The refit included new funnels and a new cruiser bow. The four fore- and aft mounted 105mm cannons were replaced by two 150mm cannons, at the same time, the masts were moved in a similar position to the later
Bremen-class cruisers and teh later
Königsberg-class. Those masts had new enclosed spotting tops and double the number of searchlights: two at the main mast and two side-by-side at the fore mast. A small radio hut was installed between the two aft funnels, machinery and rangefinding equipment were overhauled and modernised.
Bremen rejoined the fleet on May 27th, 1915 as part of the IV. Squadron.
In August 1915,
Bremen participated in the Battle of the Gulf of Riga for which the Germans had assembled 4 battleships, 3 battlecruisers, 6 cruisers and 56 torpedo boats.. On August 8th,
Bremen saved the crew of
T52 after the ship had hit a mine and on August 17th, the cruiser was part of the main strike force consisting of the battleships
Nassau and
Posen, the cruisers
Graudenz,
Augsburg,
Bremen and
Pillau and 31 torpedo boats. Despite scoring hits against their main opponent, the Russian battleship
Slava, the Germans retreated after the attack of Allied submarines.
On the evening of December 17th, 1915,
Bremen left the harbour of Windau together with torpedoboats
V191 and
V186. At 17:10,
V191 struck a mine and
Bremen moved in to save any survivors. However, during this, the cruiser herself ran into two mines and she sank at 18:04. 250 sailors drowned in the sea while 53 could be rescued by
V186.
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