M class cruiser

The M Class cruiser was a class of light cruisers planned but never built by the German Navy before World War II. The ships design process started in 1936, as part of the naval Plan Z. 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. 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've been the thirteenth German cruiser and was therefor listed as "cruiser M" in the navys documents. Had any of the ships been build, the class would have been named after the first completed unit.

Like the earlier cruisers those ships should get a mixed propulsion system consisting of diesel engines for slower cruise speed and steam turbines for high speed. In relation to their size, those ships would have been not very heavily armed and protected, compared with Allied designs like the British "Town" class. After the first four ships (M, N, O, P) an improved version (Q and R) should have been built. Besides a slightly increased size, the heavy antiaircraft armament should have been increased and the fire control of these guns should have been improved.

With a projected construction time of two and a half years, the orders for the first four ships were given on May 28, 1938. While first work started as early as November 1938, it was planned to lay down the keel for the first ship on November 1, 1939, but after the outbreak of World War II, the used material was scrapped in the shipyard.

Leichte Kreuzer M-Class (M, N, O, P)
*Laid down: Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven, 1938
*Fate: construction stopped September 21,1939 Leichte Kreuzer M-Class (Q, R)
*Laid down: Schichau Danzig (projected)