1,558
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 7:
Line 7: + + + + + + + +
Added paragraphs
At the outbreak of World War II, the ''Deutschland'' was at sea. After a delay, she was sent into the North Atlantic to conduct commerce raiding. She sunk or captured three merchant ships (over 11,000 tons in total) before weather damage forced the ship to the safety of Kiel harbor, arriving on November 15, 1939. It was on this date that the ship was renamed. This was done partly to confuse enemy intelligence, and partly because it was felt that if a ship bearing the name of the German nation was sunk, national morale would be damaged. Consequently, the ship was renamed in honor of Adolf Freiherr von Lutzow, one of Germany’s most distinguished military commanders from the Napoleonic Wars.
At the outbreak of World War II, the ''Deutschland'' was at sea. After a delay, she was sent into the North Atlantic to conduct commerce raiding. She sunk or captured three merchant ships (over 11,000 tons in total) before weather damage forced the ship to the safety of Kiel harbor, arriving on November 15, 1939. It was on this date that the ship was renamed. This was done partly to confuse enemy intelligence, and partly because it was felt that if a ship bearing the name of the German nation was sunk, national morale would be damaged. Consequently, the ship was renamed in honor of Adolf Freiherr von Lutzow, one of Germany’s most distinguished military commanders from the Napoleonic Wars.
After a refit in the port of Danzig, the ''Lutzow'' was sent north as part of Operation ''Weserubung'', the German invasion of [[Norway]]. The ship was loaded with 400 Wehrmacht troops and sent to [[Oslo]] with the heavy cruiser ''Blucher'', the light cruiser ''Emden'', and three torpedo boats. The group succeeded in capturing the Norwegian forts in Oslofiord, but shore-based batteries sunk the ''Blucher'' and damaged the ''Lutzow''. On the way home, she was intercepted by the British submarine ''Swordfish'' and hit by a torpedo which destroyed her rudder. She was taken under tow and entered the port of Kiel in April 1940. Between the artillery and submarine attacks, the mission had cost the ''Lutzow'' 35 dead and damage that would take almost a year to repair.
==''Admiral Scheer''==
==''Admiral Scheer''==
The Admiral Scheer was the second ship of the class, launched in April of 1933 and commissioned into the German Navy in November 1934. Her namesake was the commander of the German fleet at the Battle of Jutland. Like the ''Deutschland'', she saw service in Spanish waters during the Spanish Civil War. On May 31, 1937, the ''Admiral Scheer'' bombarded the port of Almeria in reprisal for the Republican attack on the ''Deutschland'', causing serious damage and many casualties.
The Admiral Scheer was the second ship of the class, launched in April of 1933 and commissioned into the German Navy in November 1934. Her namesake was the commander of the German fleet at the Battle of Jutland. Like the ''Deutschland'', she saw service in Spanish waters during the Spanish Civil War. On May 31, 1937, the ''Admiral Scheer'' bombarded the port of Almeria in reprisal for the Republican attack on the ''Deutschland'', causing serious damage and many casualties.
When World War II began, the ''Admiral Scheer'' was in harbor at Wilhelmshaven. On September 4, she was attacked by RAF bombers, but suffered no damage. She spent the rest of 1939 in the Baltic Sea on training exercises, then underwent a major overhaul in port. Finally, in October of 1940, she was sent out on her first major combat mission of the war, to intercept enemy shipping in the Atlantic. Over the next six months, the ''Admiral Scheer'' sank or captured 17 merchant vessels and 1 armed merchant cruiser, totaling over 113,000 tons, on a voyage that spanned the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. After returning to Germany in April, she underwent an overhaul at Kiel. Another commerce-raiding mission was planned, but after the sinking of the battleship Bismarck, this was cancelled for fear of further losses.
==''Admiral Graf Spee''==
See main article: [[Admiral Graf Spee (heavy cruiser)]]
==References==
==References==