The Deutschland class comprised three German armored cruisers, Deutschland (later renamed Lutzow), Admiral Scheer and Admiral Graf Spee, built by Germany's Reichsmarine and Kriegsmarine between 1929 and 1936 and popularly nicknamed pocket battleships because they carried battleship-caliber guns, six 28cm guns in two triple turrets, on a hull far smaller and lighter than a true battleship, achieved partly through extensive use of welding rather than riveting and all-diesel propulsion for very long range. Designed within the tonnage limits Germany was still nominally bound by after the First World War while giving the ships enough speed and range to outrun any warship powerful enough to sink them, the class was intended for commerce raiding against enemy merchant shipping far from home waters. Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled by her own crew off Montevideo after the Battle of the River Plate in December 1939, while Lutzow and Admiral Scheer were both destroyed by Allied bombing in 1945.
Facts
Weapon Class Introduced Year Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category) Connections
Used In
Source Deutschland-class cruiser, Wikipedia
Source Deutschland-class cruiser, Wikipedia
Sources
1. Deutschland-class cruiser, Wikipedia
Infobox, Type field
Heavy cruiser
Infobox, In service field
In service, 1933-1945
- Weapon class classified from the entity's own sourced description text.
Used In: Spanish Civil War, Wikipedia article text
All three vessels served on non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War.
Used In: World War II, Wikipedia article text
Before the outbreak of World War II, and were deployed to the Atlantic to put them in position to attack Allied merchant traffic once war was declared.
View the SourceReader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.