Lütjens (D185)

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Destroyer Lütjens 2003 in Kiel

D185 Lütjens was a guided missile destroyer of the Bundesmarine (West German Navy) and later the Deutsche Marine (Navy of reunited Germany). She was the lead ship of the Lütjens class, a modification of the Charles F. Adams class. The ship was named for Admiral Günther Lütjens, who commanded the battlegroup Bismarck and Prinz Eugen during Exercise Rhine. Lütjens was killed when overwhelming British naval forces sank the Bismarck on 27 May 1941 in the North Atlantic.

The ship was laid down at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine on 1 March 1966 with the hull classification symbol DDG-28. She was launched on 11 August 1967 and commissioned on 23 February 1969.

After over 30 years of service and a traveled distance of 800,000 nautical miles Lütjens was decommissioned on 18 December 2003. She was the last steam-powered vessel of the German Navy as well as the last ship classified as a destroyer.

The Lütjens rendering honors

[edit] USS Toleman

Originally the hull number DDG-28 was reserved for the USS Tolman, a Charles F. Adams class destroyer named for Commander Charles E. Tolman USN (1903-1943), commanding officer of USS De Haven (DD-469), killed in action when the ship was sunk by Japanese aircraft off Guadalcanal on 1 February 1943 and posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. But the order to build USS Toleman was cancelled.