Admiral Hipper class cruiser

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Admiral Hipper class Heavy cruiser
Blücher
Class Overview
Type: Heavy cruiser
Name: Admiral Hipper
Number of ships: Five ordered, three commissioned
General characteristics
Displacement: 14,050 tonnes (14,680 for Prinz Eugen)
18,600 tonnes full load
Length: 210 m
Beam: 21.8 m
Draught: 7.9 m
Propulsion: steam turbines: 100,000 shp
cruising diesel: 16.5 bhp
Speed: 32.5 knots
Range: 8,000 miles at 20 knots
Protection: sides: 80 mm
deck: 60 mm
turrets: 160 mm
Complement: 1,600
Armament: 8 × 8 in (203 mm)/ 60 calibre guns
12 × 4.1 in (105 mm)/ 65 calibre dual-purpose guns
6 × 40 mm guns
12 × 37 mm guns
8 × 20 mm guns
12 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
160 mines
Aircraft: 2 or 3 catapult-launched aircraft
Ships of the class
Admiral Hipper, Blücher, Prinz Eugen, Seydlitz (unfinished), Lützow (unfinished)

The Admiral Hipper class was a series of five heavy cruisers of which three served with the Kriegsmarine of Germany in World War II, one was sold unfinished to the Soviet Union in 1939, and one was converted to an aircraft carrier but never completed. The lead ship, and thus the class, was named after Admiral Franz von Hipper.

Contents

[edit] Description

Designed as a treaty cruiser, Germany nonetheless gave little consideration to the treaty limit of 10,000 tons displacement. The design for the Hipper class began at 12,500 tons and increased steadily during development. To some degree, the ships were a German response to the French Algérie class, armed with 8 inch guns. Several calibers were considered, but finally a battery of eight 8 inch guns was selected for the Hipper. This gave them comparable firepower to a British County class cruiser, despite being considerably larger. Troublesome propulsion limited cruising range to 5,000 miles at 15 knots - far less than the original design goal of 6,500 miles at 17 knots. After construction of Hipper and Blücher, the design was slightly enlarged, although major features remained similar. Of this new design, only one was completed, Prinz Eugen.

The Admiral Hipper class ships, while comparable to heavy cruisers of other navies and considered beautiful ships, suffered from problems and were thus less suited for the circumstances of World War II. Designed as part of a larger Kriegsmarine, they were required to perform either as support for ground forces or as commerce raiders. As ground support (artillery fire and evacuation), they were effective although expensive and suffered the loss of the Blücher at Oslo in 1940 and collision damage to the Prinz Eugen in the Baltic in 1944. As commerce raiders, their range was rather short, lacking the cruising diesel engines of the Gneisenau class battlecruiser and the pocket battleships. Additionally, their power plants were quite unreliable. Admiral Hipper was affected by machinery breakdowns off Scandinavia and in the Atlantic, restricting its effectiveness. Prinz Eugen suffered engine problems after separating from Bismarck, forcing her to terminate her anti-commerce cruise.

[edit] Battery details

  • Main armament - Eight 8 inch / 60 calibre guns:
    • Shell weight: 269 lb. (broadside of 2,150 lb.)
    • Range: 36,680 yards
    • Rate of fire: 5 rounds per minute
  • Secondary armament - Twelve 10.5 cm / 65 calibre dual-purpose guns:
    • Shell weight: 33 lb.
    • Range: 19,360 yards (ceiling of 41,000 feet)
    • Rate of fire: 17 rounds per minute

[edit] Ships in class

[edit] Admiral Hipper

[edit] Blücher

[edit] Prinz Eugen

[edit] Seydlitz

[edit] Lützow

[edit] See also

[edit] External references


 v • d • e 
German naval ship classes of World War II
Battleships Battlecruisers
Bismarck Gneisenau
pre-dreadnought battleships Aircraft carrier
Deutschland Graf Zeppelin
Light cruisers Heavy cruisers
Emden | K | Leipzig Deutschland | Admiral Hipper
Destroyers
Type: 1934 | 1934A | 1936 | 1936A / 1936A (Mob) / Narvik | 1936B
Torpedo boats
Type: 1923 (Raubvogel) | 1924 {Raubtier) | 1935 | 1937 | 1939 (Elbing)
U-boats (submarines)
Type: I | II | VII | IX | X | XIV | XXI | XXII | XXIII
Other
Auxiliary cruisers
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