Leipzig-class cruiser

Nürnberg before the outbreak of war
Class overview
Operators	Reichsmarine  Kriegsmarine  Soviet Navy
Preceded by	Königsberg class
Succeeded by	M-class cruiser (planned)
Built	1928–1934
In commission	1931–1959
Completed	2
Retired	2
General characteristics
Type	Light cruiser
Displacement	Leipzig: 8,100 t (8,000 long tons; 8,900 short tons) (full load) Nürnberg: 9,040 t (8,900 long tons; 9,960 short tons) (full load)
Length	Leipzig: 177 m (580 ft 9 in) (loa) Nürnberg: 181.3 m (594 ft 10 in) (loa)
Beam	16.3 m (53 ft)
Draft	Leipzig: 5.69 m (18 ft 8 in) Nürnberg: 5.74 m (18 ft 10 in)
Installed power	6 × water-tube boilers Steam turbines: 60,000 PS (59,000 shp) Diesel engines: 12,400 PS (12,200 shp)
Propulsion	2 × steam turbines 4 × diesel engines 3 × screw propellers
Speed	32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Range	3,900 nautical miles (7,200 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Complement	Leipzig: 26 officers 508 enlisted men Nürnberg: 25 officers 648 enlisted men
Armament	Leipzig: 9 × 15 cm (5.9") SK C/25 guns 2 × 8.8 cm (3.46") SK L/45 anti-aircraft guns 12 × 50 cm (20 in) torpedo tubes 120 mines Nürnberg: 9 × 15 cm SK C/25 guns 8 × 8.8 cm SK C/32 guns 8 × 3.7 cm SK C/30 guns 8 × 2 cm C/30 guns 12 × 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes 120 mines
Armor	Belt armor: 50 mm (2 in) Deck: 30 mm (1.2 in) Conning tower: 100 mm (3.9 in) Turrets: 80 mm (3.1 in) Barbettes: 60 mm (2.4 in)
Aircraft carried	2 × Arado 196 floatplanes

The Leipzig class was a class of two light cruisers of the German Reichsmarine and later Kriegsmarine; the class comprised Leipzig, the lead ship, and Nürnberg, which was built to a slightly modified design. The ships were improvements over the preceding Königsberg-class cruisers, being slightly larger, with a more efficient arrangement of the main battery and improved armor protection. Leipzig was built between 1928 and 1931, and Nürnberg followed between 1934 and 1935.

Both ships participated in the non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and 1937. After the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, they were used in a variety of roles, including as minelayers and escort vessels. On 13 December, both ships were torpedoed by the British submarine HMS Salmon. They were thereafter used in secondary roles, primarily as training ships, for most of the rest of the war. Leipzig provided some gunfire support to German Army troops fighting on the Eastern Front.

Both ships survived the war, though Leipzig was in very poor condition following an accidental collision with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen late in the war. Leipzig was therefore used as a barracks ship before being scuttled in 1946. Nürnberg, however, emerged from the war largely unscathed, and as a result, was seized by the Soviet Navy as war reparations, and commissioned into the Soviet fleet as Admiral Makarov; she continued in Soviet service until the late 1950s, and was broken up for scrap by 1960.