Leicht Kreuzer Leipzig
 History28 Apr, 1928: Laid down 18 Oct, 1929: Launched 08 Oct, 1931: Commissioned 1934: Torpedo tubes upgraded to 533mm 1935: Catapult added 1936: Fittled with 6x88mm/76 (3×2) 01 Sep, 1939: Attached to Reconnaissance Forces, of Naval Group Command Eastwith Nurnberg and Koln. 02 Sep, 1939: Reconnaissance Force transferred to North Sea. 03-20 Sep, 1939: Participated in laying of Westwall mine barrage in NorthSea with Nurnberg, Koln, Konigsberg and Emden, 16xDD 10xTB & 3xML 17-18 Nov, 1939: Reconnaissance Force Leipzig, Nurnberg and 2xTB metdestroyer mining force near Terscheiling Bank in North Sea andescorted destroyers back to port. 18-19 Nov, 1939: Leipzig and 2xTB met destroyer mining force in North Seaand escorted destroyers back to port. 21-22 Nov, 1939: Reconnaissance Force, Lutzow, Leipzig, Koln, and 3xTBoperated against merchant shipping in Skagerrak. 24-25 Nov, 1939: Reconnaissance Force, Lutzow, Leipzig, Koln, 5xDD and 4xTBoperated against merchant shipping in Skagerrak. 13 Dec, 1939: Leipzig, Nurnberg and Koln sortied to meet destroyer miningforce in North Sea. Two and a half hours prior to the rendezvous, RNss Salmon attacked and hit Leipzig midships at 1124 hours. (and Nurnbergin her bow) causing severe damage to Leipzig. (at the time, theBritish believed she was sunk.) 14 Dec, 1939: While proceeding slowly to port, Leipzig was attacked again byRN SS Ursula off Heligoland. Two of the three torpedoes fired hit andsank F9 instead. Dec, 1939: Laid up. Jan, 1940: Transferred to Kiel for repairs. Converted to training ship;#2 boiler room made into dormitory. Speed reduced to 24 knots. 1941: Number of torpedo tubes reduced from 12 to 6. 16-17 Sep, 1941: Participated with Emden and 3xTB in attack on Moon Islandand Dago in Baltic, supporting 61st Infantry Division with shorebombardment fire against Soviet ground forces on Sworbe Peninsula.Repeled attack by four Soviet MTBs and evaded torpedo attack by Sovietss Shch 317. 23 Sep, 1941: Participated with Baltic Fleet in movement to Aaland Sea toblock possible Soviet breakout attempt. Leipzig and Emden sailed fromLibau as the Southern Force in this movement. 29 Sep, 1941: Returned to Gotenhafen. 1942-1943: Training ship in Baltic 1944: Torpedo tubes removed, anti air augmented to 4x40mm/70 (4×1) and16x20mmC38 15 Oct, 1944: Sailing out of Gotenhafen and in process of changing enginepropulsion from diesel to turbines, drifted in fog into wrong shippinglane; rammed by Prinz Eugen moving at 20 knots off Gdynia and almost cutin two. The two ships remained locked together for 14 hours. 25 Mar, 1945: Provisionally repaired, participated in shore bombardment insupport of German ground forces in Gotenhafen-Danzig area. May, 1945: In Danish waters when war ended. 1945-46: Served as accommodation ship for German minesweeping authority 16 Dec, 1946: Scuttled in North Sea filled with gas shells. StatsDisplacement, standard/full load (tons): 6,520/8,380 |