Two of the uncompleted Koln II class cruisers were allowed to be completed during the years 1919-22. With the German Navy at reduced levels, the shipyard staff being decimated by layoffs and the the Flu epidemic, while money to pay for the ships was doled out by the Government to the Admiralty solely to keep the shipyards in work. Which is why it took so long to complete these two ships. The ships were completed to the original design as to redesign and manufacture new parts was completely out of the question financially.
Like the Frankfurt's the Dreden's were part of the Baltic Patrol required by the Navy to fulfill part of their treaty obligations.
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The rebuilding of the two Dresden class was very comprehensive. Trunking together and capping the funnels, filling in and extending the bridge superstructure, new fire control units. But the biggest change was having to reconfigure the interior design of the ship to make space for the four twin 5" dual purpose turrets, ammunition handling rooms and magazines. Reboilering from coal to oil allowed also to extend the range. The 5.9" side mounted weapons has handling rooms and magazines below them. These were no longer required with the new layout and converted to oil bunkers.
By 1942 these two ships had sprouted radar and other electric equipment from all sorts of nooks and crannies. Radar assistance for the 5" and 37mm was paramount and made those guns deadly.
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