On 12 December, the ship's Arado 196 broke down and could not be repaired, depriving Graf Spee of her aerial reconnaissance. Twenty-four of the convoy's thirty-five transports were sunk. [43], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}34°58′S 56°17′W / 34.967°S 56.283°W / -34.967; -56.283, German Deutschland-class cruiser of World War II, FMG stands for Funkmess Gerät (radar equipment). [12] On 21 August 1939, Admiral Graf Spee departed Wilhelmshaven, bound for the South Atlantic. [13] On 1 September, the cruiser rendezvoused with her supply ship Altmark southwest of the Canary Islands. At 07:25, Admiral Graf Spee scored a hit on Ajax that disabled her aft turrets. On the night of 5 December, Admiral Graf Spee sank the steamer Tairoa. 1934 - German pocket battleship "Admiral Scheer" completed 1935 - Under the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, Germany was allowed to build a surface fleet up to 35% of British total tonnage. [2] Ordered as Ersatz Braunschweig, Admiral Graf Spee replaced the old pre-dreadnought battleship Braunschweig. [16] In the course of her raiding mission, she sank only two vessels and captured a third. [38] In late January 1940, the neutral American cruiser USS Helena arrived in Montevideo and the crew was permitted to visit the wreck of Admiral Graf Spee. The ship had a design displacement of 14,890 t (14,650 long tons) and a full load displacement of 16,020 long tons (16,280 t),[2] though the ship was officially stated to be within the 10,000-long-ton (10,160 t) limit of the Treaty of Versailles. [30], At 05:30 on the morning of 13 December 1939, lookouts spotted a pair of masts off the ship's starboard bow. Lützow was referenced once in the Wehrmachtbericht, an information bulletin issued by the headquarters of the Wehrmacht. Pocket-battleship ‘Admiral Graf Spee’ pre-war in port. On 15 October, Admiral Graf Spee rendezvoused with Altmark to refuel and transfer prisoners; the following morning, the prize Huntsman joined the two ships. Following fleet maneuvers and a brief visit to Sweden, the ship conducted a fifth and final patrol in February 1938. The ship carried a secondary battery of eight 15 cm (5.9 in) SK C/28 guns in single turrets grouped amidships. Authenticast Comet Metal Prinz Euben Class Battleship Circa 1940's. [17] The British crew later reached the Brazilian coast in their lifeboats. I would suggest saving your money and spending more to find a copy of 'Pocket Battleships of the Deutschland Class' by Koop/Schmolke which I believe to be the definitive work on the subject. The Norwegians, including those manning the guns at the Oscarsborg Fortress were on alert, however. The ship was also ordered to avoid combat with even inferior naval forces, as commerce disruption was the primary objective. At 06:20, Exeter returned fire, followed by Ajax at 06:21 and Achilles at 06:24. Kummetz flew his flag in Blücher. [7], The ship conducted a series of long distance training voyages into the Atlantic in 1935. [19] The refit lasted until March 1940,[17] after which it was intended to send the ship on another commerce raiding operation into the South Atlantic. In March 1935, she sailed as far as the Caribbean and South American waters. [20] Lützow embarked over 400 of the soldiers for the voyage to Norway. [8], Following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Deutschland and Admiral Scheer were deployed to the Spanish coast on 23 July 1936 to conduct non-intervention patrols off the Republican-held coast of Spain. Between August 1936 and May 1937, the ship conducted three patrols off Spain. 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 … Cite error: tags exist for a group named "lower-alpha", but no corresponding tag was found, or a closing is missing. [30] Lützow returned to Germany for repairs, which lasted until the end of October. Repairs necessary to make the ship seaworthy were expected to take up to two weeks. [25] The rest of Group 5 remained in Norway,[26] so Lützow cruised at top speed to avoid submarines. The Deutschland-class battleships were similar in design to the earlier Braunschweig-class battleships, and had general dimensions of 127.6 meters long, 22.2 meters beam, and 8.21 meters draught. The force left Germany on 8 April and passed through the Kattegat. While replenishing his fuel supplies, Langsdorff ordered superfluous equipment transferred to the Altmark; this included several of the ship's boats, flammable paint, and two of her ten 2 cm anti-aircraft guns, which were installed on the tanker. Admiral Graf Spee had fired much of her ammunition in the engagement with Harwood's cruisers. Sunk 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. The closest heavy units—the carrier Ark Royal and battlecruiser Renown—were some 2,500 nmi (4,600 km; 2,900 mi) away, much too far to intervene in the situation. The vessel was named after Admiral Maximilian von Spee, commander of the East Asia Squadron who fought the battles of Coronel and the Falkland Islands, where he was killed in action, in World War I. They are faster and bulkier, though have weaker artillery compared to higher-tier battleships. While en route, the British submarine HMS Triton attacked the flotilla, though her torpedoes missed. [17] Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, the commander in chief of the Kriegsmarine, made the decision to rename the ship, for several reasons. The ship carried a secondary battery of eight 15 cm (5.9 in) SK C/28 guns in single turrets grouped amidships. [29] The British detected the German departure and ordered the convoy to scatter. On the German side was the pocket battleship Graf Spee, while on the British side were HMS Ajax, HMS Exeter, HMNZS Achilles. Fuel shortages restricted operations, although Lützow and Admiral Scheer were able to conduct limited battle training exercises. Hildebrand, Hans H.; Röhr, Albert; Steinmetz, Hans-Otto (1993). Heavy fog and neutrality requirements, which required the Norwegians to fire warning shots, permitted the Germans to avoid damage. The Deutschland class was a group of five pre-dreadnought battleships built for the German Kaiserliche Marine. This battleship / Admiral Graf Spee was a Deutschland-class “Panzerschiff”, nicknamed a “pocket battleship” by the British. This ship served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II. Regardless, the British submarine HMS Spearfish attacked the ship and scored a serious hit. [9], Deutschland spent the majority of 1938 and 1939 conducting training maneuvers with the rest of the fleet and making goodwill visits to various foreign ports. The pocket battleships played an important role in the Second World War at sea – perhaps a disproportionately large role relative to their power and the cost of building and maintaining them. The Admiral Hipper-class cruiser Lützow was designated for sale to the Soviet Navy, and it was hoped that the usage of her name for Deutschland would hide the transaction. The Americans met the German crewmen, who were still in Montevideo. [31], Lützow meanwhile steamed toward the convoy from the south, and at 11:42 she opened fire. A second shell struck the ship's deck and penetrated the upper and main armored decks; starting a fire in the cruiser's hospital and operating theater, killing two soldiers and severely wounding six others. [23], The damage Lützow sustained prompted the Kriegsmarine to order her to return to Germany for repairs. Raised by the Soviet Navy in 1947, she was subsequently sunk as a target in the Baltic. She continued in this role until 4 May,[5] by which time she had expended her main battery ammunition. Admiral Graf Spee took Clement's captain and chief engineer prisoner but left the rest of her crew to abandon ship in the lifeboats. The ship was equipped with two Arado Ar 196 seaplanes and one catapult. Captive Allied seamen still aboard the ship were released. [26], Admiral Graf Spee's Arado floatplane located the merchant ship Doric Star: Langsdorff fired a shot across her bow to stop the ship. [16] Langsdorff ordered a distress signal sent to the naval station in Pernambuco to ensure the rescue of the ship's crew. [14] The same day, she stopped the neutral Danish steamer Kongsdal, though when it became apparent that she was headed for a neutral port, the prisoners from Lorentz W Hansen were placed aboard her and she was allowed to proceed. Admiral Graf Spee was 186 meters (610 ft) long overall and had a beam of 21.65 m (71 ft) and a maximum draft of 7.34 m (24 ft 1 in). [4] 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. Abandon ship in the North Atlantic, where she experienced problems with her main battery ammunition subsequently. 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