On 24 May , '' Nürnberg '' and the heavy cruiser sailed from Copenhagen under escort by '' Devonshire '' , '' Dido '' , and several other warships . The flotilla arrived in Wilhelmshaven on 28 May , and the German vessels remained there while their fates were determined at the Potsdam Conference . The Allies eventually decided to award '' Nürnberg '' to the Soviet Union . To prevent the Germans from scuttling their ships as they had done in 1919 , the Allies formally seized the vessels on 19 December , while '' Nürnberg '' was in drydock . That day , the ship 's Soviet crew came aboard . On 2 January , the Soviets took their seized warships , which also included the target ship , '' Hessen '' 's radio-control vessel '' Blitz '' , the destroyer Z15 '' Erich Steinbrinck '' , and the torpedo boats '' T33 '' and '' T107 '' , to Libau in present-day Latvia
Potsdam Conference
Potsdam Conference
German cruiser Nürnberg