battlecruiser

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.

Admiral Beatty’s management of the Battlecruisers force at Jutland remains a subject of controversy, more than a century after the battle. The truth of the matter, however, seems to be less a lack of protection than defective ammunition procedures, compounded by a rash decision to rush at Hipper’s throat, cancelling the advantage awarded by his bigger guns’ longer range.

Under Beatty’s command, on that fateful 31st May 1916, were 6 battlecruisers and the 4 superdreadnoughts Admiral  Evan-Thomas’  5th Battle Squadron, the biggest, best armored, heaviest gunned ships (15’’ caliber guns !)  of the line at the time. Confused signals kept them too far away at the start of  the engagement, compounding Beatty’s tactical error. Under his command only the 6 ships of the 1st & 2^nd Battlecruiser Squadrons rushed at Hipper’s force.

British Battlecruisers design evolution, illustrated with this top-down picture : the apparition of superfiring turrets gave the Lion & Tiger class improved arcs of fire. The most notable improvement, though, can’t be made out on the picture : instead of 12’’ caliber guns like the Invincible & Indefatigable classes, they sported 13’’ guns

HMS New Zealand and Indefatigable

Barely improved versions of the original Invincible class battlecruisers, the class comported 3 ships in all, alongside HMAS Australia that was accidentally damaged days before the battle and so missed the engagement. Indefatigable was the 1st RN ship lost at Jutland. New Zealand survived the battle without even being hit.Tradition has it that her captain wore the traditional Maori garb & amulets he’d been offered by a Maori chieftain for the protection of the ship.

The Lion Class

The « Splendid Cats » as they were collectively known, were the joy and pride of Admiral Fisher. They  were better gunned, 13’’ caliber guns instead of their predecessors’ 12 ‘’, moreover sporting superfiring turrets forward, giving overall better arcs of fire. They were fast, and better armored (though not as  well as their German counterparts). Lion was Beatty’s flagship, and took part at the Dogger Bank battle where i ts propulsion was knocked out, ruining Beatty’s ability to pass orders efficiently, and hit again at Jutland, where she was saved from Indefatigable’s & Queen Mary’s fate by the quick thinking and sacrifice of Royal Marines Major Francis Harvey who managed to get the magazines flooded. Queen Mary was the 2^nd Battlecruiser exploding during the battle. From Lion’s bridge, a bitter Beatty commented « There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today ».

HMS Tiger

The last of the « Splendid Cats », Tiger was an improved version of the Lion class. Launched & commissioned in 1914, she took part in the Dogger Bank engagement. She was moderately damaged at Jutland, but her gunnery was deemed to be the poorest of the Battlecruiser Force, that was itself inferior to that of Jellicoe’s Battle Squadrons.

5th Battle Squadron

HMS Warspite

HMS Barham

HMS Valiant

HMS Malaya

Attached to Beatty’s Battlecruiser Force, they were left behind at the start of the battle due to bungled signals from HMS Lion, and the strict adherence to received orders, traditional among British admirals of the Victorian era ; Admiral Evan-Thomas, the 5th BS commander, was no exception. He nonetheless managed to get back in time to pull Beatty’s squadron from its predicament, inflicting Grievous damage on Hipper’s ships and the 1st Battle squadron of  the High Seas fleet, getting hammered in return. With the exception of Warpite that was badly damaged, the British Queen Elizabeth suffered no combat efficiency loss for the treatment, dishing out more than they got.

British Destroyers

A few L class Destroyers, as some of those that were with Beatty’s force at Jutland.

My second contact with the battle of Jutland came in the late eighties, with the little group of wargame enthusiasts that played around Bordeaux. At that time, we used The MicroFleet series to play naval battles, especially the WW1 pack that allowed you to recreate the whole of Jutland – we never tried ! – and more simply, battle cruisers battles.

That brought me to purchasing models from Navwar – much less expensive that GHQ’s, to accommodate my modest purchasing power then – and with a friend, we used these to play the Run to the South (the 5th Battle squadron was there, but for them I used the Microfleet counters). In that battle – sorry, no pics – I remember the German player decided to rapidly  close the distance as the Brits were  turning to bring all guns to bear and he feared their longer range. In that instance, he allowed his T to be crossed, with devastating effect – Beatty would have been happy ! – and broke the engagement after losing a battlecruiser to nothing for the Brits. The 5th Battle squadron never had a chance to close the distance.

Nearly forty years later, and with a bigger purse, I decided it was time to replace these long sold Navwar models with GHQ ships. They still have to see the tabletop, perhaps using the WW1 NIMITZ rules set spinoff you can find on Sam Mustafa’s Facebook group. Or, if I’m lucky to find an able & willing  opponent and have the wherewithal to hang on through the game, Harry Pratt’s excellent NAVAL THUNDER rules.

First, a  topdown view of the 4 German classes, highlighting the evolution of their design (bigger size, superfiring turrets)

SMS -Seine Majestäts Schiff - Von der Tann took but a mere 18th months from order to launching, and as much again to commission.  Bewildering times as we see know how long it takes to build a mere frigate… Anyways, Von der Tann sank HMS Indefatigable, but  took a beating at Jutland, losing all her primary battery guns, but gamely staying in formation to attract British fire.

SMS Moltke – sister ship of the infamous Goeben also took but 3 years from order to commission. She too was also heavily damaged at Jutland, coping 15’’ shells from the 5th Battle squadron.

SMS Seydlitz, a one-class ship, ordered March 1910, commissioned May 1913. She was nearly sunk in 1915 at the Dogger Bank, and at Jutland, was once more so heavily damaged that she barely made port again, miraculously escaping the clutches of a vengeful Grand Fleet.

SMS Lützow was the2nd  of the German Battlecruisers to be commissioned after the start of the Great War, beginning her career in may 1915, and becoming Admiral Hipper’s flagship. Unlike her predecessors, she sported 12’’ guns instead of their 11 », with superfiring turrets both fore and aft. Jutland was the only time she ever saw action, as she was too badly damaged to get back to port and had to be scuttled. She was the most advanced ship lost by any side during the battle.

SMS Derfflinger was Lützow’s sistership, being commissioned on September 1st 1914, less than a month after Great Britain’ s entry into the war. She took part in the battle of the Dogger Bank, and was heavily damaged at Jutland, suffering KIA losses of 1 man for every 7 crew member in the occurrence.

Lastly, some German S Class Torpedoboote, part of a modern and numerous class that saw combat at most of the naval engagements of World War 1