KMS Deutschland (Lützow)

The prototype of the Panzerschiff or "pocket battleship," was ordered under the 1929 Program for the Reichsmarine of the Weimar Republic. Germany was limited by the Treaty of Versailles to building only replacements for her six predreadnought coast defense battleships, and they were to displace only 10,000 tons and have guns no larger than 11in (28cm) caliber.
Although this particular part of the Versailles Treaty's restrictions was no more onerous than others, the German Navy was determined to use all its technical resources to show that it could build ships to operate on the oceans. While this was not forbidden, the framers of the Washington Treaty had labored hard to ensure that no warship type between the 35,000-ton battleship and the 10,000-ton heavy cruiser with eight-inch guns could be built. But this was exactly what the German Navy did, without violating the conditions of either Treaty (in fact Hitler claimed that Germany was not a signer of the latter one). The new ship had a nominal displacement of only 10,000 tons, had the 11in guns appropriate to a coast-defense ship, and her diesels gave her massive endurance and a good turn of speed, sufficient to make her a potent commerce-raider. She was faster than contemporary battleships but carried guns which could drive off any cruiser afloat - in short she could outrun anything she could not outgun, and outgun anything she could not outrun, apart from eight British and Japanese battlecruisers built during World War I (like HMS Hood).
There was an immediate uproar when the new ship appeared. The world press immediately dubbed her a "pocket battleship", although the German term for her was merely "armored ship". Examination of the design stopped there, but there was much more to the Deutschland than met the eye. For a start, her real standard displacement was 11,700 tons - a margin which allowed her designers some latitude. On the other hand, it did not permit more than a modest scale of armor protection, a 3.25-inch belt and a 3.75-inch deck, which was no better than the best heavy cruisers in other navies. Her speed was only 26 knots, enough to outrun contemporary battleships but nowhere near enough to outrun cruisers. Finally, her armament of two triple 11-inch turrets, although impressive, was ludicrously heavy for a mere commerce-raider, and not capable of rapid fire against a fast-moving target.
Although the Reichsmarine claimed the right to build more Panzerschiffe, only two more, the Admiral Graf Spee and Admiral Scheer were built. The diesels proved disappointing in service, and as battleship speeds soon rose to 28-30 knots the rationale of the design disappeared. As the Battle of the River Plate showed, the Panzerschiff was no match for well-handled cruisers, being too slow and having no means of coping with more than one opponent.
In February 1940, Adolf Hitler decided that the loss of a ship named after Germany could be a bad omen, and so she took the new name of Lützow. She had been at sea with the Admiral Graf Spee before the outbreak of war and sank two ships. Her machinery was giving trouble and so she returned to Germany for repairs in November 1939. She took part in the Norwegian campaign in 1940, and was later stationed in northern Norway to threaten Allied convoys to Russia. On 31 December 1942 she and the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper fought an abortive action against a convoy defended by eight destroyers - the feeble performance of the Lützow and Admiral Hipper in the Battle of the Barents Sea drove Hitler to threaten to disband the Navy. This led to the resignation of Grand Admiral Raeder and his replacement by Admiral Dönitz, but the heavy ships were later reprieved.
The Lützow was sent to the Baltic for training duty but later supported the army against the Soviets in the eastern Baltic. On 16 April 1945 she was badly damaged by bombs at Swinemünde and on 4 May she was blown up and scuttled. The hulk was salvaged in 1947 by the Soviets and towed to Kaliningrad (Königsberg). She was beyond repair and was scrapped at Leningrad.

Click on one of the thumbnails below to view the full picture.
	Technical data and/or diagram of Deutschland class pocket battleships.
	The funnel of Lützow.
	The launching of KMS Deutschland.
	Lützow seen here as she cruised gracefully. Notice the aircraft catapult was located between the funnel and bridge, unlike her sister ships.
	A nice frontal view of the ship. Notice the unique bridge that was not seen in her sister ships.

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