Azur Lane: Leipzig Missile Cruiser Class

Construction of the FGS Leipzig-Class

In light of the Russo-Ukraine War and the subsequent rearmament of the european countries, the German Government decided to plan and release a new class of ships, besides the officially announced F-126 Frigates, which are supposed to weigh around 10.000 tons. As many members of NATO didn't partically liked is how the German Navy has to operate and what available capabilities it has. Especially due the Red Sea Crisis, a proxy conflict by Russia and Iran to divert attention from Israel-Hamas Conflict and Russo-Ukraine War, done by the Houthis, who are illegally occupying the West of Yemen and are partaking in massacres, terroristic acts against humanity and other illegal activities, supplied by Iran.

Due the problems found by the F-124 and F-125 frigates, the German Government decided to bolster the armament and capabilites of those new cruisers. Yes, actual cruisers and not frigates.

Now to understand the missions of cruisers, you must understand the difference of the Corvettes, Frigates and Destroyers.

Corvettes are build to protect Commerce vessels and other civilian ships in close proximity to the coast line, partically against Submarines. Thus they are mostly fitted with minimal surface weapons but are fitted out for ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare).

Frigates on the other hand are like Corvettes but also for Trade Protection and power projection. They build to prevent Surface Commerce Raiders to attack TR (Trade Vessels) and leave the area undetected. Their surface weapons are also not generally fit for long-term warfare but are very good against pirates and other illegal seizure of Vessels under their protection.

Destroyers are a Warship vessel fitted out for ASW, Power Projection and Anti-Air-Combat. They are generally made for long travels between bases, long lasting patrols and the protection against surface treaths. Their capabilities may be prioritised in one category only, most preferably in AA warfare (Anti-Air Destroyers), like it was done in The Second World War.

Cruisers, on the other hand, have a very important mission besides protection of Capital Ships (Aircraft Carriers, Battleships) but also to be the de-facto Flagship of small Taskforces. Various Destroyer Squadrons always had one Cruiser (preferably a Light Cruiser due it's Speed) as a Leader and Command post, where missions would be received and spread to other ships in the Taskforce.

Even in the Missile Age and where Air Superiority decides who will overcome the enemy, Command Structures are very important and Cruisers where build to supervise and order smaller vessels to their positions, without stretching the actual Flagship Staff (on BBs and CVs) and allow mistakes to sneak into orders.

The German Government thought with this knowledge, gained from their NATO allies, i.e. Britain, France and USA, that their two new Cruisers would be in the backline, ordering their Frigates and Corvettes, per data link, receiving orders and updates from other NATO allied ships in their vicinity, all the while protecting Capital Ships from Air to Surface attacks and pushing hostile Surface vessels away from the NATO Aircraft Carriers. In the end they decided to open up another budget increase and spending in the NATO defense pact, ending up above 2% of the NATO requirement, unintentionally of course.

As the first keel was laid down in the new shipyard, which was bought by the Government in 2022 from a bankrupt company, which had built large Cruise Liners, many people found out as some whistleblowers misintepreted the keel as the F-126 frigates, various anti-democratic and various pro-Russo faction, cited the Government of unnecessary warmongering, and even claimed that those vessels would actually be sold to Ukraine and Israel, mostly misidentifying the coat of arms, while others thought that this hull was a complete waste of funds and materials and started to mock/sabotage the project. Some even took it to the extremes and, funded by the left- and right-wing parties, started protests outside the harbor complex, which ended in a brutal riot control as some demonstrators broke into the facility and attacked the dock workers, killing a couple in the first minutes of sieging it down.