HIPPER CLASS

NAME                         BUILDER                       LAID DOWN           LAUNCHED         COMPLETED  

Admiral Hipper           Blohm &Voss                     06/07/35                     06/02/37                   29/04/39

Blucher                       Deutsche werke                  15/08/35                     08/06/37                   20/09/39

Prinz Eugen                Krupp Germania                  23/04/36                     22/08/38                   01/08/40

Seydlitz                      Deschimag , Bremen            29/12/36                    19/01/39                        ---         

Lutzow                        Deschimag , Bremen            02/08/37                    01/07/39                       ---                         

Specification

Displacement: 14, 475 tons standard and 18, 400 tons full load 

Dimensions: length 210.4 m (690 ft4 in); beam 21.9 m (71 ft 10 in); draught Z9 m (25 ft 10 in)

Propulsion: Brown Boveri geared turbines delivering 132,000 shp (98430 kW) to three shafts

Speed: 33.4 kts

Armour: belt 70-80 mm (2.75-3.1 in); deck 12-50 mm (0.5-2 in); turrets 70-105 mm (2.75-4.1 in)

Armament: eight 203-mm (8-in), 12 105-mm (4. 1-in) DP, 12 37-mm AA and 24 20-mm AA guns, plus 12 533-mm (21-in) torpedo tubes

Aircraft: two float planes

 Complement: 1,450

NOTES

When heavy cruisers were finally built by Germany in the late 1930s, they were of orthodox design, showing no influence from the 'Deutschland' class Panzerschiffe The name ship of the 'Hipper' class, the Admiral Hipper, was launched in February 1937 after the various treaties had lapsed and she was, as a result, comparable in displacement with the big Japanese cruisers. By shipping only an eight-gun main battery, however, the Germans had more scope for improved protection. The Admiral Hipper was the best known of the class, being active in the Norwegian campaign of 1940, during which she was rammed and damaged by an intended victim, the British destroyer HMS Glowworm. In late 1940 and early 1941, she had a successful period as a raider before moving again to Norway, where her presence was partly responsible for the PQ. 17 disaster in July 1942. On the last day of the

year, in company with the 'pocket battleship' Lutzow and a destroyer force she unsuccessfully attacked the JW.5lB convoy off North Cape. The outclassed British destroyer escort kept the Germans at arm's length for three hours until relieved by a cruiser force, Hitler's reaction at this rather inept operation being an order to decommission all heavy units. The Hipper thus survived to be taken in 1945. Also captured was the Prinz Eugen, best known for her being in company with the Bismarck in May 1941, and later accompanying the battle   cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in their celebrated dash up the English Channel. She was expended at the Pacific A-bomb trials after the war. The Blucher, a brand new ship, went down in April 1940 with a heavy loss of life when overwhelmed by Norwegian shore defences while heading up Oslofjord carrying an invasion force. Lutzow (lI) was sold to the Soviets in 1940 and the Seydlitz was never completed.