D - class cruiser ( Germany ) The D - class cruisers were a pair of cruisers , classified as " Panzerschiffe " ( " armored ships " ) by the Kriegsmarine . The ships were improved versions of the preceding s , authorized by Adolf Hitler in 1933 . They were intended to counter a new French naval construction program . Displacement increased to , but Hitler allowed only increases to armor , prohibiting additions to the ships ' main battery . Only one of the two ships was laid down , but it was canceled less than five months after the keel was laid . It was determined that the designs should be enlarged to counter the new French ships . The construction contracts for both ships were superseded by the s . Design . The ships were designed as follow - ons to the " Deutschland " - class cruisers . In 1933 , the rise of the Nazi Party brought Adolf Hitler to power in Germany . At the time , he opposed a large - scale naval rearmament program , but decided to allow limited construction to counter French naval expansion . He therefore authorized the Kriegsmarine to build two additional " panzerschiffe " ( armored ships ) to supplement the three " Deutschland " s . He stipulated that displacement be limited to and the primary battery would remain two triple turrets mounting guns . Admiral Erich Raeder , the commander in chief of the Kriegsmarine , advocated increasing the armor protection for the new " panzerschiffe " and inquired about the possibility of including a third triple turret . It was determined , however , that a third turret could not be added to the ship and still remain within the 19 , 000 ton limit prescribed by Hitler . The ships were designed under the contract names D and E , and designed under the provisional names " Ersatz Elsass " and " Ersatz Hessen " as replacements for the old pre - dreadnought s and . The contract for the first ship , D , was awarded on 25 January 1934 to the Kriegsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven . The ship ' s keel was laid on 14 February That month , the Kriegsmarine decided to alter the designs to counter the new ships building in France . Displacement was increased to and a third 28 cm triple - turret was added . Construction on D was therefore halted on 5 July , and E was never laid down . The construction contracts were canceled and reallocated for the two battleships of the . Characteristics . The ships were long overall , and at the waterline . The ships would have had a breadth of and a draft of . The finalized design displaced at the designed displacement . " D " was to have been fitted with accommodations to serve as a fleet flagship . The ships would have been turbine - powered ; the engines were designed to provide and a top speed of 29 knots . The ships would have been similarly equipped to the preceding " Deutschland " - class ships . The ships would have mounted six of the same / 52 C / 28 quick - firing guns in the same triple turret mounts . The guns had an actual bore diameter of , and fired both armor - piercing and high - explosive shells ; both shells weighed 300 kg ( 661 . 4 lb ) . The guns used two sets of propellant charges : a 36 . 0 kg ( 79 . 4 lb ) fore charge in a silk bag and a 71 . 0 kg ( 156 . 6 lb ) main charge in a brass case . The shells were fired at 910 meters per second ( 2 , 986 fps ) , and at maximum elevation of 40 degrees , a range of 36 , 475 m ( 39 , 890 yards ) . The guns had a rate of fire of 2 . 5 rounds per minute . However , eight guns were considered , had there been a quadruple turret available . The guns were supplied by a total of 900 shells , for a total of 150 rounds per gun . The design ' s secondary battery comprised eight / 55 SK C / 28 quick - firing guns . The guns fired a shells at a muzzle velocity of . With a maximum elevation of 40° , the guns could fire out to . These guns had already been ordered by the time construction of the ships was canceled ; their availability influenced the design of the " Scharnhorst " class , which mounted eight of their twelve 15 cm guns in dual turrets . The heavy anti - aircraft battery consisted of eight SK C / 33 guns in twin mountings . The mounts were the Dopp LC / 31 type , originally designed for earlier SK C / 31 guns . The LC / 31 mounting was triaxially - stabilized and capable of elevating to 80° . This enabled the guns to engage targets up to a ceiling of . Against surface targets , the guns had a maximum range of . The guns fired fixed ammunition weighing ; the guns could fire HE and HE incendiary rounds , as well as illumination shells . A number of various other anti - aircraft guns were also to be fitted , but the details were not determined before the class was canceled . The ships were also armed with an unknown number of torpedo tubes . The D - class ships used steel manufactured by Krupp for their armor . The ships ' upper deck armor was thick . The main armored deck was forward , amidships , and decreased to 70 mm towards the stern . The conning tower was quite heavily armored , with side armor thick . The main armored belt was thick , and the citadel armor was thick .