July 27, 1926-The keel of the Karlsruhe is laid in Kiel.
August 20, 1927-The Karlsruhe is launched.
October 15, 1929-The Karlsruhe is transferred to Wilhelmshaven after undergoing several trial runs.
November 6, 1929-The Karlsruhe is commissioned.
May 1930 through July 1936-The Karlsruhe is assigned as a cadet training ship. The ship made several trips to foreign countries, during which times the K-Class cruisers proved to be so structurally unsound that future long-term Atlantic voyages were banned.
1934-The Karlsruhe has two aircraft installed and assigned to it.
January thrugh February 1937-The Karlsruhe is in Spain to protect German citizens through the Spanish Civil War.
June 17 through June 30, 1937-The Karlsruhe returns to to Spain during the Spanish Civil War.
1938-The Karlsruhe joins the Leipzig for navigations training.
May 20, 1938-The Karlsruhe is decommissioned to undergo extensive reconstruction. A thicker outer skin was added.
November 13, 1939-The Karlsruhe is recommissioned.
April 6, 1940-The Karlsruhe takes on troops in Wilhelmshaven.
April 9, 1940-The Karlsruhe arrives to support the occupation of Arendals and Christiansand with three torpedoboats and eight of the smaller fast attack boats. It took a while for the operation to succeed, but the invasion was finally completed. The Karlsruhe is hit at 8:00 in the evening by the British submarine Truant. Both engines stop to work, and the rudder fails. The ship is finally scuttled by the torpedo boat Greif after the crew were picked up by the Grief and Seeadler.
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