SMS Lützow

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Career

Ordered:	1912-13 naval Programme
Laid down:	May 1912
Launched:	11 November 1913
Commissioned:	8 August 1915 for trials March 1916 full commission
Fate:	Scuttled after severe damage, Battle of Jutland, 1 June 1916
General characteristics
Displacement:	26,318 tons normal load 30,700 tons full load
Length:	210.4 meters (690 feet 3 inches)
Beam:	29 meters (95 feet 2 inches)
Draft:	8.3 meters (27 feet 3 inches) normal 9.5 meters (31 feet) full load
Propulsion:	18 Schulz-Thornycroft boilers, 235 psi 4 shaft Parsons turbines 80,980 shp (trials)
Speed:	26.5 knots
Complement:	44 officers, 1068 men; 1391 total at Jutland
Armament:	8 x 30.5 cm (12in) SKL/50 (4 x 2) 12 x 15cm (5.9in) (12 x 1) 4 x 88mm (3.45in) (4 x 1) 4 x 50cm (19.7in) Torpedo Tubes

SMS Lützow was a German Kaiserliche Marine battlecruiser in World War I, named after Prussian general Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow who fought in the Napoleonic Wars.

She displaced nearly 27,000 tons, with a main armament of 8 x 30.5cm (12 in) guns, making her the largest and most powerful German battlecruiser at the time, along with her elder sister SMS Derfflinger. Lützow was commissioned on 8 August 1915 for trials, but developed major problems with her turbines, which necessitated 6 months of repairs before she was able to enter service. She was finally fully commissioned in March 1916, just over 2 months before the Battle of Jutland, which was her first and only battle.

Commanded by Capt. Harder, Lützow was the flagship of Vice Admiral Franz Hipper's Scouting Group I in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916. Her accurate fire in the early battlecruiser action (beginning at 15:48) knocked out the 'Q' turret (13.5" (343 mm)) of HMS Lion, Vice Admiral Beatty's lead battlecruiser, starting a catastrophic fire that, but for the quick-witted heroism of the turret's mortally injured commanding officer, would have subjected Lion to the same lethal magazine explosion that befell three other British battlecruisers that day. As lead ship in the German battlecruiser formation, Lützow took heavy punishment from her British counterparts as the main battle was joined in the early evening on 31 May, though her own fire remained deadly: the British armored cruiser HMS Defence, rushing to finish off the foundering light cruiser SMS Wiesbaden between the opposing fleets, was hammered by Lützow and other leading German capital ships, disintegrating spectacularly at 18:20.

At about this moment, however, Lützow and Derfflinger came within range of a freshly arrived squadron of British battlecruisers led by Rear-Admiral Hood in HMS Invincible, the first of all battlecruisers. Two 12 inch (305 mm) shells from Invincible struck Lützow below the water line near her underwater torpedo tubes, leading to severe flooding. However at about 18:30, the very moment the Grand Fleet first "crossed the T" of the High Seas Fleet, Invincible suddenly appeared before Lützow and Derfflinger as a perfect target, only 5 miles (8 km) away. Several 30.5 cm (12 inch) salvos later, Invincible blew up and sank with all but 6 of her 1,032 crew, including Admiral Hood. Lützow took several more large caliber hits, and steadily fell behind the main fleet as flooding worsened, forcing Hipper to transfer his flag to a destroyer at around 19:00.

In the following hour, Lützow continued to sustain damage, taking a total of 24 heavy-calibre shells from 12 inch, 13.5 inch, and 15 inch guns. The two 12 inch (305 mm) hits below the waterline from Invincible were the most serious. After the night action of 31 May/1 June, Lützow tried to make her way home. She took on more water and slowly settled deeper at the bow. When the water was up to the level of the barbette of her 'B' turret and her screws and rudder were above water, she was abandoned by her 1,150 surviving crew and scuttled by one of her escorts, the torpedo boat G-38, her escape from the battle area being reckoned hopeless.