Deutschland (A59) was a naval ship

Naval ship

A naval ship is a ship used for combat purposes, commonly by a navy. Naval ships are differentiated from civilian ships by construction and purpose...

 of the Bundesmarine, the West German

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

 Navy. She was constructed and used as a training cruiser ("Schulschiffe") in peacetime and planned for multi-role missions in the event of war: troop ship, hospital ship

Hospital ship

A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital; most are operated by the military forces of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones....

, minelayer

Minelayer

Minelaying is the act of deploying explosive mines. Historically this has been carried out by ships, submarines and aircraft. Additionally, since World War I the term minelayer refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines...

, and escort. For this reason the ship was only lightly armed for its size (no guided missile

Guided Missile

Guided Missile is a London based independent record label set up by Paul Kearney in 1994.Guided Missile has always focused on 'the underground', preferring to put out a steady flow of releases and developing the numerous GM events around London and beyond....

s), the machinery was rather impractical and diverse, and large teaching rooms were included. Also civilians served alongside military personnel.

In her time Deutschland was the largest naval vessel of West Germany. Permission to built the ship was granted despite being larger than allowed by tonnage restrictions imposed by the WEU

Western European Union

The Western European Union was an international organisation tasked with implementing the Modified Treaty of Brussels , an amended version of the original 1948 Treaty of Brussels...

 on West Germany. (The later Berlin class replenishment ship

Berlin class replenishment ship

The Type 702 Berlin class replenishment ships are the largest vessels of the Deutsche Marine . In German, this type of ship is called Einsatzgruppenversorger which can be translated as task force supplier though the official translation in English is combat support ship, or in military parlance, a...

s of the reunited Germany are much larger.) Like most German post-war naval ships she was completely NBC protected. Deutschland was the smallest German cruiser since the 4,385-ton and Bremse of 1915.

This one-ship class, Type 440 of the German designation system, cost 95 million DM.

Career and fate

Ordered in late 1958, the training cruiser Deutschland was laid down by Nobiskrug at Rendsburg on 11 September 1959. Launched on 5 November 1960, it was originally intended that she be named Berlin, but for political reasons this name was dropped and the vessel named for the nation. The two previous surface warships of this name were battleships launched in 1904 and 1931, respectively.

Delivered 10 April 1963, Deutschland was commissioned on 25 May 1966 at Naval Academy Mürwik

Naval Academy Mürwik

The Naval Academy at Mürwik is the main training establishment for all German Navy officers.It is located at Mürwik which is a part of Germany's most northern city, Flensburg. Built on a small hill directly by the coast, it overlooks the Flensburg Fjord...

 near Flensburg

Flensburg

Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...

. She remained in service until she was decommissioned on 28 June 1990. Sold for scrap in October 1993, she was towed to Alang, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

in January 1994 and scrapped.