This class of four small cruisers was a slightly improved version of the preceding Bremen class, with only a few minor modifications. Among other details, the boiler arrangement was changed somewhat, giving the ships a different silhouette. Put into service from 1907 to 1908, these were the last cruiser models to be equipped with conventional triple expansion steam engines exclusively, the later classes were successively switched to turbines. Two of the ships served on overseas duty at the outbreak of the war, SMS Nürnberg (I) was sailing with the Ostasiengeschwader, while SMS Königsberg (I) was stationed at German East Africa. Nürnberg shared the fate of Graf von Spee's squadron, while Königsberg fought a successful raider war in the Indian Ocean and, later on, was a fleet-in-being, block