The first version. Deutschland Hubert Alles
The Panzershiff could travel twice the distance of any heavy cruiser of its time.
On the move, due to the unbearable hum of diesels, the officers in the wardroom communicated with the help of notes. These are the funny, but insignificant features from the life of the German "pocket battleship".
An essential feature of the "pickpocket" was his weapon. The ship, similar in size to the "Washington cruiser", carried a battery of six 283-mm guns housed in two main battery towers weighing 600 tons each! This is not counting the eight six-inch guns and the battery of anti-aircraft "Flak" caliber 88 or 105 mm.
In terms of their power, the 28 cm SK C / 28 guns occupied an intermediate position between the main ships of cruisers and battleships. Three-hundred-kilogram shells pierced Washington's defenses like foil. The outcome of the battle was a foregone conclusion. For light cruisers, a single hit might be enough.
The second feature of the Deutschland is its firing range. No, with a capital letter: Range!
28 cm SK C / 28 - one of the longest-range naval artillery systems (over 36 km with a barrel elevation angle of 40 °).
Everything about these guns was perfect. Excellent ballistic characteristics were successfully combined with high barrel survivability (340 shots - 3 full ammunition).
The "battleship" status of the ships was emphasized not only by the caliber of the guns, but also by the fire control system, which was unusually developed for only two towers. It included three equivalent posts, one each in the conning tower and one more on the top of the bow superstructure mast. Rangefinder equipment included a 6-meter stereoscopic rangefinder in the forward post and a 10-meter one in the other two … Comparing them in number and equipment with the rather primitive means of British heavy cruisers demonstrates the complete superiority of the German approach to artillery power.
Legendary German quality in literally everything. The fastening of the hull elements was duplicated by welding and riveting at the same time. "Panzershiff" was not built for the "Baltic puddle": they had to plow the oceans, in time with the ridges of the sea under a tent of bad weather, along convex lines of latitudes and longitudes.
The relatively low speed (27-28 knots) was partly offset by the phenomenal autonomy and the highest dynamics. Acceleration and the ability to un-anchor in a matter of minutes - when “normal” cruisers needed half an hour or an hour to separate the pairs.
“High-speed” engines for warships were manufactured by MAN: eight 9-cylinder diesel engines with a maximum power of 7000 hp. In one of the raids, the “Panzershiff” traveled almost non-stop for 46,419 miles in 161 days. A unique ship. The full supply of fuel on board was enough for 20,000 miles.
The Anglo-Saxons tied Germany up with a host of restrictions: ships' displacement no more than 10 thousand tons, caliber no more than 11 inches. The German engineering genius brilliantly overcame the “Versailles barrier”, having managed to get the maximum benefit in seemingly impossible conditions.
Build a super-armed ship, almost a battleship, within the dimensions of a heavy cruiser.
Having met the British squadron at La Plata, "Admiral Graf Spee" withstood the battle alone against three British cruisers. They say he was stronger than each of the opponents individually? So this is precisely the merit of its creators!
The second version is rather skeptical
Upon learning of the approach of the Rhinaun, the Germans immediately flooded the Panzershiff in the roadstead of Montevideo.
The appearance of "Rhinaun" is described as the end of the world. As proof of the absolute hopelessness of the situation in which “Spee” found himself.
Come on, where did the panic come from?
What were the brave fascists afraid of?
A 1916 veteran with six main guns? Wow. Objectively, “Rinaun”, waiting for “Spee” at the exit from La Plata, is not yet the most formidable of possible opponents.
If the Germans were offered “Hood” or the French “Dunkirk” instead of “Rhinaun”, what would they do then? Fought for a place in the boats?
It's not about the twists and turns of history, but about simpler things. Barely colliding with the shadow of the "battleship", a highly protected ship with a standard displacement of 25+ thousand tons, armed with 15 '' artillery, the fascist "miracle Yudo" fell on its side and died on its own, not even daring to enter the battle.
The whole concept of the German "pocket battleship", which, due to its unique set of characteristics, could dictate the rules of naval battles, is idle talk. The use of the word "battleship" in relation to "Deutschland" is as ridiculous as meddling with a paper boat in an elite yacht club.
When meeting with the classic "ships of the line", the behavior of the German "pickpockets" did not differ from the behavior of ordinary heavy cruisers. They fled, remembering all the saints. The attack on the formation or the convoy, which had a battleship in its composition, like any attempt to resist in general, was suicide for the Deutschland. With a threefold difference in the mass of the projectile (300 versus 871 kg) and incomparable security, there was nothing to hope for.
15 inches is a terrible argument. It is no coincidence that even the Scharnhorst from the Gneisenau fled from the “outdated” British “Rhinaun”. Another "miracle" of German engineering: the nedolinkors, who until the end of their days suffered from insufficient firepower.
As for the pickpockets, everything is clear enough with them. It was not possible to deceive the laws of nature by erecting something resembling an aircraft with a limited displacement. But this is not yet a reason to be upset. The real reason lies elsewhere:
Unlike cruisers with a traditional boiler-turbine power plant, capable of escaping danger at a speed of 32-36 knots, the German Deutschlands could not crawl away from a superior enemy.… Rescue from the British LKR was, in principle, impossible: "Ripals" and "Hood" are much faster. When encountering other ships of the line, insufficient speed has always played against the Panzerschiff.
Can a successful escape from Queen Elizabeth be guaranteed with a speed difference of 2-3 knots? With that incomparable difference in firepower, when just one hit could immobilize (if not finish off) a “pickpocket”? Remember the destruction caused by the hit of a 15-inch projectile in the LC "Giulio Cesare"!
By the way, if you remembered the Italians, then their modernized battleships, preserved from WWI, cut the wave at 28 knots.
The pre-war French LKs "Dunkirk" and "Strasbourg" made almost 30 knots.
And suddenly "Deutschland", a brilliant German invention. Which, with low security, corresponding to all TKRs of the pre-war period, was inferior in speed (by a huge margin!) To all cruisers and even some battleships. Admiral Zenker's concept of “stronger than those who are faster, faster than those who are stronger” did not work in practice. The German supercruiser, for all its uniqueness and a number of undeniable merits, was a useless combat unit.
How were you going to fight in such conditions?
If we reconsider the area of application and present the Panzershiff in the role of “large gunboats” in the Baltic, then one of the main advantages is lost in a limited theater of operations - a breathtaking cruising range.
Acceptance of "Deutschland" as an experimental ship "breakdown of the pen" for the German designers, affected by the decisions of Versailles, hinders the circumstance of their serial construction. Three buildings - one after the other. The Germans invested in them seriously, in the face of a clear lack of resources for military shipbuilding. Throughout the first half of the 1930s. (before the laying of the Hippers and Scharnhorst), these ridiculous ships were considered the mainstream and the main striking force of the Kriegsmarines.
The Battle of La Plata demonstrated the essence of "pocket battleships".
The heroic battle of a German raider with three cruisers (of which two are light) dims at the mention of a simple fact - the mass of the Graf Spee's side salvo (2162 kg) exceeded the total mass of his opponents' salvo.
The result is a grueling firefight. An hour later, closer to 7 am, the German "Wunderschiff" tried to escape from the battlefield, but, driven by a sense of duty, returned and continued to fight.
Instead of a quick and easy victory over Exeter (objectively, the weakest and most primitive heavy cruiser, armed with only six main guns), a drama ensued that cost the pickpocket himself his life. The damaged “Admiral Graf Spee” hammered into the mouth of the La Plata, and did not manage to finish off his opponent.
It is worth noting that “Spee” was technically the best among the “Panzerschiffs”. Each of the three ships, "Deutschland-Lutzow", "Admiral Scheer" and "Admiral Graf Spee", being formally representatives of the same type, had significant differences in design. So, the mass of vertical booking of the first two "pickpockets" differed by 200 tons. “Graf Spee” had even more massive protection. For the manufacture of bulkheads, it used the best quality steel, grade K n / a (Krupp neue Art), or "Wotan".
And if even he had a hard time, how would his less perfect brothers have looked in that battle?
There was also such a nuisance: the medium caliber of "pickpockets" - eight 149 mm guns in single mounts, despite their high ballistic characteristics, did not have a centralized fire control post. Therefore, their combat value was questionable. And the towers themselves and 100 people. their servants have become useless ballast. But who is to blame for that, except the fascists themselves?
Worse, the walls of the SK towers only provided protection against splashing water. As a result, the lead "Deutschland" received non-illusory damage during fire contact with a Soviet bomber. In 1937, while on the roadstead of Fr. Ibiza, the cruiser was hit by the republican "SB" under the control of Nikolai Ostryakov: as a result of the hit of two 50-kg (according to other sources, 100-kg) aerial bombs, fires and the subsequent detonation of 6 "shells on the fenders in the SK tower, two dozen died crew members, over 80 were injured.
So the enthusiasm for the German engineering genius is an unconfirmed myth. If we consider, for example, the Japanese navy, then the problem of "artificial restrictions" was solved in much more elegant ways. First, as elsewhere, the limit was somewhat violated: the standard displacement of all "Takao" - "Mogami" exceeded the established values by 15-20%. Japanese and German cruisers were of the same size. As a result, the "Japanese" - speeds of 35-36 knots and weapons of 10 guns main caliber. Plus versatile artillery. Plus the famous torpedoes. Even taking into account the 2.5-fold difference in mass between 8 '' and 11 '' shells, ten barrels in five turrets at twice the rate of fire provided similar fire performance. And a quicker zeroing.
The prohibited surplus displacement was “dumped” in a cunning Japanese way - in peacetime, “Mogami” carried “fake” towers with six-inches. This is the level! This is a real genius and ingenuity.
And many say: Germans. Engineering thought. In heaven there are mechanics, in hell there are policemen.
"Pocket battleships" are a fundamentally unsuccessful project: from their very concept to individual technical issues in the implementation of the idea. A project that consumed an unmeasured amount of funds without any intelligible result.
Solution
Let everyone take it on their own. Contrary to popular belief, the truth does not lie in the middle, which is why it is always so difficult to find it. The author himself believes the second option to be correct. And not only because he is a convinced Germanophobe. The main proof of the high combat capabilities of the "Panzerschiff" is the refusal to continue their construction. The brilliant idea was not developed.
The next "pickpockets" with reinforced armor and increased weight and up to 20 thousand tons, known under the designation "D" and "E", were dismantled on the slipway in 1934, five months after the laying. The reserve was used for the construction of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.
To summarize, the Germans threw out of their minds all their "genius" and set about building LKR with the usual set of characteristics for ships of this class (with the exception of insufficient firepower).
