Admiral Scheer was a Deutschland-class heavy cruiser which served with the Kriegsmarine (Navy) of Nazi Germany during World War II. The vessel was named after Admiral Reinhard Scheer, German commander in the Battle of Jutland. She was laid down at the Reichsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven in June 1931 and completed by November 1934. Originally classified as an armored ship by the Reichsmarine, in February 1940 the Germans reclassified the remaining two ships of this class as heavy cruisers.
SMS Bayern was the lead ship of the Bayern class of dreadnought battleships in the German Kaiserliche Marine. The vessel was launched in February 1915 and entered service in July 1916, too late to take part in the Battle of Jutland. Her main armament consisted of eight 38 cm (15 in) guns in four turrets, which was a significant improvement over the preceding König's ten 30.5 cm (12 inch) guns. The ship was to have formed the nucleus for a fourth battle squadron in the High Seas Fleet, along with three of her sister ships. Of the other ships only one—Baden—was completed; the other two were canceled later in the war when production requirements shifted to U-boat construction.
The Mackensen class was the last class of battlecruisers to be built by Germany in World War I. The design initially called for seven ships, but three of them were redesigned as the Ersatz Yorck class. Of the four ships of the Mackensen class, Mackensen, Graf Spee, and Prinz Eitel Friedrich were launched, and Fürst Bismarck was not—but none were completed, after wartime shipbuilding priorities were redirected towards U-boats—and the ships were broken up in the early 1920s. The lead ship of the class was named for August von Mackensen, a prominent military commander during the war. In response to the Mackensen-class ships, the British Royal Navy laid down the Admiral-class battlecruisers, all but one of which would eventually be cancelled; the sole survivor, HMS Hood, was completed after the end of the war.
Admiral Hipper was the lead ship of the Admiral Hipper class of heavy cruisers which served with Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1935 and launched February 1937; Admiral Hipper entered service shortly before the outbreak of war, in April 1939. The ship was named after Admiral Franz von Hipper, commander of the German battlecruiser squadron during the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and later commander-in-chief of the German High Seas Fleet. She was armed with a main battery of eight 20.3 cm (8 in) guns and, although nominally under the 10,000-long-ton (10,160 t) limit set by the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, actually displaced over 16,000 long tons (16,260 t).
A replenishment oiler or replenishment tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds which can supply both fuel and dry stores during underway replenishment (UNREP) at sea. Many countries have used replenishment oilers.
SMS Hindenburg was a battlecruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine, the third ship of the Derfflinger class, built to a slightly modified design. She carried the same battery of eight 30.5 cm (12 in) guns, but in improved turrets that allowed them to fire further. The ship was also slightly larger and faster than her two sister ships. She was named in honor of Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, the victor of the Battle of Tannenberg and the Battle of the Masurian Lakes, as well as Supreme Commander of the German armies from 1916. The ship was the last capital ship of any type built for the German navy during World War I.
Emden was a light cruiser built for the German Navy in the early 1920s. She was the only ship of her class and was the first large warship built in Germany after the end of World War I. She was built at the Reichsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven; her keel was laid down in December 1921 and her completed hull was launched in January 1925. Emden was commissioned into the fleet in October 1925. Her design was heavily informed by the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles and the dictates of the Allied disarmament commission. Displacement was capped at 6,000 long tons (6,100 t), though like all German warships built in the period, Emden exceeded the size limitations. She was armed with a main battery of surplus 15 cm (5.9 in) guns left over from World War I, mounted in single gun turrets, as mandated by the Allied powers. She had a top speed of 29 knots.
USS Alameda, was a United States Navy tanker in commission from 1919 to 1922. She was built as the civilian tanker SS Alameda, but transferred to the U.S. Navy after completion in 1919. She was sold for commercial service and operated under the names SS Olean and SS Sweep before she was transferred to the Navy again in World War II as USS Silver Cloud (IX-143).
The Admiral Hipper class was a group of five heavy cruisers built by Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine beginning in the mid-1930s. The class comprised Admiral Hipper, the lead ship, Blücher, Prinz Eugen, Seydlitz, and Lützow. Only the first three ships of the class saw action with the German Navy during World War II. Work on Seydlitz stopped when she was approximately 95 percent complete; it was decided to convert her into an aircraft carrier, but this was not completed either. Lützow was sold incomplete to the Soviet Union in 1940.
SM U-151 or SM Unterseeboot 151 was a World War I U-boat of the Imperial German Navy, constructed by Reiherstieg Schiffswerfte & Maschinenfabrik at Hamburg and launched on 4 April 1917. From 1917 until the Armistice in November 1918 she was part of the U-Kreuzer Flotilla, and was responsible for 34 ships sunk (88,395 GRT) and 7 ships damaged.
USS Conecuh (AOR-110) was a fleet replenishment tanker, originally built by F. Schichau, Danzig, in 1938 as a combination oiler and supply vessel or "Troßschiff" for the Kriegsmarine and christened as Dithmarschen. Taken over by British authorities at Bremerhaven when World War II ended, Dithmarschen was allocated to the United States Navy on 15 January 1946 by the Inter-Allied Reparations Commission.
The 3"/50 caliber gun in United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun fired a projectile 3 inches (76 mm) in diameter, and the barrel was 50 calibers long. Different guns of this caliber were used by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard from 1900 through to 1990 on a variety of combatant and transport ship classes.
The Derfflinger class was a class of three battlecruisers of the Imperial German Navy. The ships were ordered for the 1912–13 Naval Building Program of the German Imperial Navy as a reply to the Royal Navy's two new Lion-class battlecruisers that had been launched a few years earlier. The preceding Moltke class and the incrementally improved Seydlitz represented the end of the evolution of Germany's first generation of battlecruisers. The Derfflinger class had considerable improvements, including a larger primary armament, all of which was mounted on the centerline. The ships were also larger than the preceding classes. The Derfflinger class used a similar propulsion system, and as a result of the increased displacement were slightly slower.
The Cöln class of light cruisers was Germany's last class commissioned before her defeat in World War I. Originally planned to comprise ten ships, only two were completed; Cöln and Dresden. Five more were launched, but not completed: Wiesbaden, Magdeburg, Leipzig, Rostock and Frauenlob, while another three were laid down but not launched: Ersatz Cöln, Ersatz Emden and Ersatz Karlsruhe. The design was a slightly modified version of the preceding Königsberg class.
SMS Medusa was a member of the ten-ship Gazelle class of light cruisers that were built for the German Kaiserliche Marine in the late 1890s and early 1900s. The Gazelle class was the culmination of earlier unprotected cruiser and aviso designs, combining the best aspects of both types in what became the progenitor of all future light cruisers of the Imperial fleet. Built to be able to serve with the main German fleet and as a colonial cruiser, she was armed with a battery of ten 10.5 cm (4.1 in) guns and a top speed of 21.5 knots. Medusa served in all three German navies—the Kaiserliche Marine, the Reichsmarine of Weimar Germany, and the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany—over the span of over forty years.
Lützow was a heavy cruiser of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine, the fifth and final member of the Admiral Hipper class, but was never completed. The ship was laid down in August 1937 and launched in July 1939, after which the Soviet Union requested to purchase the ship. The Kriegsmarine agreed to the sale in February 1940, and the transfer was completed on 15 April. The vessel was still incomplete when sold to the Soviet Union, with only half of her main battery of eight 20.3 cm (8 in) guns installed and much of the superstructure missing.
The German torpedo boat T7 was one of a dozen Type 35 torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine during the late 1930s. Completed in 1939, she was not combat ready until mid-1940 when she spent several months escorting minelayers as they laid minefields in the North Sea and the English Channel. The boat participated in an abortive attempt to attack several convoys off the Scottish coast in November. T7 returned to Germany for a refit in January 1941 and then supported operations in the Baltic Sea after the start of Operation Barbarossa in June. The boat was one of the escorts for several commerce raiders passing through the English Channel in late 1941 and then escorted German ships in Norwegian waters in mid-1942. She was briefly placed in reserve later that year and was then reactivated for service with the Torpedo School. T7 was sunk in an air raid in July 1944, but was refloated several months later. She was never repaired and was scrapped in 1947–1949.
The German patrol boat PA 2 was a captured French vessel in the service of the Kriegsmarine in the 15 Vorpostenflotille as a Channel convoy escort throughout the latter half of World War II.
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