KRIEGSMARINE : THE GERMAN NAVY

Despite a few conspicuous successes (sinking of Glorious by Scharnhorst & Gneisenau, of Hood by Bismarck), the German naval surface forces were incapable of fulfilling more than a mission of « fleet in being ».  They no longer ventured in the Atlantic after the loss of Bismarck, which came after that of Graf Spee. And on their own doorstep, in the North Sea or Barents Sea, they suffered horrendous defeats, such as Narvik, or failed to score on the occasion they deployed overwhelming force, as in the battle of the Barents Sea.

The existence of the German surface fleet was due to the will of a man, GrossAdmiral Erich Raeder, who won the Führer’s confidence and was allowed to start work on an ambitious Plan Z, aiming, no less, at fighting a winning against the Royal Navy around 1946.  But in total, throughout World War 2, it did not field more than 2  battleships, 2 battlecruisers, 3 pocket battleships, 3 heavy cruisers, 4 light cruisers and about 70 destroyers and torpedo boats. I am not including the various sundry ships, such as E-Boote, minesweepers etc… On the whole, a measly total to take on the world’s most powerful navies, without any chance of success. Despite Raeder’s wishes to see his beloved surface combattants play a major role, it soon became apparent that tying down RN ships in Europe was the best they could hope to achieve.

This does not mean these ships were worthless. With Teutonic efficiency, nazi naval architects displayed on the whole their traditional technical prowess in their design (with some exceptions). So let’s start a naval revue of their various units.

BISMARCK

It’s hard to talk about a myth. In my young days, Bismarck was hailed as the nec plus ultra in military shipbuilding , best armor, great guns, a superbly trained crew, with an Achilles’ heel in the person of the fanatical admiral Gunther Lütjens. The truth is that while Bismarck was a powerful ship, i twas by no means revolutionary. Its speed was correct, between that of the King George V class and the Richelieu class,  its armor and armament were average as well. Its luck was to be pitted against Hood, a flawed design woefully under-armored, and Prince of Wales, a brand new ship with teething problems. Pitted against a ship of the same class & the Rodney, it was inevitably overwhelmed.

SCHARNHORST

This one too is a myth and with the Bismarck, the most prestigious ship of the German Navy. More lightly armed (9 x 11 » guns in three barrelled turrets), it destroyed the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious during the Norway campaign, destroyed the auxiliary cruiser HMS Rawalpindi, sank various ships in mid Atlantic in 1941  before being blocked in Brest under British bombs. She managed to escape back to Germany through the Strait of Dover in 1942, and ended up sunk in battle by HMS Duke of York near the North Cape at the end of 1943.

GNEISENAU

Sharnhorst’s sister ship, its companion during nearly all of its career. Damage sustained in the Strait of Dover took so long to repair Gneisenau never again set back to sea, and was eventually spent as a block-ship in 1945 at Gotenhafen (modern day Gdynia).

DEUTSCHLAND CLASS

The infamous Pocket Battleships, supposed to remain within the 10 000 tons limit imposed by the treaty of Versailles, were in fact around nearly 15 000 tons. They were, consequently, formidable ships, well fit to accomplish the raiding missions they would be given in time of war, more powerful than anything that could catch them, faster than anything that could defeat them. They met however varied success in their careers. Fast for the time of their commissioning (26kt), they were well armored and sported a powerful 6 x 280mm guns main battery, supported on each side by 4 x 150 mm guns.

LÜTZOW (ex DEUTSCHLAND)

Launched in 1931, the oldest ship of the trio, LÜTZOW was damaged in 1940 in front of Oslo. She took part in

the Battle of the Barents Sea, which saw 2 British light cruisers hold up decisively a stronger German force and allow convoy JW51B to sail unscathed. Sunk by the RAF in 1945, she was raised and expanded as a target by Soviet forces in 1947.

ADMIRAL SCHEER

The farthest ranged of the trio, SCHEER raided the Indian Ocean in late 1940, sinking some 110 000 tons of Allied shipping. Later, in 1942, she raided the Kara Sea and took on Soviet shipping. She was sunk by RAF bombers in port in April 1945.

GRAF SPEE

The most famous of the trio, but the shortest lived, she was scuttled after an epic battle against HMS Exeter, HMS Ajax & HMS Achilles off the Rio de la Plata. As she had been heavily damaged, in need of repairs and bottled up in the port of Montevideo, her commander, Hans Langsdorff, took the decision to scuttle her to spare the crew’s lives.

HIPPER CLASS

Three were built. The first one, Blücher, was sunk in front of Oslo. They were powerful ships, typical heavy cruisers, armed with a 8 x 8’’ guns main battery. They were mostly used as commerce raiders.

PRINZ EUGEN

The most famous of the class, she was Bismarck’s companion in the ill –fated Rheinübung operation. Present at Denmark Strait, she separated from Bismarck & eventually made it to Brest where she was subjected to bombing alongside Scharnhorst & Gneisenau before escaping through the Strait of Dover during Operation Cerberus.

ADMIRAL HIPPER

The class namesake took part in Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Norway, where she sank destroyer HMS Glowworm after the latter managed to ram and severely damage her. She was the consort of Lützow in the failed attempt on convoy JW-51B in the Barents Sea, and was eventually sunk in Kiel harbor by RAF bombers.

LEIPZIG CLASS

Nürnberg & Leipzig were a class of 2 ships. Well armed 3 triple barrelled turrets of 150mm guns, although in an original configuration of 1 turret forward, 2 turrets aft), and 12 torpedoes in 4 x triple mounts, they were fast (32kt) but short-legged (7000 km), handled difficultly in heavy seas, and more lightly armored than comparable ships.

LEIPZIG

After a fairly lackluster service throughout the war – the main episode being a collision with Prinz Eugen – Leipzig was captured in port, served as  a barracks ship and was scuttled the following year.

NÜRNBERG

Damaged off Norway, Nürnberg spent the remainder of the war as a training ship &  a mine layer in the Baltic. Captured in port, she was awarded to the Soviets.

KÖLN

Last survivor of the 3 ships class Königsberg after 2 were lost off Norway in 1940, she sported similar armament & performances as the Leipzig class. She took part in attempted but failed convoy attacks in the Arctic, and served as a training ship before being sunk in Wilhelmshaven by US bombers.

Typ 1934 & 1934A

Fast (36 kt) but lacking endurance (3700 km ), these ships were relatively powerfully armed for the time, with 5 x 5''  guns and 2 quadruple torpedo mounts. Many were lost during the battle of Narvik. Eckoldt was sunk at the battle of the Barents Sea.

Typ 1936A

Toting an impressive battery of 2 twin barrelled 5’’ turrets, & 2 quadruple torpedo mounts, fast, these ships however lacked range and top heavy because of their impressive armament, giving them poor seagoing capacities.  

Typ 39 Torpedoboot

Altough classed as torpedo boats, the Typ 39 were the equivalent of most RN destroyers. 15 were built. Fast (33kt), well armed (4 x 105mm guns, 2 x triple torpedo mounts), tehy accounte well of themselves in the various battles they took part in. The most successful was the battle of Sept-Isles, in October 1943, where 5 Typ 39 sank light cruiser HMS Charybdis.