Starting in the 1880s, the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) began building a series of cruisers. The first designs—protected and unprotected—were ordered to replace aging sail and steam-powered frigates and corvettes that were of minimal combat value. After several iterations of each type, these cruisers were developed into armored and light cruisers, respectively, over the following decade. They were built to fill a variety of roles, including scouts for the main battle fleet and colonial cruisers for Germany's overseas empire. The armored cruisers in turn led to the first German battlecruiser, SMS Von der Tann.
The protected and unprotected cruisers had been withdrawn from active service by the 1910s, though some continued in secondary roles. Most of the armored and light cruisers saw action in World War I, in all of the major theaters of the conflict. Their service ranged from commerce raiding patrols on the open ocean to the fleet engagements in the North Sea such as the Battle of Jutland. Many were sunk in the course of the war, and the majority of the remainder were either seized as war prizes by the victorious Allies, scuttled by their crews in Scapa Flow in 1919, or broken up for scrap. The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to surrender most of its remaining vessels. Only six old pre-dreadnought battleships and six old light cruisers could be kept on active duty. These ships could be replaced when they reached twenty years of age, and the cruisers were limited to a displacement of 6,000 metric tons (5,900 long tons; 6,600 short tons).[1]
In the 1920s, Germany began a modest program to rebuild its fleet, now renamed the Reichsmarine. It began with the new light cruiser, Emden, in 1921, followed by five more light cruisers and three new heavy cruisers, the Deutschland class. A further five heavy cruisers—the Admiral Hipper class—were ordered in the mid-1930s, though only the first three were completed. At the same time, the German navy was renamed the Kriegsmarine. Plan Z, a more ambitious reconstruction program that called for twelve P-class cruisers, was approved in early 1939 but was cancelled before the end of the year following the outbreak of World War II. Of the six heavy cruisers and six light cruisers that were finished, only two survived the war. One, Prinz Eugen, was sunk following nuclear weapons tests during Operation Crossroads in 1946; the other, Nürnberg, saw service in the Soviet Navy until she was scrapped around 1960.[a]
| Armament | The number and type of the primary armament |
|---|---|
| Armor | The thickness of the deck or belt armor |
| Displacement | Ship displacement at full combat load[b] |
| Propulsion | Number of shafts, type of propulsion system, and top speed generated |
| Cost | Cost of the ship's construction |
| Service | The dates work began and finished on the ship and its ultimate fate |
| Laid down | The date the keel began to be assembled |
| Commissioned | The date the ship was commissioned |
- ^ See: Treaty of Versailles Section II: Naval Clauses, Articles 181 and 190
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