 Medusa was ordered under the contract name " E " and was laid down at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen in early 1900 and launched on 5 December 1900 , after which fitting @-@ out work commenced . She was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 26 July 1901 . The ship was 104 @.@ 8 meters ( 344 ft ) long overall and had a beam of 12 @.@ 2 m ( 40 ft ) and a draft of 4 @.@ 84 m ( 15 @.@ 9 ft ) forward . She displaced 2 @,@ 972 t ( 2 @,@ 925 long tons ; 3 @,@ 276 short tons ) at full combat load . Her propulsion system consisted of two triple @-@ expansion engines . They were designed to give 8 @,@ 000 shaft horsepower ( 6 @,@ 000 kW ) , for a top speed of 21 @.@ 5 knots ( 39 @.@ 8 km / h ; 24 @.@ 7 mph ) . The engines were powered by ten coal @-@ fired Marine @-@ type water @-@ tube boilers . Medusa carried 560 tonnes ( 550 long tons ) of coal , which gave her a range of 3 @,@ 560 nautical miles ( 6 @,@ 590 km ; 4 @,@ 100 mi ) at 10 knots ( 19 km / h ; 12 mph ) . She had a crew of 14 officers and 243 enlisted men . 
