KM Koln (CL-1929)

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While the Emden introduced multi-gun turrets the Koln expanded that with the first triple turrets for cruisers. The ships were constrained by the treaties they were built under which restricted their displacement to 7000 tons standard. But as with all Germanic States ships built under Treaties, the Koln Class had a bit of extra displacement snuck into their figures. In this case the 7,000 tons grew to 8,000 tons. This gave the K class ships the same basic tonnage as the Commonwealth Leander class and both classes ended up being of very similar dimensions and stats.

These four cruisers were the last of the Treaty built cruisers for the Germanic States Navy. With the expiry of the Washington/Geneva/London Treaties from 1932 (when Japan failed to sign/ratify the latest London Treaty) the Germanic States also said it would no longer be bound by the Versailles Treaty ( a couple of years early) and all future building would be at the limits adhered to by the Major Powers.

The four ships went through the regular refit processes with upgrades and refits to existing equipment. The early 88mm being upgraded with the newer 88mm/L56 twins, which required upgraded gunnery controllers for them. The old manual 37mm were replaced with the twin 37mm Bofors weapons for a total of 12 barrels. They were enhanced in 1941 with the addition of radar control, which was also fitted to the main gunnery directors and the 88mm controllers. To take the extra weight of the latest radar equipment a new bridge superstructure replaced the older pole mast.



The cruisers had to get to late 1941, early 1942, to receive the enhancements, upgrades and refits. Konigsberg has a problem with Skua divebombers and is sunk in Bergen Harbour.
 

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