August 7, 1926-The keel of the Köln is laid in Wilhelmshaven.
May 25, 1928-The Köln is launched.
January 15, 1930-The Köln is commissioned.
July 1930-The Köln undergoes trials and training through the next three months.
Ocotober 28, 1930-The Köln begins artillary training, then meets the Karlsruhe on its first international voyage.
December 5, 1930-The Köln returns, then departs on further trials in the Baltic Sea until June of the next year.
June 1931-The Köln departs to Norway, spending six months in fleet operations in the North Sea and Jutland, then training operations in the Baltic.
January 7, 1932-The Köln embarsk on North Atlantic gunnery drills, then coastal training, lasting until January 29.
December 8, 1932-The Köln embarks on its first international voyage, stopping at Alexandria, Suez, India, Indonesia, Australia, Japan, Tsingtau, China, Ceylon, Greece, Italy, and Spain.
December 12, 1933-The Köln returns to replenish, then again departs for fleet operations.
June 9, 1934-The Köln and battleship Deutschland meet for artillary training, lasting until June 28.
November 1934-The Köln spends the remainder of the year in overhaul at Wilhelmshaven.
January 1935 through April 1936-The Köln embarks on fleet operations.
May 1936-The Köln operates near Portugal until June 7.
June 6, 1936-The Köln joins in its first operation in the Spanish Civil War, lasting until June 29.
July 30, 1936-The Köln returns after replenishment, again joining in the Spanish operations until October 8. The cruiser would participate in several other operations throughout 1937 as well.
January 1938-The Köln enters for overhaul at Kiel, ending in February. Shortly later, the ship embarks on urther fleet operations until October 31, when the cruiser returns for repairs again, this time until March of the next year.
April 13, 1939-The Köln begins training operations in the North Atlantic, staying until May 16.
October 8, 1939-The Köln, battlecruiser Gneisenau, and the destroyers Z3 Max Schultz, Z5 Paul Jakobi, Z11 Bernd von Arnim, Z14 Friedrich Ihn, Z15 Erich Steinbrick, Z16 Frederick Eckoldt, Z17 Diether von Roeder, Z20 Karl Galster, Z22 Anton Schmitt
December 12, 1939-The Köln, Leipzig, and Nürnberg screens Z4 Richard Beitzen, and four other destroyers during a mining mission.
April 6, 1940-The Köln and Königsberg depart to attack Bergen to open Operation Weserübung, part of Group 3.
April 9, 1940-The Köln arrives at Bergen, offloads the German soldiers, then departs again, arriving in Wilhelmshaven two days later, on April 11.
September 1941-The Köln carries troops to take the islands of Dagö and Ösel, then fires on Russian shore batteries at Cape Ristna, disabling them by October. The cruiser then leaves to provide a base for trial testing of the new shipboard helicopter, called the Flettner FL-282 “Kolibri.”
February through May 1942-The Köln is in Wilhelmshaven for minor repairs, then is ordered to Oslo.
July 13, 1942-The Köln leaves for Narvik, arriving in the narrow fjords on August 6 to join the battle group already stationed there.
September 10, 1942-The Köln, along with cruisers Admiral Scheer and Admiral Hipper, depart to attack convoy PQ18, but is attacked by a British submarine. While unsuccessful, it convinced the trio of cruisers to return without commencing the convoy attack.
February 1943-The Köln and Admiral Hipper sail to Kiel for decommissioning, beginning the next month, but lasting only a year.
March 1944-The Köln is towed from Kiel to Königsberg, where the cruiser is recommissioned as a training ship on April 1 of the same year.
April 1, 1944-The Köln begins refitting, lasting until July, then undergoes battle training until September when the cruiser is ordered to mine the passages to the south of Norway.
October 1944-The Köln is assigned to escort convoys until November.
December 13, 1944-The Köln loses all power stations and the starboard engine during an Allied air raid.
December 31, 1944-The Köln receives more damage during another air raid. In January the cruiser is ordered to Wilhelmshaven for repairs. While en route, further damage is sustained near the island of Wangerooge.
February 14, 1945-The Köln returns to Wilhelmshaven for repairs.
March 31, 1945-The Köln is sunk by five bombs during the final British night raid on Wilhelmshaven. Although sunk, the cruisers main guns still worked and were used against enemy troop concentrations at Nuehrnberg and Bockhorn.
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