- quality handcrafted model ships -
- quality handcrafted model ships -
Lützow Class Pocket Battleships
Model featured: "KMS Admiral Scheer"
- circa 1939 during Spanish Civil War, before conversion -
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The Lützow Class was comprised of three battleships of which the flagship was first called the Deutschland. Because Hitler was fearful of the lessening morale on Germans and the political boasting of the enemy if any ship called "Deutschland" should be sunk or captured, he ordered that KMS Deutschland be renamed to KMS Lützow in early 1940. The Deutschland/Lutzow sister ships were Admiral Scheer and Admiral Graf Spee. The class of three ships was commissioned 1933 to 1936. Because there was an early class of WWI circa dreadnaughts called the "Deutschland Class" we prefer to not refer to the WWII circa Deutschland by its original name but rather call the ship and its sisters the "Lutzow Class". Note: There was another WWII circa battleship also called "Lützow" which was of the Admiral Hipper Class, but that ship was never completed. The Lützow Class ships were smaller than heavy cruisers but were designated "Panzerschiff" (battleship) because their main armament was 11-inch (280mm) guns. Because of their small size, they are referred to as "Pocket Battleships". All three ships were somewhat different in beam and displacement. The flagship Deutschland (renamed Lützow later) was build with a slender forward superstructure while the following two ships were built with a thick "pagoda style" forward structure. The first to be lost in action was the Admiral Graf Spee which was scuttled off Montevideo, Uruguay in late 1939 after being trapped by British warships in the River Plate. Both surviving pocket battleships were extensively converted in late 1939 to early 1940 which saw them lengthened overall by 2 meters and the "pagoda style" superstructure on Admiral Scheer replaced by the more slender structure that the Deutschland had originally been built with. Additionally the three twin 88mm guns were exchanged for the same number of 105mm heavy flak guns. About this time the two surviving ships were re-classified as heavy cruisers in an attempt to confuse Allied intelligence. Lützow was damaged by RAF bombers numerous times and was often in dry-dock for repair until a successful attack on April 16th, 1945 resulted in her being scuttled May 4th in shallow water near Swinemünde in Poland. Two years later she was re-floated and permanently sunk in deeper water. Admiral Scheer was also extensively attacked
by the RAF and was capsized on April 9th, 1945 in shallow water within
Emden Port, Germany.
Photography by Action Asia Photo |
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