When Osprey, known for decades for their famous Man-At-Arms series on units and uniforms...branched off into the New Vanguard series, which included ships, military history enthusiasts and scale modelers had reason to rejoice. Many subjects heretofore unaddressed or only lightly so, were given their own volumes.

Though not a Deutsches Kriegsmarine (DKM, WW II German navy) enthusiast, the concept of books on specific DKM ship classes WAS intriguing. Therefore, Gordon Williamson's German Light Cruisers 1939-45  from Osprey was a must-purchase. "Competition" on the subject is to all practical purposes nonexistent. Koop and Schmolke's magnificent volume on DKM CLs is put of print and triple the Osprey's price. The (excellent) two-volume Marek Ciesla / Waldemar Danielwicz books are in Polish text and cover only the "K" class.

Ian Palmer's "Osprey style" illustrations are excellent. The 8 pages of colour artwork alone are worth the volume's price. 'Twould have happily paid an extra buck for the cutaway hull illustration to be a fold-out in maybe 1/400 scale, rather than 700th or so and partially hidden in the binding.

When the German light cruisers were constructed, parallel with the "pocket battleships" (Panzerschiffe) and before the three classes of heavy ships (Scharnhorst class battlecruisers, Admiral Hipper class heavy cruisers and Bismarck class battleships), the six (6) DKM light cruisers comprised no less than four "classes!"

This small number of units built allowed the author to address each ship separately, definitely of value to readers.

Sadly, though Germany's most famous (and successful) surface ship (and class, for that matter) of WW I was the light cruiser Emden, the DKM seemed to lose their focus...and the German light cruisers of WW II became the least successful of their large ship types, though most "numerous." 'Quite an irony, as the British, Americans and (to a lesser extent) imperial navies used their light cruisers constantly and aggressively.

DKM light cruisers used a variant of the 88mm (8.8cm / 3.46 inch) gun as their heavy antiaircraft / secondary battery. In the Emden (II) and early "K" class,  mounts were single pedestal, shielded, manually operated, a maximum of 6 barrels (according to volumes on the DKM by H.T. Lenton, J.C. Taylor and Richard Humble). As (surviving) ships were upgraded, heavy AA became the (problematic tri-axial) open twin mount, retaining the 8.8cm calibre weapon.

Compliment is shown as 483 officers and sailors for the (6,990 ton) Emden II,  850 for (8,427 ton) Leipzig and 896 for (9,040 ton) Nurnberg, but individually, 1,550 for each of the (6750 ton) "K" class, a crew more appropriate for the 15,000 ton Admiral Hipper class heavy cruisers).

In the three "K" class', Leipzig and Nurnberg's specifications boxes, the secondary armament (12 x 10.5 cm) figures appear to also belong to the heavy cruisers. According to Lenton, Taylor and Humble, secondary armament was 6 (3 open twin mounts) 8.8cm and a compliment of about 820 for the "K" class ships.  Buyers may elect to make notes in the questionable areas and enjoy the rest of the volume.

Sadly, there are no plastic kits of DKM Leichte Kreuzers, though there is a 1/250 card model of Leipzig marketed by Paper Models International. (Your editor would like to mention that there are a number of reasonably priced resin kits available and would like to plug 7th Kompany and WSW kits as a good place to start.)

Highly recommended for the WW II nautical enthusiast.

Review copy courtesy of the reviewer's chequebook.

Reviewed by James Hood

For Scott Van Aken's Modeling Madness review of James Hood's novel,
 Adventure--Into The Neverland, go to:  http://users3.ev1.net/~bjmonkeyandcj/James_Hood.htm

January 2005

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly by a site that has nearly 300,000 visitors a month, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.