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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 three ships suffered from a number of problems, and so the fourth and fifth 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== The M class was intended for use as a scout for the commerce raiding squadrons envisioned under Plan Z.〔Zabecki, p. 901〕 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 ''Oberbefehlhaber 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.〔Gröner, p. 124〕 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''.〔Gröner, pp. 124–125〕 The initial design borrowed on contemporary British and French ships, the and , respectively. The distribution of the M-class ships' side armor was the most obvious influence of the ''Southampton''-class design.〔 The contract for ''M'' was assigned to ''Deutsche Werke'' in Kiel under the construction number 263. ''N'' followed at the ''Kriegsmarinewerft'' in Wilhelmshaven, as number 129. ''O''—construction number 606—was assigned to ''Germaniawerft'' in Kiel, but on 8 August 1939, the contract was transferred to the Kriegsmarinewerft. ''P'' was also assigned to ''Germaniawerft'', under number 607. ''Q'' was assigned to Schichau in Danzig, and the contract for ''R'' was awarded to the ''Deutsche Werke''. Only the keels for ''M'' and ''N'' were laid—in 1938—but construction was halted on 19 and 21 September 1939, respectively. Both hulls were broken up on the stocks shortly thereafter.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「M-class cruiser」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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