M-class cruiser
Illustration of the M-class design
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| Class overview | |
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| Builders: | Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven |
| Operators: |
 Kriegsmarine
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| Preceded by: | Leipzig-class cruiser |
| Succeeded by: | None |
| Built: | 1938–1939 |
| Planned: | 6 |
| Cancelled: | 6 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Light cruiser |
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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.
The M class was intended for use as a scout for the commerce raiding squadrons envisioned under Plan Z. The ships design process started in 1936; the ships were intended for long-range commerce raiding. They were an improvement over previous designs, 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 shells, all on a displacement no more than 8,000 metric 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.
During further development of the design, serious flaws became apparent, including the weakness of both the main battery and anti-aircraft armament, as well as the insufficiently thick armor protection. The stepped arrangement of the deck armor wasted space and was therefore impractical. The layout of the propulsion system was also problematic; both turbines were in the same engine room, and therefore each were vulnerable to disabling if the other was damaged. Their crew spaces were also insufficient for long-range cruises. As a result, the design was heavily modified for the last two ships of the class, Q and R. The initial design borrowed on contemporary British and French ships, the Southampton class and La Galissonnière class, respectively. The distribution of the M-class ships' side armor was the most obvious influence of the Southampton-class design.
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