Global InformationList of heavy cruisers of Germany information
The German navies of the 1920s through 1945—the Reichsmarine and later Kriegsmarine—built or planned a series of heavy cruisers starting in the late 1920s, initially classified as Panzerschiffe (armored ships). Four different designs—the Deutschland, D, P, and Admiral Hipper classes, comprising twenty-two ships in total—were prepared in the period, though only the three Deutschland-class ships and three of the five Admiral Hipper-class cruisers were ever built.
The terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, limited German warships to a displacement of 10,000 long tons (10,160 t). The first class of ships designed under these restrictions was the Deutschland class, designed in the late 1920s, and commonly referred to as "pocket battleships". They incorporated a series of radical innovations to save weight, including extensive use of welded construction and diesel engines. An improved version, the D class, was planned for 1934, but escalating design requirements in response to the French Dunkerque-class battleships resulted in the replacement of the D class with the two Scharnhorst-class battleships.
Plans for an improved Panzerschiff were renewed in 1937 with the P class. Initially intended to comprise twelve ships, the P class was a central component of Grand Admiral Erich Raeder's Plan Z fleet, which was designed for a commerce war against Great Britain. Subsequent versions of Plan Z reduced the number of ships to eight and then removed them altogether, replacing them with the O-class battlecruisers by 1939. The five ships of the Admiral Hipper class were authorized under the terms of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, signed in 1935, which permitted Germany 50,000 long tons (51,000 t) of heavy cruisers. Of these ships, only three were completed; the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 caused work to be halted on the last two ships.
In total, Germany completed six heavy cruisers, all of which saw extensive service with the fleet. The three Deutschland-class ships served on several non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in 1936–1938. Most of the heavy cruisers were used as commerce raiders during World War II, of which Admiral Scheer was the most successful; Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled after the Battle of the River Plate. Blücher was sunk by Norwegian coastal batteries during Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of Denmark and Norway, just four days after the ship joined the fleet. Seydlitz, one of the two incomplete Admiral Hipper-class ships, was intended to be converted into an aircraft carrier, though the work was never completed. Lützow, the second unfinished ship, was sold to the Soviet Union, and subsequently shelled German soldiers advancing on Leningrad until German bombers sank her. Deutschland—by now renamed Lützow—Admiral Scheer, and Admiral Hipper were all destroyed by British bombers at the end of the war; only Prinz Eugen survived the conflict. She was ceded to the US Navy as a war prize and used in nuclear testing in the Bikini Atoll.
| Armament | The number and type of the primary armament |
|---|---|
| Armor | The maximum thickness of the armored belt |
| Displacement | Ship displacement at full combat load[a] |
| Propulsion | Number of shafts, type of propulsion system, and top speed generated |
| Cost | Cost of the ship's construction |
| Service | The dates work began and finished on the ship and its ultimate fate |
| Laid down | The date the keel began to be assembled |
| Commissioned | The date the ship was Commissioned |
- ^ Gröner, p. ix.
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