Deutschland (later Lutzow)

Laid Down: 5/2/29
Commissioned: 1/4/33
Full Load Displacement: 15,900 tons
Draft: 24 ft
Speed: 28 knots
Range: 21,000/10
Armor: 60mm side, 40mm deck
Armament: 6x 283mm, 8x 150mm, 6x 88mm, 8x 37mm, lOx 20mm, 8x 533mm torpedoes, 2x Arado 196 floatplanes.

The Deutschland departed from Wilhelmshaven eight days before the war started and hid in the Atlantic south of Greenland with her tanker, Westerwald.

On 26/9/39 she received instructions to commence raiding. Over the first half of October she sank two ships (6,962 tons) and captured the US-flagged City of Flint, which the Germans claimed was carrying contraband to Britain. The Norwegians subsequently seized the ship and returned it to the US when it tried to reach Germany through their territorial waters. Meanwhile, Hitler, fearful of the propaganda value of losing a ship named Deutschland, ordered her to return to Germany. She arrived at Gdynia on 17/11/39 and was officially renamed the Lutzow.

The Lutzow, accompanied by the light cruisers Koln and Leipzig and escorted by three torpedo boats, conducted a shipping sweep of the Skagerrak 21-22/11/39. She made another sweep with the same light cruisers and escorted by four destroyers and four torpedo boats 24- 25/11/39. Both sweeps found only neutral shipping. The Lutzow was then inactive until the following spring.

Originally it was planned to have the Lutzow break out into the Atlantic to divert the Royal Navy during the invasion of Norway. However, as the scarcity of ships with which to transport the invading troops became apparent, she was assigned to the group landing at Trondheim. She arrived at Wilhelmshaven on 4/4/40 and embarked 400 mountain infantry and 50 Luftwaffe ground crew members. With the last minute discovery of cracks in her engine mountings, she was reassigned to the group landing at Oslo. So with the troops planned for Trondheim still she passed through the Kiel Canal and departed from Kiel early on 8/4/40 with the heavy cruiser Blucher, the light cruiser Emden, three torpedo boats, two whalers, and eight motor minesweepers. Approaching Norway later that day, the Lutzow was missed by torpedoes from the British submarine Trident.

During the early hours of 9/4/40 the attempted landing was rebuffed in the narrows of the Oslo Fjord, where Norwegian coastal defenses sunk the heavy cruiser Blucher and damaged Lutzow with three 280mm shell hits. The Lutzow landed her troops farther south in the fjord and finally arrived in Oslo on 10/4/40 after the coastal defenses had surrendered. Returning to Germany the next day, the Lutzow was seriously damaged by a torpedo from the British submarine Spearfish, which blew the German ship's stem off and left her immobile.

Towed to Kiel, the Lutzow began repairs on her accumulated damages. These were added to when she was hit by a dud during an RAF air raid on 9/7/40. During repairs, which took 12 months, her 6x 88mm guns were replaced with 6x 105mm.

After working up in the Baltic, the Lutzow departed on 10/6/41 to break out into the Atlantic. British air reconnaissance spotted Lutzow, with an escort of five destroyers, on 12/6/41 off the south coast of Norway. Attacked the next day, the Lutzow was heavily damaged by a torpedo from a Coastal Command Beaufort. She arrived back at Kiel on 14/6/41.

The Lutzow was repaired at Kiel by January of 1942. After working up in the Baltic, she was assigned to Norway. The Lutzow departed from Swinemunde escorted by four destroyers on 15/5/42 and, moving by stages to first to Kristiansand and then Trondheim, arrived at Narvik on 26/5/42. While getting underway at Narvik on 3/7/42 with Scheer and six destroyers to join in the interception of the Murmansk convoy PQ. 17, Lutzow damaged her hull running aground.

Departing for Germany on 9/7/42 she eventually arrived at Kiel and entered drydock on 21/7/42. Repaired by early December, the Lutzow departed on 10/12/42 for Norway and arrived at Alta Fjord on 18/12/42. From there she departed with the heavy cruiser Hipper and six destroyers to intercept the Murmansk convoy JW.51B on 30/12/42. During the subsequent Battle of the Barents Sea on 31/12/42, the Lutzow contributed little, firing only a few rounds and damaging one merchant ship. The Lutzow arrived back at Alta Fjord on 1/1/43.

The Lutzow departed Alta Fjord for Narvik on 11/3/43 escorted by two destroyers and arrived there the next day. She returned to Alta Fjord on 24/3/43, along with six destroyers and two torpedo boats, to join the battleship Tirpitz and battlecruiser Scharnhorst and once again threaten the Murmansk convoys. However, the British had suspended these convoys and the Lutzow remained inactive for the summer of 1943.

In August a planned sortie into the Kara Sea was canceled after air reconnaissance flying from Novaya Zemlya could find no shipping. On 23/9/43 the Lutzow departed Alta Fjord escorted by four destroyers. Although spotted by British air reconnaissance, torpedo armed RAF Beaufighters and FAA Avengers were unable to locate her. Lutzow arrived at Gdynia on 1/10/43 where she began a complete refit.

For the first half of 1944 the Lutzow was used for training, but with the changing fortune on the East Front she was pressed back into service. The Lutzow, escorted by three torpedo boats, joined an operation to occupy Aaland Island in the Gulf of Finland. After she arrived at the island on 25/6/44, joining the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen and four destroyers, the landing was canceled. The Lutzow arrived back at Gdynia on 28/6/44. In late September the Lutzow joined the Prinz Eugen, along with four destroyers and three torpedo boats, to cover the German evacuation from northern Finland. They departed Gdynia on 21/9/44, waited near Aaland Island until the rendezvous with the convoy from Kemi on 23/9/44, and returned to Gdynia on 25/9/44.

The Lutzow departed Gdynia with the Prinz Eugen and four torpedo boats on 11/10/44 and that afternoon shelled Soviet units near Memel. She again shelled Soviet units near Memel the next afternoon despite an attack by Soviet torpedo aircraft. Returning to Gdynia on 13/10/44 for a quick replenishment, she returned to shell Soviet units near Memel 14-15/10/44. Escorted by two destroyers and two torpedo boats, she provided gunfire support, despite heavy Soviet air attacks, for German units defending the Sworde Peninsula of Saremaa Island 23- 24/10/44. In November of 1944 the Lutzow's close-in AA was increased by the removal of 4x37mm guns and the addition of 6x 40mm and 16x 20mm. She returned to the Sworde Peninsula on 24/11/44, but the evacuation from there was over.

The Lutzow next saw action shelling Soviet units near Frauenburg on 8/2/45 and finally in defense of Danzig from 23/3/45 until the last evacuation from Hela on 8/4/45. She arrived at Swinemunde 9/4/45 and was heavily damaged by one hit and several near misses by 12,000 lb. bombs dropped by 18 Lancasters of the famous No. 617 squadron on 16/4/45. Settling on an even keel in shallow water she continued to be used as a gun battery until blown up by her crew on 4/5/45.

More WWII German Pocket Battleships

WWII German Pocket Battleship: Introduction
WWII German Pocket Battleship: Lutzow
WWII German Pocket Battleship: Admiral Scheer
WWII German Pocket Battleship: Admiral Graf Spee