GERMAN LIGHT CRUISER KONIGSBERG

Konigsberg was a German light cruiser, the keel of which was laid in 1926 and launched in March 1927. The cruiser entered the rope service of the German Navy in April 1929. The ship was 174 meters long, 15 meters wide, and had a full displacement of 8,400 tons. The cruiser Konigsberg's top speed was around 32 knots. The main armament at the time of the launch was 9 150 mm guns in three triple turrets, and the secondary armament included: 6 88 mm guns or 12 533 mm torpedo tubes. Konigsberg was the first K-class cruiser. It was designed to replace another German cruiser, Nymphe, in the line. It had good artillery armament, maximum speed and good armor. The drawback turned out to be - paradoxically - the quality of workmanship, which made itself felt during stormy cruises around the Bay of Biscay in the interwar period. This disadvantage was to be eliminated in the course of the modernization, which, however, did not happen in the case of the Konigsberg cruiser. In the interwar period, Konigsberg was used extensively for training, and in 1936-1937 he performed reconnaissance activities during the Spanish Civil War. In September 1939, he erected a mine barrage in the North Sea in front of a potential attack by the Royal Navy. In April 1940, it supported a German landing in Norway, near Bergen, but was damaged as a result of shelling by Norwegian coastal batteries, and later finished off by British torpedo planes on April 10, 1940.