SMS Dresden was the second and final ship of the Cöln class of light cruisers to be completed and commissioned in the Kaiserliche Marine. The ship was laid down in 1916 and launched on 25 April 1917; she was commissioned into the High Seas Fleet on 28 March 1918. She and her sister Cöln were the only two of her class to be completed; eight of her sisters were scrapped before they could be completed. The ships were an incremental improvement over the preceding Königsberg-class cruisers.

The Cöln class of light cruisers was Germany's last class commissioned before her defeat in World War I. Originally planned to comprise ten ships, only two were completed; Cöln and Dresden. Five more were launched, but not completed: Wiesbaden, Magdeburg, Leipzig, Rostock and Frauenlob, while another three were laid down but not launched: Ersatz Cöln, Ersatz Emden and Ersatz Karlsruhe. The design was a slightly modified version of the preceding Königsberg class.