Leipzig was the
lead ship of
her class of
light cruisers built by the German navy. She had one
sister ship,
Nürnberg.
Leipzig was laid down in April 1928, was launched in October 1929, and was commissioned into the
Reichsmarine in October 1931. Armed with a main battery of nine 15 cm (5.9 in) guns in three triple turrets,
Leipzig had a top speed of 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph).
Leipzig participated in
non-intervention patrols during the
Spanish Civil War. In the first year of
World War II, she performed escort duties for warships in the Baltic and North seas. While on one of these operations in December 1939, the ship was torpedoed by a British
submarine and badly damaged. Repairs were completed by late 1940, when she returned to service as a training ship. She provided gunfire support to the advancing
Wehrmacht troops as they invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.
In October 1944,
Leipzig collided with the heavy cruiser
Prinz Eugen; the damage was so severe that the navy decided complete repairs were unfeasible. The ship was patched up to keep her afloat, and she helped to defend
Gotenhafen from the advancing
Red Army in March 1945. She then carried a group of fleeing German civilians, reaching Denmark by late April. After the end of the war,
Leipzig was used as a
barracks ship for
minesweeping forces and was scuttled in July 1946.
(from
Wikipedia)