M-class cruiser
Illustration of the M-class design
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Class overview | |
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Builders | Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven |
Operators | Kriegsmarine |
Preceded by | Leipzig-class cruiser |
Succeeded by | None |
Built | 1938–1939 |
Planned | 6 |
Cancelled | 6 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Light cruiser |
Displacement |
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Length |
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Beam |
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Draft |
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Installed power | 4 × water-tube boilers |
Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Range | |
Complement |
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Armament |
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Armor |
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Aircraft carried | 2 × Arado 196 seaplanes |
Aviation facilities | 1 × steam catapult |
The M-class cruisers were a class of light cruisers planned, but never built, by Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine before World War II. The ships were designed for commerce raiding in the Atlantic Ocean. The design for the first four ships suffered from a number of problems, and so the fifth and sixth ships were substantially redesigned.
The name of the class is taken from the letter designating the first projected unit. As long as the ships were not named, they were referred to by letters assigned in the chronological order of their planned construction. The first planned unit would have been the thirteenth German cruiser and was therefore listed as cruiser M in the navy's documents. Had any of the ships been built, the class would have been named after the first completed unit.
Development and cancellation
In the early 1930s, Adolf Hitler began a rearmament program in Germany. He signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement in 1935, which allowed Germany to build up its navy to 35 percent of the strength of the British Royal Navy and effectively repudiated the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles on the German fleet. Versailles had limited the German fleet's cruiser strength to six vessels of 6,000 metric tons (5,900 long tons) displacement.[1]
The M class was intended for use as a scout for the commerce raiding squadrons envisioned under German strategic thinking at the time, which would be formalized as the Plan Z construction program.[2] The ships design process started in 1936; the ships were intended for long-range commerce raiding. They were an improvement over previous designs like the Königsberg and Leipzig classes, which suffered from insufficient range to be effective commerce raiders. However, the requirements placed on the design—high maximum and cruising speeds, long range, heavy armament, and armor sufficient to withstand 15 cm (5.9 in) shells, all on a displacement no more than 8,000 t (7,900 long tons; 8,800 short tons) were deemed impossible by the design staff. In July 1937, the Oberbefehlshaber der Marine (commander in chief of the navy) requested proposals from both the naval design staff as well as private dockyards. None of the designs by the dockyards were practical, and so the official design, which only met some of the requirements, was chosen.[3]
During further development of the design, serious flaws became apparent, including the weakness of both the
The contract for M was assigned to
Design
General characteristics
The first four M-class ships—M, N, O, and P—were 178 m (584 ft)
All six ships were to have steel-made, and up to 85% welded construction. The design called for fifteen
All six ships were intended to use two sets of Brown, Boveri & Cie and Wagner steam turbines or Marine-type turbines built by Germaniawerft and four MAN double-acting 12-cylinder two-stroke diesel engines. Q and R however, were to be equipped with an additional four diesels, for a total of eight. The turbines were powered by four Wagner ultra-high pressure water-tube boilers, designed to put out 58 atmospheres of pressure. The propulsion system drove three screws, although four were considered for Q and R. The ships' electrical power was supplied by four generators that produced 2,400 kW at 220 volts.[3]
Armament and armor
All six ships were armed with the same set of weaponry. The primary armament consisted of eight 15 cm L/55 quick-firing guns mounted in four twin turrets, in superfiring pairs fore and aft. The guns had a total of 960 shells, for 120 rounds per gun.[3] The 15 cm twin turrets were Drh L. C/34 mounts—the same type as those fitted to the Bismarck- and Scharnhorst-class battleships, as well as a number of other designs.[6] The turrets allowed depression to -10 degrees and elevation to 40 degrees, which enabled a maximum range of 22,000 m (24,000 yd). The 15 cm guns had a rate of fire of between 6 and 8 45.3 kg (100 lb) rounds per minute, at a muzzle velocity of 875 meters per second (2,871 ft/s). The guns used two propellant charges: a 14.15 kg (31.2 lb) RPC/38 fore charge and a 23.5 kg (52 lb) main charge in a brass cartridge.[7]
The ships carried four
The ships were to have been protected with
Footnotes
References
- ISBN 978-0-87021-790-6.
- Sieche, Erwin (1992). "Germany". In Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 218–254. ISBN 978-0-85177-146-5.
- Zabecki, David T. (1999). World War II in Europe. Vol. I. New York: Garland Pub. ISBN 978-0-8240-7029-8.
Further reading
- Whitley, M. J. (1987). German Cruisers of World War Two. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-217-8.