adrian%cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK (Adrian Hurt) (11/23/89)
From: Adrian Hurt <adrian%cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK> [mod.note: My thanks to readers who have corrected my erroneous German. For the record, Adm. Graf Spee was a panzerschiff; her class were all panzerschiffe (plural). However, they might be called panzerschiffen if it were raining in Dusseldorf on a Thursday, or something. - Bill] In article <11502@cbnews.ATT.COM> Bill Thacker writes: >The German panzerschiff Luetzow arrives at the Baltic port of Gdynia >concluding her first Atlantic raid. She sank only two merchantmen, >both under her previous name, Deutschland. She was renamed on the 15th, >to prevent loss of face in the event of her sinking. Both the Luetzow and the Admiral Scheer underwent some structural modifications as well. The Luetzow always looked different from her sisters; while she had a control tower similar to German light cruisers, consisting of a thin column with a few platforms, the Scheer and Graf Spee had a heavier tower, octagonal in section. The Luetzow's catapult was forward of the funnel; the other two had theirs aft of the funnel. Finally, the Luetzow's forward structure looked different to the others, being more rounded at the front. At the start, all three ships had straight bows. The Luetzow and the Admiral Scheer were both given "clipper" bows. They also received funnel caps. The Admiral Scheer had its old octagonal control tower replaced with one similar to the Luetzow's. These modifications were carried out some time after the sinking of the Admiral Graf Spee. [mod.note: The Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were also retrofitted with clipper bows. They were notoriously we in North Atlantic seas, with numerous complaints about green water over the bows. - Bill ] It is interesting to consider the classification awarded these ships. The Allies called them "pocket battleships". The Germans originally called them "Panzerschiffe"; literally, "armoured ships". According to the book "Pocket Battleship", they were later reclassified as heavy cruisers - at least, that is what the author kept calling the Scheer, and he was her captain. -- "Keyboard? How quaint!" - M. Scott Adrian Hurt | JANET: adrian@uk.ac.hw.cs UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian | ARPA: adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk