Admiral Hipper class cruiser

The Admiral Hipper-class was a series of five heavy cruisers of which three served with the Kriegsmarine of Germany in World War II, one was sold unfinished to the Soviet Union in 1939, and one was converted to an aircraft carrier but never completed. The lead ship, and thus the class, was named after Admiral Franz von Hipper.

Description

Designed as a treaty cruiser, Germany nonetheless gave little consideration to the treaty limit of 10,000 tons displacement. The design for the Hipper-class began at 12,500 tons and increased steadily during development. To some degree, the ships were a German response to the French Algérie-class, armed with guns. Several calibers were considered, but finally a battery of eight guns was selected for the Hipper. This gave them comparable firepower to a British County class cruiser, despite being considerably larger. Troublesome propulsion limited cruising range to at - far less than the original design goal of at . After construction of Hipper and Blücher, the design was slightly enlarged, although major features remained similar. Of this new design, only one was completed, Prinz Eugen. The Admiral Hipper class ships, while comparable to heavy cruisers of other navies and considered handsome ships, suffered from some problems and were thus unsuited for some of the circumstances of World War II. Designed as part of a larger Kriegsmarine, in practice they were required to perform either as commerce raiders or support units to other naval units and ground forces, proving themselves effective in the latter role. As commerce raiders, however, they were hampered by insufficient range, lacking the cruising diesel engines of the Deutschland class cruisers (sometimes referred to as "pocket battleships"). Additionally, their power plants were unreliable. Admiral Hipper was affected by machinery breakdowns in the Atlantic and North Sea, restricting her effectiveness. Prinz Eugen suffered engine problems during Operation Rheinübung after separating from the Bismarck, causing her to terminate her anti-commerce cruise.

Three ships of the class, Hipper, Blücher and Prinz Eugen, saw service for Germany in World War II. Hipper was damaged in an attack on a convoy on New Year's Eve 1942 and remained out of service until January 1945; she was scuttled at Kiel Deutsche Werke shipyards on 2 May 1945. Blücher was sunk in Oslofjord during the German invasion of Norway. Prinz Eugen survived the war and she sank at Kwajalein Atoll on 22 December 1946 after atomic weapons tests. Lutzow was transferred to the Soviet Union in 1939 and served as the Petropavlovsk and then Tallinn in the Baltic; she was scrapped in 1950. Seydlitz was to be converted to an aircraft carrier; this project was not completed and she was scuttled at Königsberg on 10 April 1945.

Battery details

• Main armament - Eight 8 inch / 60 calibre guns:
• Shell weight: 269 lb. (broadside of 2,150 lb.)
• Range:
• Rate of fire: 5 rounds per minute
• Secondary armament - Twelve 10.5 cm / 65 calibre dual-purpose guns:
• Shell weight: 33 lb.
• Range: 19,360 yards (ceiling of 41,000 ft)
• Rate of fire: 17 rounds per minute

External references

• Operational history of Lützow/ Petropavlovsk