stability necessary for fleet operations, along with the endurance to operate on foreign stations in the German colonial empire. The resulting Gazelle design provided the basis for all of the light cruisers built by the German fleet to the last official designs prepared in 1914. After the first seven ships had been built or were under construction, the Construction Department improved the design slightly, strengthening the armor on the conning tower and increasing the beam, which allowed more space for coal storage, and thus a longer cruising radius. These changes were applied to the last three members of the class: Frauenlob, , and . Frauenlob was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of forward. She displaced normally and up to at full combat load. Her propulsion system consisted of two triple-expansion steam engines manufactured by AG Weser. They were designed to give , for a top speed of . The engines were powered by eight coal-fired Marine-type water-tube boilers. Frauenlob carried of coal, which gave her a range of at . She had a crew of 14 officers and 256 enlisted men. The ship was armed with ten SK L/40 guns in single mounts. Two were placed side by side forward on the forecastle, six were located amidships, three on either side, and two were placed side by side aft. The guns could engage targets out to . They were supplied with 1,500 rounds of ammunition, for 150 shells per gun. She was also equipped with two torpedo tubes with five torpedoes. They were submerged in the hull on the broadside. The ship was protected by an armored deck that was thick. The conning tower had thick sides, and the guns were protected by thick gun shields. History Early career Frauenlob was ordered under the contract name "G" and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen in mid-1901. She was launched of 22 March 1902; owing to space limitations, she was launched sideways, rather than stern-first. Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Wilhelm Büchsel gave a speech at the launching ceremony, and the new ship was christened by Anna Reuss, Princess of Stolberg-Wernigerode. She was named for the schooner , launched in 1853, that had been paid for in part by the donations of women from the German lands; the name means "praise women." The cruiser was commissioned for sea trials on 17 February 1903 under