed, and up to in additional fuel bunkers. This gave the ship a cruising radius of at . At , her range fell to . Electrical power was supplied by two systems of three generators each, with a total combined output of at 220 Volts. Armament The ship's main battery was to have been eight 15 cm SK L/55 guns in twin turrets, but the Allied disarmament authority refused to permit this armament. Instead, she was equipped with existing stocks of 15 cm SK L/45 guns in single turrets. The guns were C/16 models; they fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of . They could elevate to 40 degrees and had a maximum range of . The eight guns were supplied with a total of 960 rounds of ammunition. Emden was also equipped