Heavy Cruisers of the Admiral Hipper Class Free
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FREE HEAVY CRUISERS OF THE ADMIRAL HIPPER CLASS PDF Gerhard Koop,Klaus-Peter Schmolke | 208 pages | 06 Jun 2014 | Pen & Sword Books Ltd | 9781848321953 | English | Barnsley, United Kingdom Heavy Cruisers of the Admiral Hipper and the Prinz Eugen class Admiral Hipperthe first of five ships of her class, 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 named after Admiral Franz von Hippercommander of the German battlecruiser squadron during the Battle of Jutland in and later commander-in-chief of the German High Seas Fleet. She was armed with a main battery of eight Admiral Hipper saw a significant amount of action during the war, notably present during the Battle of the Atlantic. In Decembershe broke out into the Atlantic Ocean to operate against Allied merchant shipping, though this operation ended without significant success. In FebruaryAdmiral Hipper sortied again, sinking several merchant vessels before eventually returning to Germany via the Denmark Strait. As a result, Admiral Hipper was returned to Germany and decommissioned for repairs. The ship was never restored to operational status, however, and Heavy Cruisers of the Admiral Hipper Class 3 MayRoyal Air Force bombers severely damaged her while she was in Kiel. Her crew scuttled the ship at her mooringsand in Julyshe was raised and towed to Heikendorfer Bay. She was ultimately broken up for scrap in — and her bell is currently on display at the Laboe Naval Memorial. The Admiral Hipper class of heavy cruisers was ordered in the context of German naval rearmament after the Nazi Party came to power in and repudiated the disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles. Admiral Hipper was After the installation of a clipper bow during fitting out, her overall length increased to Admiral Hipper was powered by three sets of geared steam turbineswhich were supplied with steam by twelve ultra-high pressure oil-fired boilers. Admiral Hipper ' s primary armament was eight She had four triple The ship was equipped with three Arado Ar seaplanes and one catapult. A raked funnel cap was also installed. The ship also made port calls to Heavy Cruisers of the Admiral Hipper Class Baltic ports, including cities in Estonia and Sweden. In August, the ship conducted live fire drills in the Baltic. She was briefly used Heavy Cruisers of the Admiral Hipper Class patrol the Baltic, but she did not see combat, and was quickly returned to training exercises. Sea trials in the Baltic resumed in Januarybut severe ice restrained the ship to port. On 17 February, the Kriegsmarine pronounced the ship fully operational, and on the following day, Admiral Hipper began her first major wartime patrol. A third destroyer, Wolfgang Zenkerwas forced to turn back after sustaining damage from ice. The ships operated under the command of Admiral Wilhelm Marschall. KzS Heye was given command of Group 2 during the operation. The ships steamed out of the roadstead at midnight on the night of 6—7 April. While steaming off the Norwegian coast, Admiral Hipper was ordered to divert course to locate the destroyer Bernd von Arnimwhich had fallen behind Group 1. Admiral Hipper rained fire on Glowwormscoring several hits. Glowworm attempted to flee, but when it became apparent she could not break away from the pursuing cruiser, Heavy Cruisers of the Admiral Hipper Class turned toward Admiral Hipper and fired a spread of torpedoes, all of which missed. The British destroyer scored one hit on Admiral Hipper ' s starboard bow before a rudder malfunction set the ship on a collision course with the German cruiser. Forty survivors were picked up Heavy Cruisers of the Admiral Hipper Class the German ship. After trying to purchase fuel from locals, the aircrew were detained and handed over to the police. After arriving off Trondheim, Admiral Hipper successfully passed herself off as a British warship long enough to steam past the Norwegian coastal artillery batteries. The ship entered the harbor and docked shortly before to debark the mountain troops. After the ground troops seized control of the coastal batteries, the ship left Trondheim, bound for Germany. She was escorted by Friedrich Eckoldt ; she reached Wilhelmshaven on 12 April, and went into drydock. The dockyard workers discovered the ship had been damaged more severely by the collision with Glowworm than had previously been thought. Nevertheless, repairs were completed in the span of two weeks. Admiral Marschall organized a mission to seize Harstad in early June ; Admiral Hipperthe battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenauand four destroyers were tasked with the operation. Marschall's squadron was then tasked with intercepting an Allied convoy that was reported to be in the area. The ships failed to find the convoy, and returned to Trondheim to refuel. On 13 June, the ship's anti-aircraft gunners shot down an attacking British bomber. The ship was seized and sent to occupied Norway with a prize crew. Admiral Hipper was ordered to leave the Norwegian theatre on 5 August for an overhaul in Wilhelmshaven. This was completed on 9 September and with a new commanding officer, Wilhelm Meiselthe cruiser made ready to participate in Operation Sea Lionthe planned invasion of the United Kingdom. Admiral Hipper's role would have been a diversionary foray into Heavy Cruisers of the Admiral Hipper Class North Sea, Operation Herbstreise or "Autumn Journey", with the aim of luring the British Home Fleet away from the intended invasion routes in the English Channel. Following the postponement of that operation, on 24 September the ship left Wilhelmshaven on a mission break out into the Atlantic Ocean to raid merchant traffic. The fire forced the crew to shut down the ship's propulsion system until the blaze could be brought under control; this rendered Admiral Hipper motionless for several hours on the open sea. The ship made a second attempt to break out into the Atlantic on 30 November; she successfully navigated the Denmark Strait undetected on 6 December. Five of the twenty ships were allocated to Operation Excess. The convoy was protected by a powerful escort composed of the aircraft carriers Furious and Argusthe cruisers BerwickBonaventureand Dunedinand six destroyers. She quickly withdrew, using her main guns to keep the destroyers at bay. Ten minutes later, Berwick reappeared off Admiral Hipper ' s port bow; [25] [27] the German cruiser fired several salvos from her forward turrets and scored hits on the British cruiser's rear turrets, waterline, and forward superstructure. Admiral Hipper then disengaged, to prevent the British destroyers from closing to launch a torpedo attack. By now, the ship was running low on fuel, and so she put into Brest in occupied France on 27 December. On 1 FebruaryAdmiral Hipper embarked on her second Atlantic sortie. The following morning, Admiral Hipper closed in and sank several of the ships. She therefore returned to Brest on 15 February. British bombers were regularly attacking the port, however, and the Kriegsmarine therefore decided Admiral Hipper should return to Germany, where she could be better protected. Before the ship could leave, damage caused to the ship's hull by wrecks in the Heavy Cruisers of the Admiral Hipper Class had to be repaired. After completion of the refit, Admiral Hipper conducted sea trials in the Baltic before putting into Gotenhafen on 21 December for some minor refitting. By March, the ship was again fully operational. Several British submarines were patrolling the area, Heavy Cruisers of the Admiral Hipper Class failed to intercept the German flotilla. Admiral Hipper and her escorts reached their destination on 21 March. Swedish intelligence had meanwhile reported the German departures to the British Admiraltywhich ordered the convoy to disperse. Aware that they had been detected, the Germans aborted Heavy Cruisers of the Admiral Hipper Class operation and turned over the attack to U-boats and the Luftwaffe. The scattered vessels could no longer be protected by the convoy escorts, and the Germans sank 21 Heavy Cruisers of the Admiral Hipper Class the 34 isolated transports. After her return to port, Admiral Hipper was transferred to Bogen Bay near Narvik for repairs to her propulsion system. Vizeadmiral Oskar Kummetz commanded the squadron from Admiral Hipper. Kummetz dispatched the destroyer Z27 to sink the two Soviet ships. In Decemberconvoy traffic to the Soviet Union resumed. Raeder ordered the forces assigned to Operation Regenbogen into action. Kummetz's Heavy Cruisers of the Admiral Hipper Class was to divide his force in half; he would take Admiral Hipper and three destroyers north of the convoy to attack it and draw away the escorts. At on the 31st, the British destroyer Obdurate spotted the three destroyers screening for Admiral Hipper ; the Germans opened fire first. Four of the other five destroyers escorting the convoy rushed to join the fight, while Achates laid a smoke screen to cover the convoy. Kummetz then turned back north to draw the destroyers away. Captain Robert Sherbrookethe British escort commander, left two destroyers to cover the convoy while he took the remaining four to pursue Admiral Hipper. Rear Admiral Robert Burnett 's Force R, centered on the cruisers Sheffield and Jamaicastanding by in distant support of the Allied convoy, [44] raced to the scene. The cruisers engaged Admiral Hipperwhich had been firing to port at the destroyer Obedient. Burnett's ships approached from Admiral Hipper ' s starboard side and achieved complete surprise. The other two hits started a fire in her aircraft hangar. She fired a single salvo at the cruisers before turning toward them, her escorting destroyers screening her with smoke. After emerging from the smoke screen, Hipper was again engaged by Burnett's cruisers.