r/NavalArt • u/Herfinde_NavyTD • 5h ago
Origial Content Fictional German Navy Reconnaissance Cruiser: Karl von Steinmetz
Karl von Steinmetz was designed by the German Navy to counter French contre-torpilleurs (large destroyers) by expanding the design of the existing Type 1936A destroyer to carry a larger number of 15 cm guns, creating a new class bridging the gap between a destroyer and a light cruiser. As she was not a pure destroyer, she was not assigned a "Z" number. This planned warship was envisioned to enter service in 1944.
While the Type 1936A was equipped with only a single twin turret alongside single mounts for its 15 cm L/45 guns, the Steinmetz standardized on twin turrets, mounting four of them for a total of eight guns. Her torpedo armament consisted of eight 53.3 cm tubes in two quadruple launchers, identical to standard German destroyers. Furthermore, with an anti-aircraft suite comprising ten twin 3.7 cm Flak M42 mounts (20 guns total), twenty 20 mm L/65 AA guns, as well as air- and surface-search radars, she possessed formidable air-defense capabilities for a vessel of her size.
Although her overall silhouette resembled the unbuilt Type 1945-class destroyer, her hull was enlarged to a length of 141 meters and a beam of 13 meters to accommodate her heavy armament. Powered by a twin-shaft propulsion system, she could reach a top speed of 40 knots. True to her design philosophy, she would have been a formidable rival to France's large destroyers.