Cruisers - Germany: Books - History, Ships and Deployment

German Light Cruisers 1939-45 (Osprey)

The German Navy of World War II was small in number, but contained some of the most technologically advanced capital ships in the world. This meant that although the Kriegsmarine never felt capable of encountering the might of the British Navy in a fleet action, her ships were individually more than a match for the outdated vessels of the Royal Navy.
Nowhere was this more the case than in Germany's fleet of light cruisers. There were only six vessels in this fleet: the Emden, Leipzig, Köln, Königsberg, Karlsruhe and Nurnberg.

This book describes their design, development and varied operational history throughout the course of the Second World War.

Contents: Introduction - Design and Development - Operational History - The Variants - Further Reading - Colour plate commentary - Index.

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German Light Cruisers of World War II (Warships of the Kriegsmarine)

Devoted to the six light cruisers from Emden to Nürnberg that were built between the wars. They were primarily intended for commerce-raiding, but the war gave them few opportunities for such employment, although they did provide useful support for key naval operations in the Baltic and North Sea. Two were lost in the 1940 Norway campaign, but the remainder survived for most of the conflict.

This book belongs to a series of six volumes "Warships of the Kriegsmarine", written by Gerhard Koop and illustrated by Klaus-Peter Schmolke. Each contains an account of the development of a particular class, a detailed description of the ships, with full technical details, and an outline of their service, heavily illustrated with plans, battle maps and a substantial collection of photographs.

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The Kaiser's Cruisers 1871-1918

The book covers the full range of cruising vessels operated or ordered by the Imperial German Navy between 1871 and 1918, excluding the large cruisers, previously covered by the author's companion volume The Kaiser's Battlefleet. These include corvettes, avisos, sloops, torpedo cruisers, III- and IV-class cruisers and small cruisers, and are described and arranged in a chronological narrative.
The book includes both design and operational histories, the latter continuing down to the end of ships' service after the fall of Imperial Germany, and it is accompanied by an extensive selection of many rare photographs.
The ships' technical details are tabulated in the second half of the book which also includes sketches of ships' internal layouts and armour and changes in appearance over time.

The authors have made extensive use of archival material, particularly relating to the political and technical background to design and procurement, and present a developmental history of this ship class which is unique in the English language. It will have huge appeal to all those with an interest in the German navy and to those who have been waiting avidly for the sequel to The Kaiser's Battlefleet.

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