The text part of this book describes technical specifications of the ship and her operational history in detail. This is accompanied by more than 100 color illustrations showing Admiral Graf Spee's appearance during the Battle of River Plate. Elements that are shown in detail include armament, rangefinders, radar, searchlights, catapult with aircraft, etc. In addition, superstructure's different camouflage schemes from the 1939 raid are shown. Blueprints in 1:350, 1:200, 1:100 and 1:50 scales (general views and details) are included on a separate sheet. This publication is an invaluable help to any modeler working on this ship's replica. REVIEWS Tackling Trumpeter's 1:350 kit? Fact-checking 1:700 offerings? Make this handy handbook your Graf Spee guide. Cybermodeler
The Deutschland-class ships were the first heavy vessels of the German Navy after the First World War. In Germany they were classified as "Panzerschiffe", but in other countries the term "pocket battleships" was very popular. The third and last vessel of this class was Admiral Graf Spee. She was laid down on 1 October 1932, launched on 30 June 1934 and commissioned on 6 January 1936. During the Spanish Civil War the ship patrolled coastal waters of this country. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, on 21 August 1939 the ship steamed out for the Atlantic. From 26 September she was fighting Allied shipping, sinking nine British vessels. On the morning of 13 December Graf Spee encountered a group of Allied warships (the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter and light cruisers HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles) near South American coast. The gun battle that ensued went to the history as the Battle of the River Plate. Both the Exeter and her German enemy were damaged during the course of the engagement. The commander of Graf Spee, Kapitän zur See Hans Langsdorff decided to break off the battle and enter the nearby port of Montevideo in Uruguay. According to the international law the German corsair could not stay in a neutral port longer than 72 hours. Convinced that massive British forces were concentrating in the vicinity and hence the escape was impossible, Langsdorf decided to save the crew and scuttle the ship. On 17 December Admiral Graf Spee steamed to the roadstead and there the explosive charges were fired. The German ship sunk in shallow waters and her commander shot himself three days later in a hotel in Buenos Aires. The wreckage was penetrated even during the war by British divers in order to recover more valuable items and obtain information about German technology. In the post-war years many single parts of the ship were recovered.
This tale of the Battle of the River Plate follows the machinations of the German war machine as Kapitan zur See Hans Langsdorff commands the pocket battleship Graf Spee on a mission to cripple British shipping. Through clever subterfuge and daring, the Graf Spee takes ship after ship, ultimately forcing the British Navy to send twenty ships in search of the elusive German vessel. Pope presents a true, enthralling account of the men, ships, and tactics that culminated in this naval action which so brilliantly began Britain's war at sea.
A concise, authoritative, heavily illustrated summary of this class of German WWII-era warships, covering their design histories and careers. The Deutschland class included three ships of a design so revolutionary that it defied conventional categories. Deutschland (later renamed Lützow), Admiral Scheer, and Admiral Graf Spee were simply termed Panzerschiffe (armored ships) by the Germans, but they were known to their opponents by the far more evocative term Pocket Battleships. Part of a six-volume series on the German Navy’s WWII-era warships written by Gerhard Koop and illustrated by Klaus-Peter Schmolke, this book contains an account of the development of the Deutschland class, a detailed description of the ships with full technical details, and an outline of their service, heavily illustrated with plans, battle maps, and a substantial collection of photographs.
“Outstanding . . . covers the major units starting with the Deutschland Class, through the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, to the Bismarck and Tirpitz.” —WW2 Cruisers The Kriegsmarine’s capital ships—Deutschland, Admiral Scheer, Graf Spee, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Bismarck, and Tirpitz—continue to generate intense interest among warship enthusiasts, despite the fact that no new source of information has been unearthed in decades. What has come to light, however, is a growing number of photographs, many from private albums and some that lay forgotten in obscure archives. These include many close-ups and onboard shots of great value to modelmakers, as well as rare action photos taken during wartime operations. This book is a careful selection of the best of these, but on a grand scale, with around one hundred images devoted to each ship, allowing in-depth coverage of its whole career, from launching and fitting out to whatever fate the war had waiting for it. For sake of completeness, there are even sections reproducing the various design studies that led to each class, while an appendix covers the uncompleted Graf Zeppelin, Germany’s only attempt to build an aircraft carrier, the vessel which clearly displaced the battleship as the capital ship of the world’s navies during the war. Essays on technical backgrounds and design origins by the well-known expert Siegfried Breyer and explanatory captions by Miroslaw Skwiot draw out the full significance of this magnificent collection of photos. “Highly recommended for those who wish to admire seven of the most magnificent warships built anywhere in the twentieth century. We will certainly never see their like again.” —Journal of the Australian Naval Institute
Days before the outbreak of World War II a handful of German commerce raiders put out to sea to prey on Allied merchantmen. Amongst them was the Panzerschiff ('armoured ship') Graf Spee, a formidable warship that boasted the firepower of a battleship but the size, speed and range of a cruiser. When World War II commenced, under the command of Captain Langsdorff the Graf Spee began a hunting spree across the South Atlantic and the Indian Ocean that eventual took her to the River Plate in search of her next victim – an Allied convoy. Instead she found three Royal Navy cruisers under the command of Commodore Harwood, eager to put an end to the 'pocket battleship' that had been terrorizing Allied merchant ships. Featuring full colour artwork, archive photographs and meticulous research, this comprehensive volume explores the thrilling story behind the Battle of the River Plate, an engagement that unquestionably demonstrated the effectiveness of British seapower and diplomacy on an international stage.
Spee's ships survived for as long as they did is a reflection of the primitive state of communications and methods of detection available in 1914. Their demise was as much by chance and coincidence at it was by good planning and concerted action by the British. The book includes material on several German and British ship and squadron commanders and provides a detailed overview of the opening months of the war in the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans. The fact that.
After the end of World War I, the German Navy came up with the concept of the Panzerschiffe, or Pocket Battleship, as a method of circumventing treaty limitations on the size and types of ship Germany was permitted to build. New, more modern production methods, where welded construction prevailed over the older riveting process, were combined with the development of modern engines capable of fast speeds and a very powerful armament, far superior to that on any enemy Cruisers. This book covers these three sister ships, the 'Deutschland', the 'Admiral Graf Spee' and the 'Admiral Scheer', which formed the core of the Kriegsmarine's fighting power at the start of World War II.
The exciting account of the famous German battle cruiser which sank 152,000 tons of Allied shipping. A LUCKY SHIP The Germans called her their “lucky ship”—the heavily gunned, heavily armoured Admiral Scheer, sister ship of the ill-fated Graf Spee and the Deutschland. With and operational range of 19,000 miles, she quickly became a nightmare to the British Admiralty. This is the dramatic story of one of the most successful fighting ships in the German Navy, told by two German officers: who commanded her. It also contains the thrilling account, as seen for the first time through German eyes, of the sinking of the Jervis Bay. This lightly armed auxiliary cruiser went down with all guns blazing in a daring and gallant attempt to protect her convoy from the mighty dreadnought. “This story of a great raider, searching out enemy; commerce under the nose of powerful naval forces is always enthralling.”—N. Y. Herald Tribune “A first-rate account of warfare at sea.”—Cleveland Plain Deale “Gives an unusual glimpse into what the Nazi side of the war was like.”—Chicago Tribune
