Deutschland

Deutschland-Class Cruisers were built for Germany's Kriegsmarine during the years of 1929 to 1936. Their design incorporated several radical innovations to save weight. They were the first major warships to use welding and all-diesel propulsion.

Deutschland-Class Cruisers served between the years of1933–1945.

Succeeded by:  Admiral Hipper class

Deutschland-Class Cruisers, KM Deutschland (later re-named Lützow), Admiral Scheer and Admiral Graf Spee due to their heavy armament of six 11 in guns and lighter weight, the British began referring to the vessels as "pocket battleships". Before the outbreak of World War II, Deutschland and Admiral Graf Spee were deployed to the Atlantic to put them in position to attack Allied merchant traffic once war was declared. Deutschland was not particularly successful on her raiding sortie, during which she sank or captured three ships. She then returned to Germany where she was renamed Lützow. Admiral Graf Spee sank nine vessels in the South Atlantic, then she was confronted by three British cruisers at the Battle of the River Plate. Although she damaged the British ships severely, she was herself damaged and her engines were in poor condition. Coupled with false reports of British reinforcements, the state of the ship convinced her commander to scuttle the ship outside Montevideo.

Lützow and Admiral Scheer were deployed to Norway in 1942 to join the attacks on Allied convoys to the Soviet Union. Admiral Scheer conducted Operation Wunderland in August 1942, a sortie into the Kara Sea to attack Soviet merchant shipping, though it ended without significant success. Lützow participated in the Battle of the Barents Sea in December 1942, a failed attempt to destroy a convoy. Both ships were damaged in the course of their deployment to Norway, and eventually returned to Germany for repairs. They ended their careers bombarding advancing Soviet forces on the Eastern Front; both ships were destroyed by British bombers in the final weeks of the war.