1014–1015. The 15 cm guns were armored with 10 mm (0.39 in) gun shields for splinter protection. Her first homeport was Swinemünde but she was transferred to Kiel in 1922. [7] The initial design for Deutschland, ordered as "Panzerschiff A", was prepared in 1926 and finalized by 1928. The casemates allowed elevation to 22° and depression to −5°. [5], The ships handled less easily than the preceding Braunschweig-class ships, though they suffered less marked weather helm. [29] In May 1935, the Reichsmarine was again reorganized as the Kriegsmarine. [8] The ship was launched on 1 April 1933; at her launching, she was christened by Marianne Besserer, the daughter of Admiral Reinhard Scheer, after whom the ship was named. [6] Actual design work on the new type of armored ship began in 1923, but the German economy collapsed in 1924, forcing a temporary halt to the work. World War 1 Naval Combat. [39], Admiral Scheer saw heavy service with the German Navy, including several deployments to Spain during the Spanish Civil War, to participate in non-intervention patrols. [17] The ships' forward conning tower had 150 mm (5.9 in) thick sides with a 50 mm (2.0 in) thick roof, while the aft conning tower was less well protected, with 50 mm thick sides and a 20 mm (0.79 in) thick roof. Following Germany's defeat in World War I, the size of the German Navy, renamed the Reichsmarine, was limited by the Treaty of Versailles. [47] Admiral Graf Spee was deployed to the South Atlantic in the weeks before the outbreak of World War II, to be positioned in merchant sea lanes once war was declared. [12] The three remaining pre-dreadnought battleships were modernized in the 1920s,[24] which included the replacement of the ships' 17 cm guns with 15 cm (5.9 in) pieces. Both ships were damaged in the course of their deployment to Norway and eventually returned to Germany for repairs. German warships were ordered under provisional names; new additions to the fleet were given letter designations, while those that were intended to replace older vessels were given "Ersatz (name of the ship to be replaced)". [6] Steam was supplied to the engines by twelve marine-type boilers, four for each engine, with the exception of Deutschland. Near the end of the war the two ships were both sunk. [8], The ships' main armored belt was 80 mm (3.1 in) thick amidships and reduced to 60 mm (2.4 in) on either end of the central citadel. Deutschland and Schleswig-Holstein became barracks ships in Wilhelmshaven and Kiel, respectively. Deutschland had a beam of 20.69 m (67 ft 11 in), Admiral Scheer's beam was 21.34 m (70 ft 0 in), while Admiral Graf Spee's was 21.65 m (71 ft 0 in). [7] The question over whether to build the new ships was a major issue in elections, particularly with the Social Democrats, who strongly opposed the new ships and campaigned with the slogan "Food not Panzerkreuzer. Schlesien was re-boilered and converted into a training ship as well in 1936. The guns could hit targets out to 11,000 m (12,000 yd). [8] The ship was launched on 19 May 1931; at her launching, she was christened by German Chancellor Heinrich Brüning. Despite their obsolescence, all five of these ships were present at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916. Since the ships did not violate the terms of the Treaty, the Allies could not prevent Germany from building them after a negotiated settlement proved unattainable. Bad weather hampered her efforts, and she sank or captured only three vessels before returning to Germany, after which she was renamed Lützow. [18], The Kriegsmarine initially classified the ships as "Panzerschiffe" (armored ships), but in February 1940 it reclassified the two survivors of the class as heavy cruisers. [8] The ship was launched on 30 June 1934; at her launching, she was christened by the daughter of Admiral Maximilian von Spee, after whom the ship was named. The two sister-ships of her class, Deutschland and Admiral Scheer, were reclassified as heavy cruisers in … In Deutschland, the citadel armor was 160 mm (6.3 in) thick, while on the other four ships the armor was 170 mm thick. Overview of 5 vessels Citations for this data available on individual ship pages: The Deutschland-class heavy cruiser comprised three ships; Deutschland, Admiral Scheer and Admiral Graf Spee - although the Deutschland was later renamed Lutzow. Bundesarchiv Bild 102-10740, Wilhelmshaven, Außer … Steel hull plates were riveted to the structure created by the frames. [27] One of the most significant changes visually was the trunking of the two forward funnels into a single larger smoke stack. Deutschland German battleship class, built 1903-08. [5] Deutschland had a slightly different arrangement in the belt armor and the citadel in the superstructure. Deutschland-class Battleship : 4" 0.75" SMS Schleswig-Holstein was the last of the five Deutschland-class battleships built by the German Kaiserliche Marine. [50] Admiral Graf Spee was eventually confronted by three British cruisers off Uruguay at the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December 1939. They were her last pre-dreadnought ships. Compromised ships for the Interim Navy. The Navy was permitted a force of six pre-dreadnought battleships and six light cruisers; the ships could not be replaced until they were twenty years old. [35], See also: List of ships of the Imperial German Navy. Media in category "Deutschland class battleship" The following 6 files are in this category, out of 6 total. Deutschland Class Battleship. [24], Serious political opposition to the ships continued after the authorization for Deutschland, and a political crisis over the second ship, Admiral Scheer, was averted only after the Social Democrats abstained from voting. This provided a maximum range of 4,800 nautical miles (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at a cruising speed of 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph). They ended their careers bombarding advancing Soviet forces on the Eastern Front; both ships were destroyed by British bombers in the final weeks of the war. "[21], Deutschland was laid down at the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel on 5 February 1929,[5] under the contract name Panzerschiff A, as a replacement for the old battleship Preussen. [8] Zenker announced on 11 June 1927 that the Navy had settled on one of several proposals for the new warships. Before the outbreak of World War II, Deutschland and Admiral Graf Spee were deployed to the Atlantic to put them in position to attack Allied merchant traffic once war was declared. They were supplied with a total of 800 rounds of ammunition, though later in their careers this was increased to 1,200 rounds. [5] This ship was boilered as in Braunschweig, with eight marine-type boilers and six cylindrical boilers. The barbettes, 100 mm thick in Deutschland, became 125 mm for the two sisters. [4] Electrical power was supplied four turbo-generators that supplied 260 kilowatts (350 hp) each at 110 volts. Conversion time was estimated at two years. Lützow and Admiral Scheer were deployed to Norway in 1942 to join the attacks on Allied convoys to the Soviet Union. These figures are for the four later ships; In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, "SK" (Schnelladekanone) denotes that the gun is quick loading, while the L/40 denotes the length of the gun. The Deutschland-class will do 9,000 to 10,000 nm at 20 knots, and 17,400 nm at 13 knots (and that's because they didn't do as well as expected - Deutschland herself was designed for 19,700 nm at 13 knots!). Jung, Dieter; Maass, Martin. 1/1800th scale Deutschland-class battleship model. The five Deutschland-class battleships were the last pre-dreadnoughts built by the German Navy. [23] Deutschland was instead scrapped in 1922. [14] The guns were initially supplied with a total 630 rounds of ammunition, and this was later increased to 720 shells. [2] Between September and December 1939, the ship sank nine ships totaling 50,089 GRT;[48] in response, the British and French navies formed several hunter-killer groups to track her down. On 3 May she struck a mine outside Swinemünde; the following day she was scuttled by her crew in shallow water. In terms of warships, it limited them to vessels of 10,000 tons or less. As designed, the ship's complement comprised 33 officers and 586 enlisted men. With the commissioning of the Deutschland class, the fleet had enough battleships to form two full battle squadrons; the fleet was then reorganized into the High Seas Fleet, which saw combat during World War I. As a result, they were the last ships of that type built for the German Navy. [16], The ships of the Deutschland class continued to serve in the II Battle Squadron during World War I. Schleswig-Holstein was attacked by RAF bombers in December 1944, and although she was sunk in shallow water, her weapons could still be used. Standard displacement grew from 10,600 long tons (10,800 t) for Deutschland to 11,550 long tons (11,740 t) for Admiral Scheer and 12,340 long tons (12,540 t) for Admiral Graf Spee. [8], Admiral Scheer and Admiral Graf Spee had some improvements in armor thickness. [8], The three Deutschland-class ships were armed with a main battery of six 28 cm SK C/28 guns mounted in two triple turrets, one on either end of the superstructure. Both ships saw limited duty during World War II, which was inaugurated by the firing of Schleswig-Holstein's main guns at the Polish fortress at Westerplatte. [8], As built, the ships' anti-aircraft battery consisted of three 8.8 cm SK L/45 anti-aircraft guns in single mounts. Already at the beginning of the First World War, the ship was outdated, but survived this and was one of the few ships that were left after the surrender of the Weimar Republic. [16] Deutschland's underwater protection consisted of a 45 mm (1.8 in) thick torpedo bulkhead; Admiral Scheer's and Admiral Graf Spee's bulkheads were reduced to 40 mm (1.6 in). Schleswig-Holstein Battleship 1935 Trumpeter 1:350 05354 . Deutschland Class Battleship. She was part of the abortive attack on Convoy PQ 17 with the battleship Tirpitz; the operation was broken off after surprise was lost. The second flagship had an additional 13 officers and 59 sailors. After returning from this operation, she became a barracks ship in Gotenhafen. [26] She was completed slightly over a year and a half later on 12 November 1934, the day she was commissioned into the German fleet. From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia Not to be confused with Deutschland-class battleship. At 22°, the guns could engage targets 14,500 m (15,900 yd). In this educational video I cover the Deutschland Class Panzerschiffe commissioned by the Kriegsmarine before World War 2. Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds (1985). Admiral Scheer carried 2,410 t (2,370 long tons) and had a correspondingly shorter range of 9,100 nmi (16,900 km; 10,500 mi) at 20 kn. In her training ship guns were armored with 10 mm ( 3.3 )! 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