 At around 03 : 55 on 1 June , the four German ships encountered the British cruiser Dublin . The three destroyers went alongside the crippled cruiser and evacuated her crew , while flashing the first two letters of the British signal challenge . Smoke screens were laid to obscure the identity of the German warships . After about ten minutes , S54 departed with Rostock 's crew aboard , while V71 and V73 remained . Scuttling charges had been set in the cruiser , but to ensure Rostock sank faster , the two destroyers fired a total of three torpedoes into the ship . Rostock sank bow @-@ first at approximately 04 : 25 , after which V71 and V73 made for Horns Reef at high speed . Of Rostock 's crew , 14 men were killed and 6 were wounded during the battle . In the course of the battle , Rostock fired some 500 rounds of 10 @.@ 5 cm ammunition , more than any other German ship . A second Rostock , of the Cöln class , was launched in April 1918 , but was not completed before the end of the war . 
