M-class cruiser

Illustration of the M-class design
Class overview
Builders	Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven
Operators	Kriegsmarine
Preceded by	Leipzig-class cruiser
Succeeded by	None
Built	1938–1939
Planned	6
Cancelled	6
General characteristics
Type	Light cruiser
Displacement	8,500 t (8,366 long tons; 9,370 short tons) (M, N, O, P) 9,300 t (9,153 long tons; 10,251 short tons) (Q, R)
Length	183 m (600 ft 5 in) (M, N, O, P) 196 m (643 ft 1 in) (Q, R)
Beam	17 m (55 ft 9 in) (M, N, O, P) 18 m (59 ft 1 in) (Q, R)
Draft	5.42 m (17 ft 9 in) (M, N, O, P) 5.40 m (17 ft 9 in) (Q, R)
Installed power	4 × water-tube boilers
Propulsion	2 × steam turbines 4 × diesel engines
Speed	35.5 knots (65.7 km/h; 40.9 mph) (M, N, O, P) 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph) (Q, R)
Range	8,000 nmi (15,000 km) at 19 kn (35 km/h) (M, N, O, P) 12,000 nmi (22,000 km) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) (Q, R)
Complement	28 officers 892 men
Armament	8 × 15 cm (5.9 in) guns 4 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in) AA guns 8 × 3.7 cm (1.5 in) AA guns 4 × 2 cm (0.79 in) AA guns 8 × 53 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes 60 mines
Armor	Belt: 2 in (51 mm) Deck: 1 in (25 mm) Turret: 1 in (25 mm)
Aircraft carried	2 × Arado 196 seaplanes
Aviation facilities	1 × steam catapult

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 four ships suffered from a number of problems, and so the fifth and sixth 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.