德国重巡洋舰第二次世界大战前,德国军备的发展重点是放在陆军与空军的,海军的战略目标只是破坏通商,即以商船为主要攻击目标。事实上在当时,德国海军也从未妄想要与强大的英国海军相抗衡,所以德国海军早期的发展重点是潜艇,以及续航力极远的袖珍战列舰。尽管德国到了20世纪30年代才开始着手设计重巡洋舰,不过在这之前,他们早已密切观察其它国家所设计的重巡洋舰多时了,而且还特别注意这些船舰的缺点,以防重蹈覆辙。一战后,德国首批重巡洋舰的设计是于30年代初完成的,而在1934年便接到 German heavy cruiser Before World War II, Germany’s military development focused on the Army and the Air Force, the Navy’s strategic goal is only to undermine commerce, that is, the main target of the commercial ship. In fact, at that time, the German Navy also had no wish to contend with the mighty British navy, so the early development of the German Navy focused on submarines and long-range pocket battleships. Although Germany did not begin to design heavy cruisers until the 1930s, they had closely observed the heavy cruisers designed by other countries for a long time, paying special attention to the shortcomings of these ships in order to prevent them from repeating the same mistakes. After World War I, the design of the first heavy cruisers in Germany was completed in the early 1930s and was received in 1934