Vote. 21 April-Russians inside Berlin. The Battle of the River Plate: The Hunt for the German Pocket Battleship Graf Spee. [33], Lützow meanwhile steamed toward the convoy from the south, and at 11:42 she opened fire. Pocket battleship ‘Deutschland’ will be renamed to ‘Lützow’ and classified as a Heavy Cruiser in February 1940. Luetzow was a hard luck ship, always running around or getting torpedoed, and missed many battles. This battleship / Admiral Graf Spee was a Deutschland-class “Panzerschiff”, nicknamed a “pocket battleship” by the British. HMS Spearfish fired her last four torpedoes at 0129 on 11th April when she spotted what was thought to be the Admiral Scheer. [39] The fate of Lützow was long unclear, as with most of the ships seized by the Soviet Navy. [11], On 5 October, she found and sank the British transport ship Stonegate, though not before the freighter was able to send a distress signal informing vessels in the area of Deutschland's presence. Compared to the most recent of the RN's cruisers they were quite different. 100% Upvoted. The ship accidentally started sliding down the slipw… She was made the flagship of the now Vizeadmiral Kummetz, the commander of Kampfgruppe 2. Meanwhile, on 14 October, Deutschland encountered and sank the Norwegian transport Lorentz W Hansen,[10] of some 1,918 GRT. There was a triumphant report in the British press when she … She was originally used as a seagoing training ship, to familiarize crews with her new technology. Light cruiser Nürnberg ready. exceeded the allowed tonnage by 6%.As far as warship building is concerned, that's as close as a 3-point landing as you'll get. U. S. lst, 3d, 9th mark time waiting juncture with Red Army. [10] The 4,963 gross register tons (GRT) freighter was found to be carrying contraband, and so was seized. Admiral Scheer [ˌatmiˈʁaːl ʃeːɐ̯] was a Deutschland-class heavy cruiser (often termed a pocket battleship) which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II.The vessel was named after Admiral Reinhard Scheer, German commander in the Battle of Jutland.She was laid down at the Reichsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven in June 1931 and completed by … [1] Radar initially consisted of a FMG G(gO) "Seetakt" set; in 1942, a FuMO 26 set was also installed. Ordered by the Weimar government for the Reichsmarine, she was laid down at the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel in February 1929 and completed by April 1933. Naval Institute, a private, nonprofit, membership society for sea service professionals and others who share and interest in naval and maritime affairs. Originally named Deutschland, the Lützow was one of three armoured ships – the so-called “pocket battleships” – laid down between 1928 and 1931.Deutschland was the first of the class, being launched in May 1931 and completed in April 1933. Sunk in shallow waters in the Kaiserfahrt in April 1945 by Royal Air Force (RAF) bombers, Lützow was used as a gun battery to support German troops fighting the Soviet Army until 4 May 1945, when she was disabled by her crew. In all, Germany built and operated three pocket battleships: the Deutschland (later renamed the Lützow), the Admiral Graf Spee, and the Admiral Scheer. [31] The British detected the German departure and ordered the convoy to scatter. At the outbreak of World War II, she was cruising the North Atlantic, prepared to attack Allied merchant traffic. 18 Lancasters of No 617 Squadron flew to Swinemünde to attack the pocket battleship Lützow. She was joined by her newly commissioned sister ship Admiral Scheer for a cruise into the mid-Atlantic, which included a stop in Madeira. 15 aircraft managed to bomb the target with Tallboys or with 1,000-pounders. Deutschland (later renamed Lützow), Admiral Scheer and Admiral Graf Spee were simply termed panzerschiffe (armored ships) by the Germans, but they were known to their opponents by the far more evocative term Pocket Battleships. (Admiral Scheer and Admiral Graf Spee were later improvements of the design.). USS Montana (BB-67) just now [653 x 594]German "pocket" battleship Lützow, in the Kaiserfahrt canal, April 25, 1945. Deutschland was ordered by the Reichsmarine from the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel as Ersatz Preussen, as a replacement for the old battleship Preussen. Deutschland/Luetzow "Pocket Battleship" With harsh treaty restrictions after World War I, the German Navy had to choose its ship designs judiciously. google_ad_width = 728; Pocket battleship Lützow Mods, missions, patches, & files for every subsim there ever was! [14] A prize crew was dispatched to the ship; they took the ship with the original crew held prisoner to Germany via Murmansk. Hamburg: Koehler. The Norwegians, including those manning the guns at the Oscarsborg Fortress were on alert, however. [26] Despite the setback, KzS August Thiele, Lützow's commander, was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his actions during the Battle of Drøbak Sound, during which he took command of the task force after the loss of Blücher. The ship was launched on 19 May 1931; at her launching, she was christened by German Chancellor Heinrich Brüning. Captain Robert Sherbrooke, the British escort commander, left two destroyers to cover the convoy while he took the remaining four to pursue Admiral Hipper. The propulsion system proved to be so unreliable that repairs in Germany were necessary. The Battle of the River Plate: The Hunt for the German Pocket Battleship Graf Spee. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. Ithaca: McBooks Press. [34], On 13 April 1945, twenty-four RAF Avro Lancaster bombers attacked Lützow and Prinz Eugen, without success due to cloud cover. [44], non-intervention patrols in the Spanish Civil War, "WW2 'earthquake' bomb explodes in Poland during attempt to defuse it", Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in April 1945, Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1947, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=German_cruiser_Deutschland&oldid=1000524029, World War II shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea, Military units and formations of Nazi Germany in the Spanish Civil War, Russia articles missing geocoordinate data, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph), Design: 12,630 t (12,430 long tons; 13,920 short tons), This page was last edited on 15 January 2021, at 13:20. Main armament consisted of 6 11-inch guns in two triple turrets and 8 6-inch guns in individual turrets. [3] Her crew rigged scuttling charges to destroy the hull but a fire caused the explosives to detonate prematurely. Ten days later, however, Hitler ordered the men be exhumed and returned for burial in Germany. The torpedo boats Seeadler and Albatross escorted Deutschland to the island of Ibiza on 24 May. Deutschland was 186 meters (610 ft) long overall and had a beam of 20.69 m (67 ft 11 in) and a maximum draft of 7.25 m (23 ft 9 in). 1 comment. The harsh conditions made accurate fire difficult; she ceased shooting by 12:03 without any hits. Close. [653 x 594]German "pocket" battleship Lützow, in the Kaiserfahrt canal, April 25, 1945. Fortunately, he was on shore leave when Allied bombers came over its base in Northern Germany and wrecked it in April 1945. By the afternoon of 9 April, most of the Norwegian fortresses had been captured and the commander of the remaining Norwegian forces opened negotiations for surrender. Light cruiser Leipzig under repair until November 1940. In 1937, while anchored off the Balearic island of Ibiza, the Deutschland was bombed by a Loyalist Spanish plane. She began a brief set of trials starting on 30 October. The 'pocket battleship' Lutzow after being torpedoed by HMS Spearfish. According to the historians Erich Gröner and M. J. Whitley, the Soviet Navy raised the ship in September 1947 and broke her up for scrap in 1948–1949. [12] Hitler hoped to secure a negotiated peace with Britain and France after he overran Poland, and he therefore did not authorize Deutschland to begin her raiding mission against British and French shipping until 26 September. Pocket-battleship Admiral Scheer under repair until September 1940. [26] The rest of Group 5 remained in Norway,[27] so Lützow cruised at top speed to avoid submarines. [1], The ship also carried a pair of quadruple 53.3 cm (21 in) deck-mounted torpedo tubes placed on her stern. [7] Deutschland participated in fleet maneuvers in German waters in early 1936. Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Posted by. report. The crew effected emergency repairs that allowed her to return to Germany; repair work in Kiel took six months. [10], Severe weather in the North Atlantic hampered Deutschland's raiding mission, though she did tie down several British warships assigned to track her down. Burnett's ships approached from Admiral Hipper's starboard side and achieved complete surprise. The ship's wounded men were also evacuated in Gibraltar for treatment. The ship had a design displacement of 12,630 t (12,430 long tons; 13,920 short tons) and a full load displacement of 14,290 long tons (14,520 t),[1] though the ship was officially stated to be within the 10,000-long-ton (10,160 t) limit of the Treaty of Versailles. Prager, Hans Georg (2002). [653 x 594]German "pocket" battleship Lützow, in the Kaiserfahrt canal, April 25, 1945. Hitler, furious over the attack, ordered Admiral Scheer to bombard the port of Almería in retaliation for the so-called "Deutschland incident". She next saw action at the Battle of the Barents Sea with the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, which ended with a failure to destroy the convoy JW 51B. By the end of the war, her anti-aircraft battery had again been reorganized, consisting of six 4 cm (1.6 in) guns, ten 3.7 cm guns, and twenty-eight 2 cm guns. The ship's top speed was 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph), at 54,000 PS (53,260 shp; 39,720 kW). [3], Deutschland spent the majority of 1933 and 1934 conducting training maneuvers;[7] early speed trials in May 1933 indicated that a top speed of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) was preferable, but the ship comfortably reached 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph) on speed trials in June. [18] At this time, she was re-rated as a heavy cruiser and renamed Lützow. In March 1935, she sailed as far as the Caribbean and South American waters. Fuel shortages restricted operations, although Lützow and Admiral Scheer were able to conduct limited battle training exercises. The two sister-ships of her class, Deutschland and Admiral Scheer, were reclassified as heavy cruisers in 1940. This handsome volume provides a complete pictorial history and timeline of the first member of the class, Deutschland. Originally named Deutschland, the Lützow was one of three armoured ships – the so-called “pocket battleships” – laid down between 1928 and 1931.Deutschland was the first of the class, being launched in May 1931 and completed in April 1933. The German pocket battleship “Lutzow” was based in the Baltic ocean being used for shore bombardment and other duties included supply and evacuation. [28], Lützow was recommissioned for service on 31 March 1941, after which the Kriegsmarine initially planned to send the ship on the commerce raiding operation planned the previous year. [6] The ship also made a series of goodwill visits to foreign ports, including visits to Gothenburg, Sweden, and in October 1934, a formal state visit to Edinburgh, Scotland. The cruisers engaged Admiral Hipper, which had been firing to port at the destroyer Obedient. The ship participated in a major fleet exercise into the Atlantic with her sister Admiral Graf Spee, the light cruisers Köln, Leipzig, and Nürnberg, and several destroyers, U-boats, and support vessels. Because Hitler … Kampfgruppe 2 was assigned to Operation Rösselsprung, a planned attack on the Allied convoy PQ 17, which was headed to the Soviet Union. Raised by the Soviet Navy in 1947, she was subsequently sunk as a target in the Baltic. Light cruiser Köln (Cologne) ready. They had 12 inch guns instead of 9.2, a displacement similar to Dreadnought but twice the power to give 25 knots. In late 1939 Deutschland was returning form her first foray into the Atlantic, managing to dodge British patrols in the Denmark strait (despite - or maybe even due to - engine troubles that had her emitting a giant black smoke plume). Her keel was laid on 5 February 1929, under construction number 219. Originally classified as an armored ship (Panzerschiff) by the Reichsmarine, in February 1940 the Germans reclassified the remaining tw… [37], Hitler was furious over the failure to destroy the convoy, and ordered that all remaining German major warships be broken up for scrap. With an overall limitation of 10,000 tons per ship, German naval architects came up with a compromise design which could match Anglo-American capital ships, the Panzerschiff -- soon to be known in the West as the "pocket battleship.". Lützow and the remaining three destroyers would then attack the undefended convoy from the south. Looking at the full-load displacement of the Spee (last ship of the class) and comparing that to the "standard" tonnage …