German cruiser Lützow (1939)
Encyclopedia
Lützow was a heavy cruiser
of the German Kriegsmarine
, the fifth and final member of the , but was never completed. The ship was laid down in August 1937 and launched in July 1939, after which the Soviet Union
requested to purchase the ship. The Kriegsmarine agreed to the sale in February 1940, and the transfer was completed on 15 April. The vessel was still incomplete when sold to the Soviet Union, with only half of her main battery of eight 20.3 cm (8 in) guns installed and much of the superstructure
missing.
Renamed Petropavlovsk in September 1940, work on the ship was effected by a German-advised Soviet shipyard in Leningrad
. Still unfinished when Germany invaded the Soviet Union
in June 1941, the ship briefly took part in the defense of Leningrad by providing artillery support to the Soviet defenders. She was sunk by German artillery in September 1941 and raised a year later in September 1942. After repairs were effected, the ship was renamed Tallinn and used in the Soviet counter-offensive that relieved Leningrad in 1944. After the end of the war, the ship was used as a stationary training platform and as a floating barracks
before being broken up for scrap sometime between 1953 and 1960.
. Lützow was originally designed as a light cruiser
version of the heavy cruiser
s, armed with twelve 15 cm (5.9 in) guns instead of the Admiral Hippers eight 20.3 cm (8 in) guns. The Kriegsmarine decided, however, to complete the ship identically to Admiral Hipper on 14 November 1936. Her keel was laid on 2 August 1937, under construction number 941. The ship was launched on 1 July 1939, but was not completed.
Lützow was 210 metres (689 ft) long overall and had a beam of 21.8 m (71.5 ft) and a maximum draft of 7.9 m (25.9 ft). The ship had a design displacement of 17600 MT (17,322 LT) and a full load displacement of 20100 MT (19,782.5 LT). Lützow was powered by three sets of geared steam turbine
s, which were supplied with steam by twelve ultra-high pressure oil-fired boiler
s. The ship's top speed was 32 knots (17.4 m/s), at 132000 shp. As designed, her standard complement consisted of 42 officers and 1,340 enlisted men.
Lützows primary armament was eight 20.3 cm (8 in) SK L/60
guns mounted in four twin gun turret
s, placed in superfiring pairs
forward and aft."L/60" denotes the length of the gun in terms of calibers
. The length of 60 caliber gun is 60 times greater than it is wide in diameter Her anti-aircraft battery was to have consisted of twelve 10.5 cm (4.1 in) L/65 guns, twelve 3.7 cm (1.5 in) guns, and eight 2 cm (0.78740157480315 in) guns. The ship also would have carried a pair of triple 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo launchers abreast of the rear superstructure. The ship was to have been equipped with three Arado Ar 196
seaplanes and one catapult. Lützows armored belt
was 70 millimetre thick; her upper deck was 12 millimetre thick while the main armored deck was 20 millimetre thick. The main battery turrets had 105 mm (4.1 in) thick faces and 70 mm thick sides.
, and Prinz Eugen
, along with plans for German capital ships, naval artillery, and other naval technology. The Kriegsmarine denied the request for Seydlitz and Prinz Eugen, but agreed to sell Lützow, as well as 38 cm (15 in) gun turret
s and other weaponry. The price for the heavy cruiser was set at 150 million Reichsmarks, nearly double the original cost of the vessel, which was 83,590,000 Reichsmarks. Complete technical specifications, the results of engine trials, and spare parts were included in the sale. Eighty percent of the material was to be provided within twelve months of the transfer, with the remainder to be provided within fifteen months. Lützow was renamed "L", her original contract name, for the transfer to the Soviet Union.
In February 1940, when the agreement was concluded, Lützow was fitting-out
in Bremen
. Her main battery guns had been transferred to the German army and placed on railway mountings; they had to be dismantled and returned to Bremen. The ship was then towed to Leningrad
on 15 April by a private German towing company. The two navies agreed that Germany would be responsible for naval escort, which included destroyers and smaller vessels. Rear Admiral Otto Feige was placed in command of the operation Feige then led an advisory commission assigned to assist the Soviet effort to complete the ship.
At the time the ship arrived in Leningrad, only the two forward gun turrets had been installed and the bridge superstructure
was incomplete. The only secondary guns installed were the 3.7 cm anti-aircraft guns. The Soviet Navy renamed the ship Petropavlovsk on 25 September 1940, and designated the construction effort to complete the ship Projekt 83. The vessel's design provided the basis for a planned heavy cruiser, designated Projekt 82, although this ship was canceled before work began. Training for the Soviet crew of the ship proved to be contentious; the Soviets wanted their personnel trained in Germany, while the Germans preferred sending instructors to the Soviet Union. Language barriers and inexperience with international training missions also hampered the training effort.
Sea trials for Petropavlovsk were scheduled to begin sometime in late 1941, and according to the training program, the Soviet crew would not begin training until a month before the trials. It was decided that Soviet officers would train at German naval schools in the Fall of 1941, and that five officers would train aboard Seydlitz when the ship was commissioned for trials. German instructors would also be sent to Leningrad to train engine-room personnel. At the time of the commissioning of Petropavlovsk, the relevant German training and technical manuals would be sent to the Soviet Navy, albeit in German only.
By the time Germany invaded the Soviet Union
in June 1941, Petropavlovsk was still incomplete. She was nevertheless used as a floating battery in the defense of Leningrad in August of that year. Several other ships, including the cruiser Maxim Gorky
, joined Petropavlovsk in shelling the advancing Germans. On 7 September, the ship fired on German forces encircling the city; she fired forty salvos from her forward main battery turrets—the only two operational—expending some 700 rounds of ammunition during the attack. On 17 September 1941, the ship was disabled by German heavy artillery; after being hit 53 times, the ship was forced to beach herself to avoid sinking.
On 4 April 1942, the I Fliegerkorps
launched a major attack on the Soviet naval forces in Leningrad: 62 Ju 87s, 33 Ju 88s, and 37 He 111s struck the ships in the harbor. Petropavlovsk was hit once, suffering serious damage. The Soviet Navy raised the ship on 17 September 1942 and towed her to Neva where she was repaired. Renamed Tallinn in 1943, the ship returned to service to support the Soviet counter-offensive to relieve the Siege of Leningrad
in 1944. The ship was never completed, and was used as a stationary training ship after the end of the war. She was later used as a floating barracks
in Neva, and renamed Dniepr in 1953. The date of her disposal is uncertain; Erich Gröner reports the ship survived until being broken up for scrap in 1960, while Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships states that the vessel was scrapped in 1958–59. Tobias Philbin reports that the ship was broken up in 1953.
Heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...
of the German Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
, the fifth and final member of the , but was never completed. The ship was laid down in August 1937 and launched in July 1939, after which the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
requested to purchase the ship. The Kriegsmarine agreed to the sale in February 1940, and the transfer was completed on 15 April. The vessel was still incomplete when sold to the Soviet Union, with only half of her main battery of eight 20.3 cm (8 in) guns installed and much of the superstructure
Superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships...
missing.
Renamed Petropavlovsk in September 1940, work on the ship was effected by a German-advised Soviet shipyard in Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
. Still unfinished when Germany invaded the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
in June 1941, the ship briefly took part in the defense of Leningrad by providing artillery support to the Soviet defenders. She was sunk by German artillery in September 1941 and raised a year later in September 1942. After repairs were effected, the ship was renamed Tallinn and used in the Soviet counter-offensive that relieved Leningrad in 1944. After the end of the war, the ship was used as a stationary training platform and as a floating barracks
Barracks ship
Barracks ship or barracks barge are terms used to indicate a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for sailors. A barracks ship may also be used as a "Receiving Unit" for sailors who need temporary residence prior to being...
before being broken up for scrap sometime between 1953 and 1960.
Construction
Lützow was ordered by the Kriegsmarine from the Deschimag shipyard in BremenBremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
. Lützow was originally designed as a light cruiser
Light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
version of the heavy cruiser
Heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...
s, armed with twelve 15 cm (5.9 in) guns instead of the Admiral Hippers eight 20.3 cm (8 in) guns. The Kriegsmarine decided, however, to complete the ship identically to Admiral Hipper on 14 November 1936. Her keel was laid on 2 August 1937, under construction number 941. The ship was launched on 1 July 1939, but was not completed.
Lützow was 210 metres (689 ft) long overall and had a beam of 21.8 m (71.5 ft) and a maximum draft of 7.9 m (25.9 ft). The ship had a design displacement of 17600 MT (17,322 LT) and a full load displacement of 20100 MT (19,782.5 LT). Lützow was powered by three sets of geared steam turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
s, which were supplied with steam by twelve ultra-high pressure oil-fired boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
s. The ship's top speed was 32 knots (17.4 m/s), at 132000 shp. As designed, her standard complement consisted of 42 officers and 1,340 enlisted men.
Lützows primary armament was eight 20.3 cm (8 in) SK L/60
20.3 cm SK C/34 naval gun
The 20.3 cm SK C/34 naval gun was the main battery gun used on all German World War II heavy cruisers.-Description:These built-up guns consisted of a rifled tube encased within an inner and outer jacket with a horizontal sliding breech block. The breech was sealed with an 18 kg brass case...
guns mounted in four twin gun turret
Gun turret
A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
s, placed in superfiring pairs
Superfire
The idea of superfire is to locate two turrets in a row, one behind the other, but with the second turret located above the one in front so that the second turret could fire over the first...
forward and aft."L/60" denotes the length of the gun in terms of calibers
Caliber (artillery)
In artillery, caliber or calibredifference in British English and American English spelling is the internal diameter of a gun barrel, or by extension a relative measure of the length....
. The length of 60 caliber gun is 60 times greater than it is wide in diameter Her anti-aircraft battery was to have consisted of twelve 10.5 cm (4.1 in) L/65 guns, twelve 3.7 cm (1.5 in) guns, and eight 2 cm (0.78740157480315 in) guns. The ship also would have carried a pair of triple 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo launchers abreast of the rear superstructure. The ship was to have been equipped with three Arado Ar 196
Arado Ar 196
-See also:-Bibliography:* Dabrowski, Hans-Peter and Koos, Volker. Arado Ar 196, Germany's Multi-Purpose Seaplane. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History, 1993. ISBN 0-88740-481-2....
seaplanes and one catapult. Lützows armored belt
Belt armor
Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated on to or within outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and on aircraft carriers converted from those types of ships....
was 70 millimetre thick; her upper deck was 12 millimetre thick while the main armored deck was 20 millimetre thick. The main battery turrets had 105 mm (4.1 in) thick faces and 70 mm thick sides.
Service history
In October 1939, the Soviet Union approached Germany with a request to purchase the then unfinished Admiral Hipper-class cruisers Lützow, SeydlitzGerman cruiser Seydlitz
Seydlitz was a heavy cruiser of the German Kriegsmarine, fourth in the , but was never completed. The ship was laid down in December 1936 and launched in January 1939, but the outbreak of World War II interrupted her completion at approximately 95 percent...
, and Prinz Eugen
German cruiser Prinz Eugen
Prinz Eugen was an Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser, the third member of the class of five vessels. She served with the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down in April 1936 and launched August 1938; Prinz Eugen entered service after the outbreak of war, in August 1940...
, along with plans for German capital ships, naval artillery, and other naval technology. The Kriegsmarine denied the request for Seydlitz and Prinz Eugen, but agreed to sell Lützow, as well as 38 cm (15 in) gun turret
Gun turret
A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...
s and other weaponry. The price for the heavy cruiser was set at 150 million Reichsmarks, nearly double the original cost of the vessel, which was 83,590,000 Reichsmarks. Complete technical specifications, the results of engine trials, and spare parts were included in the sale. Eighty percent of the material was to be provided within twelve months of the transfer, with the remainder to be provided within fifteen months. Lützow was renamed "L", her original contract name, for the transfer to the Soviet Union.
In February 1940, when the agreement was concluded, Lützow was fitting-out
Fitting-out
Fitting-out, or "outfitting”, is the process in modern shipbuilding that follows the float-out of a vessel and precedes sea trials. It is the period when all the remaining construction of the ship is completed and readied for delivery to her owners...
in Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
. Her main battery guns had been transferred to the German army and placed on railway mountings; they had to be dismantled and returned to Bremen. The ship was then towed to Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
on 15 April by a private German towing company. The two navies agreed that Germany would be responsible for naval escort, which included destroyers and smaller vessels. Rear Admiral Otto Feige was placed in command of the operation Feige then led an advisory commission assigned to assist the Soviet effort to complete the ship.
At the time the ship arrived in Leningrad, only the two forward gun turrets had been installed and the bridge superstructure
Superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships...
was incomplete. The only secondary guns installed were the 3.7 cm anti-aircraft guns. The Soviet Navy renamed the ship Petropavlovsk on 25 September 1940, and designated the construction effort to complete the ship Projekt 83. The vessel's design provided the basis for a planned heavy cruiser, designated Projekt 82, although this ship was canceled before work began. Training for the Soviet crew of the ship proved to be contentious; the Soviets wanted their personnel trained in Germany, while the Germans preferred sending instructors to the Soviet Union. Language barriers and inexperience with international training missions also hampered the training effort.
Sea trials for Petropavlovsk were scheduled to begin sometime in late 1941, and according to the training program, the Soviet crew would not begin training until a month before the trials. It was decided that Soviet officers would train at German naval schools in the Fall of 1941, and that five officers would train aboard Seydlitz when the ship was commissioned for trials. German instructors would also be sent to Leningrad to train engine-room personnel. At the time of the commissioning of Petropavlovsk, the relevant German training and technical manuals would be sent to the Soviet Navy, albeit in German only.
By the time Germany invaded the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
in June 1941, Petropavlovsk was still incomplete. She was nevertheless used as a floating battery in the defense of Leningrad in August of that year. Several other ships, including the cruiser Maxim Gorky
Soviet cruiser Maxim Gorky
Maxim Gorky was a Project 26bis of the Soviet Navy that saw action during World War II and continued in service into the Cold War. The ship’s bow was blown-off by a mine in the Gulf of Riga during the opening stages of Operation Barbarossa, but she made it to Kronstadt for repairs...
, joined Petropavlovsk in shelling the advancing Germans. On 7 September, the ship fired on German forces encircling the city; she fired forty salvos from her forward main battery turrets—the only two operational—expending some 700 rounds of ammunition during the attack. On 17 September 1941, the ship was disabled by German heavy artillery; after being hit 53 times, the ship was forced to beach herself to avoid sinking.
On 4 April 1942, the I Fliegerkorps
1st Air Corps (Germany)
I. FliegerkorpsFor more details see Luftwaffe Organization was formed 11 October 1939 in Cologne from the 1. Flieger-Division. The Corps was also known as Luftwaffenkommando Don between 26 August 1942 until 17 February 1943. It was transformed to the 18...
launched a major attack on the Soviet naval forces in Leningrad: 62 Ju 87s, 33 Ju 88s, and 37 He 111s struck the ships in the harbor. Petropavlovsk was hit once, suffering serious damage. The Soviet Navy raised the ship on 17 September 1942 and towed her to Neva where she was repaired. Renamed Tallinn in 1943, the ship returned to service to support the Soviet counter-offensive to relieve the Siege of Leningrad
Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
in 1944. The ship was never completed, and was used as a stationary training ship after the end of the war. She was later used as a floating barracks
Barracks ship
Barracks ship or barracks barge are terms used to indicate a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for sailors. A barracks ship may also be used as a "Receiving Unit" for sailors who need temporary residence prior to being...
in Neva, and renamed Dniepr in 1953. The date of her disposal is uncertain; Erich Gröner reports the ship survived until being broken up for scrap in 1960, while Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships states that the vessel was scrapped in 1958–59. Tobias Philbin reports that the ship was broken up in 1953.