Admiral Scheer was a
Deutschland classThe Deutschland class was a series of three Panzerschiffe , a form of heavily armed cruiser, built by the German Reichsmarine more or less in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. The class is named after the first ship of this class to be completed...
heavy cruiserThe heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...
(often termed a pocket battleship) which served with the
KriegsmarineThe Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945, during the Nazi regime, superseding the Reichsmarine, and the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht.-Command structure:Adolf Hitler was the commander-in-chief...
of
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
The vessel was named after Admiral
Reinhard ScheerReinhard Scheer was an Admiral in the German Imperial Navy. He was in command of the Kaiserliche Marine High Seas Fleet at the Battle of Jutland, one of the largest naval battles in history....
. Originally classified as an armored ship (
Panzerschiff) in Germany, in February 1940 the
KriegsmarineThe Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945, during the Nazi regime, superseding the Reichsmarine, and the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht.-Command structure:Adolf Hitler was the commander-in-chief...
reclassified the remaining two ships of this class as
heavy cruiserThe heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...
s. The
pocket battleship title was provided by the British. The ship was one of the few that was considered to be
maleMale refers to the sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilization...
, meaning that its crew referred to the ship as
he instead of the usual
sheShe is the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in Modern English.She can also can refer to:-Chemistry:*SHE, standard hydrogen electrode, against which all other half-cell potentials are measured...
.
History
The ship was launched on April 1, 1933 and christened by Frau Marianne Besserer, daughter of Admiral Reinhard Scheer.
During World War II,
Admiral Scheer, under Captain
Theodor KranckeTheodor Krancke was an admiral with the Kriegsmarine during World War II and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves....
, was by far the most successful capital ship commerce raider of the war, with a raid as far as the
Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by South Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean...
. Near the end of the war, he was bombed by the
RAFThe Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
while docked in
KielKiel is the capital and most populous city of the northern German state Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of over 236,000 .Kiel is approximately to the north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore...
, causing him to capsize and sink. After the war his upturned hull was partially scrapped, with what remained being buried under rubble as the dock was filled in to make a "car park".
Spanish Civil War
His first mission began in July 1936 when he was sent to
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
to evacuate German civilians caught up in the
Spanish Civil WarThe Spanish Civil War was a major conflict that devastated Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939. It began after an attempted coup d'état by a group of Spanish Army generals against the government of the Second Spanish Republic, then under the leadership of president Manuel Azaña...
. He also spied on Soviet ships carrying supplies to the Republicans and protected ships delivering German weapons to Nationalist forces. On 31 May 1937 he bombarded Republican installations at
AlmeríaAlmería is the capital of the province of Almería, Spain. It is located in southeastern Spain on the Mediterranean Sea.-History:The name "Almería" stems from Andalusian Arabic المرية Al-Mariyya: "The Mirror", comparing it to the "The Mirror of the Sea".The city was founded by caliph Abd ar-Rahman...
in reprisal for an air attack on his sister ship
DeutschlandDeutschland , was the lead ship of her class that served in the German Kriegsmarine before and during World War II. The ship was originally classified as a Panzerschiff by Germany. The Kriegsmarine reclassified them as a heavy cruisers in February 1940...
two days earlier. By the end of June 1938 he had completed eight deployments to Spain.
Towards the end of its Spanish deployments, Admiral Scheer served in April 1938 as polling booth for the extraterritorial vote of German and Austrian clerics, studying at the German college of
Santa Maria dell'AnimaThe Church of Our Lady of the Souls is a Roman Catholic church in central Rome, just west of the Piazza Navona and near the Santa Maria della Pace church. It was the national church of the Holy Roman Empire in Rome...
, on the question of the German annexation of Austria ("
AnschlussThe ' , also known as the ', was the 1938 de facto annexation of Austria into Greater Germany by the Nazi regime....
"). For this purpose, he anchored in the harbour of
GaetaGaeta is a city and comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, central Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is 120 km from Rome and 80 km from Naples....
. In contrary to the overall German result, these clerical votes rejected the Anschluss with over 90%, an incident which was coined as "Shame of Gaeta" (Vergogna di Gaeta, Schande von Gaeta) at the time.
World War II
His wartime career began on 4 September 1939 when
RAFThe Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
Bristol BlenheimThe Bristol Blenheim was a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company that was used extensively in the early days of the Second World War. It was later adapted into a successful long-range and night fighter...
bombers attacked him at
Wilhelmshaven||-||}Wilhelmshaven is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of Jadebusen, a bay of the North Sea.-History:...
. He was hit by three bombs, which failed to cause major damage, and flak downed four of the attackers. He underwent an overhaul whilst his sister ships set out on commerce raiding.
Deutschland accounted for two ships before returning home, but
Admiral Graf SpeeThe Admiral Graf Spee was one of the most famous German naval warships of World War II, along with the Bismarck. Her size was limited to that of a cruiser by the Treaty of Versailles, but she was much more heavily armed than a cruiser due to innovative weight-saving techniques employed in her...
sank nine before he was discovered by the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
, damaged, and then scuttled following the
Battle of the River PlateThe Battle of the River Plate was the first major naval battle in World War II. The German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee had been commerce raiding since the start of the war in September...
. Although these pocket battleship raids had not been hugely successful, the concept of
commerce raidingCommerce raiding use naval forces to destroy the logistics of an enemy on the open sea, rather than engaging the combatants themselves or enforcing a blockade against them....
had been demonstrated.
Admiral Scheer was modified during the early months of 1940: the heavy command tower was replaced with a lighter structure, and he was reclassified as a
heavy cruiserThe heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...
.
Admiral Scheer sailed on 14 October 1940 and his first target was convoy
HX-84HX-84 was a North Atlantic convoy of the HX series during the battle of the Atlantic in World War II. It consisted of 38 merchant ships which sailed eastbound from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada for Liverpool, England, on 28 October 1940 and was escorted by the armed merchant cruiser HMS Jervis...
from Halifax
Nova ScotiaNova Scotia is a Canadian province located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. Its capital, Halifax, is a major economic centre of the region. Nova Scotia is the second-smallest province in Canada with an area of...
, which had been identified by
B-DienstThe B-Dienst was a German naval codebreaking organisation. During World War II, B-Dienst solved British Naval Cypher No. 3, providing intelligence for the Battle of the Atlantic, until the British Admiralty introduced Naval Cypher No. 5 on 10 June 1943. B-Dienst also solved a number of merchant...
radio intercepts. His
seaplaneA seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories: floatplanes and flying boats...
located the convoy on 5 November 1940 and, believing it to be unescorted, the
Scheer closed in. However, as the convoy appeared over the horizon, one vessel sailed out to challenge him. The
Jervis BayHMS Jervis Bay was a British liner later converted into an Armed Merchant Cruiser, pennant F40. She was launched in 1922 and sunk on 5 November 1940 by the German pocket battleship ....
, commanded by Captain
Edward FegenEdward Stephen Fogarty Fegen VC SGM was an Irish VC recipient , by birth an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth...
, was an
armed merchant shipArmed Merchantman is a term that has come to mean a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in long distance and high value...
and was the only defence for the convoy. Owing to insufficient Allied warship numbers at this early stage in the war, convoys received
destroyerIn naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, short-range but powerful attackers .Before World War II, destroyers were light vessels without the endurance...
escorts only on the last three days of their journey.
Jervis Bay was hopelessly outclassed, but the German ship had to deal with him before pursuing the convoy, which had already begun to scatter and make smoke.
Admiral Scheer succeeded in sinking five other ships, and setting the tanker 'San Demetrio' on fire - later salvaged, but his haul would have been far greater, but for the sacrifice of
Jervis Bay. The attack led to a change in
AdmiraltyThe Admiralty was formerly the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Originally exercised by a single person, the office of Lord High Admiral was from the 18th century onward almost invariably put "in commission", and was exercised by a Board of Admiralty.In...
policy: subsequent large convoys were usually escorted by
battleshipA battleship is a large, heavily armored warship with a main battery consisting of the largest caliber of guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers or destroyers. There are currently no battleships in service....
s or
battlecruiserBattlecruisers were large warships in the first half of the 20th century that were first introduced by the Royal Navy. The battlecruiser was developed as the successor to the armoured cruisers, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleships...
s — which had significant implications for the Royal Navy's other commitments.
The Royal Navy sent out several ships to trap the commerce raider
Admiral Scheer, but he slipped away to the south to rendezvous with
Nordmark, his
replenishment oilerA replenishment oiler or fleet tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds, which can replenish other ships while underway in the high seas. It is used by several countries around the world....
. Over the next two months, he sank several ships, capturing supplies and transferring prisoners to
Nordmark, meeting them at
Planquadrat AnadalusienThe Planquadrat Anadalusien was a set, secret, location in the Southern Atlantic Ocean, used by warships of the German Kriegsmarine during the Second World War.-History:...
, or other ships which he took as prizes. He spent Christmas 1940 at sea in the mid-Atlantic, several hundred miles from
Tristan da CunhaTristan da Cunha is a remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying from the nearest land, South Africa, and from South America. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da...
, before making a foray into the
Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by South Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean...
in February 1941. He found two more ships, but the second of these managed to send out a distress signal which attracted various British cruisers. He managed to sink a coal ship as he escaped the closing net and slipped back into the Atlantic. Captain Krancke sailed northwards, passed through the
Denmark Straitthumb|250px|Location mapThe Denmark Strait is a strait between Greenland and Iceland . The Norwegian island of Jan Mayen is located northeast of the strait....
and eventually reached
KielKiel is the capital and most populous city of the northern German state Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of over 236,000 .Kiel is approximately to the north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore...
on 1 April 1941, having steamed over and sinking 16 merchant ships.
Admiral Scheer did not sortie again until 2 July 1942 when he set off on an abortive attempt to intercept
Arctic convoyThe Arctic convoys of World War II travelled from the United Kingdom and the United States to the northern ports of the Soviet Union—Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. There were 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945...
PQ-17. In August 1942 he sailed into the
Arctic OceanThe Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest, and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions.
The International Hydrographic Organization recognizes it as an ocean, although some...
to hunt convoys and establish a German presence in the USSR's Arctic region, known as
Unternehmen WunderlandOperation Wunderland was a large-scale operation undertaken in summer 1942 by the Kriegsmarine during the Second World War in the waters of the Northern Sea Route close to the Arctic Ocean...
. He bombarded the Soviet meteorological station at
Cape ZhelaniyaCape Zhelaniya , near the easternmost point of Europe, Cape Flissingskiy Cape Zhelaniya , near the easternmost point of Europe, Cape Flissingskiy Cape Zhelaniya , near the easternmost...
on 25 August, and then sank an armed ice breaker, the
Aleksandr SibiryakovThe icebreaker Sibiryakov was a Soviet ship which was active in the Russian Arctic during the 1930s. She was built in 1909 in Glasgow and was originally the Newfoundland sealing steamer Bellaventure. After being purchased by Russia in 1916, she was renamed the Sibiryakov...
off the
Nordenskiöld ArchipelagoThe Nordenskiöld Archipelago or Nordenskjold Archipelago is a very large and complex cluster of islands in the eastern region of the Kara Sea. Its eastern limit lies 120 km west of the Taymyr Peninsula....
, but failed to find a convoy which was in the area. The icebreaker's crew managed to send word to the station of
Novy DiksonDikson Island , initially Dickson, is the name of an island in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, situated in the Kara Sea near the mouth of the Yenisei River. A nearby urban-type settlement of Dikson, which functions as a port and hydrometeorological centre is located at...
. He moved on to shell
Novy DiksonDikson Island , initially Dickson, is the name of an island in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, situated in the Kara Sea near the mouth of the Yenisei River. A nearby urban-type settlement of Dikson, which functions as a port and hydrometeorological centre is located at...
harbour and deployed troops there. The garrison, however, had an old field howitzer, which opened fire on the ship, causing minor damage to the equipment on board.
Admiral Scheer recalled the troops and did not sink any of the vessels in the harbour, but badly damaged the ships
Dezhnev (SKR-19) and
Revolutsioner which lay anchored there. He returned to
Narvikis a town and municipality in Nordland county, Norway. Narvik is located on the shores of the Narvik Fjord . The municipality is part of the Ofoten traditional region of North Norway, inside the arctic circle...
without finding any allied convoys owing to persistent bad weather and fog in the
Kara SeaThe Kara Sea is part of the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia. It is separated from the Barents Sea to the west by the Kara Strait and Novaya Zemlya, and the Laptev Sea to the east by the Severnaya Zemlya....
.
Following Hitler's anger at the alleged failings of the Kriegsmarine, its commander-in-chief,
Grand AdmiralGrand Admiral is a historic naval rank, generally being the highest such rank present in any particular country. Its most notable use is in Germany — the German word is Großadmiral.-France:...
Erich RaederErich Johann Albert Raeder was a naval leader in Germany before and during World War II. Raeder attained the highest possible naval rank—that of Großadmiral —in 1939, becoming the first person to hold that rank since Alfred von Tirpitz...
was replaced by Admiral
Karl DönitzKarl Dönitz was a German naval Commander who served in the Imperial German Navy during World War I, and during World War II commanded first the German submarine fleet, and then the entire German Navy .In the final days of the war, Dönitz was named by Adolf Hitler as his successor, and after the...
, and the German surface fleet rarely left port thereafter. In the autumn of 1944
Admiral Scheer provided artillery support to retreating German army units on the
Sorve PeninsulaSõrve Peninsula is a peninsula which forms the southernmost section of the Estonian island Saaremaa. Its length is 32 km, and its maximum width 10 km...
in the
Baltic SeaThe Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and the...
. Throughout January and February 1945 he was engaged in further coastal bombardment operations, but his gun barrels were worn out by March and he returned to Kiel. It was here, on the night of 9 April 1945, during a general RAF bombing raid on the dockyard by over 300 aircraft, that he was struck and capsized at his berth. Most of his crew were ashore at the time, but 32 men were killed. The wreck of Admiral Scheer was buried when the inner harbor was filled with debris after the war.
Raiding career
| Date |
Ship |
Nationality |
Tonnage |
Fate |
| 5 November 1940 |
SS Mopan |
British |
5,389 |
Sunk |
| 5 November 1940 |
HMS Jervis Bay |
British AMC |
14,164 |
Sunk in combat |
| 5 November 1940 |
SS Maidan |
British |
7,908 |
Sunk |
| 5 November 1940' |
SS Trewellard |
British |
5,201 |
Sunk |
| 5 November 1940 |
SS Kenbane Head |
British |
5,225 |
Sunk |
| 5 November 1940 |
SS Beaverford |
British |
10,142 |
Sunk |
| 5 November 1940 |
SS Fresno City |
British |
4,995 |
Sunk |
| 24 November 1940 |
SS Port Hobart |
British |
7,448 |
Sunk |
| 1 December 1940 |
SS Tribesman |
British |
6,242 |
Sunk |
| 17 December 1940 |
SS Duquesa |
British |
8,652 |
Captured |
| 17 January 1941 |
SS Sandefjord |
Norwegian |
8,083 |
Captured |
| 20 January 1941 |
SS Barneveld |
Dutch |
5,597 |
Sunk |
| 20 January 1941 |
SS Stanpark |
British |
5,103 |
Sunk |
| 20 February 1941 |
SS British Advocate |
British |
6,994 |
Captured |
| 20 February 1941 |
SS Grigorios C. |
Greek |
2,546 |
Sunk |
| 21 February 1941 |
SS Canadian Cruiser |
British |
6,992 |
Sunk |
| 22 February 1941 |
SS Rantau Pandjang |
Dutch |
2,542 |
Sunk |
| 25 August 1942 |
SS Aleksandr Sibiryakov The icebreaker Sibiryakov was a Soviet ship which was active in the Russian Arctic during the 1930s. She was built in 1909 in Glasgow and was originally the Newfoundland sealing steamer Bellaventure. After being purchased by Russia in 1916, she was renamed the Sibiryakov...
|
Soviet |
1,384 |
Sunk in combat |
Commanding Officers
- KzS Wilhelm Marschall
Wilhelm Marschall was a German admiral during World War II.-Biography:Marschall was born in Augsburg, Kingdom of Bavaria, in 1886. In 1906 he entered the Kaiserliche Marine as a Seekadett. During World War I he served as a Wachoffizier on the SMS Kronprinz...
- 12 November 1934 - 22 September 1936
- KzS Otto Ciliax
Otto Ciliax was an admiral in the German Navy. He was a former captain of Scharnhorst. In February 1942, he commanded Operation Cerberus, better known as "the Channel Dash", when Germany's two battlecruisers, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen and a number of other smaller...
- 22 September 1936 - 31 October 1938
- KzS Hans-Heinrich Wurmbach - 31 October 1938 - 31 October 1939
- KzS / KADM Theodor Krancke
Theodor Krancke was an admiral with the Kriegsmarine during World War II and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves....
- 31 October 1939 - 12 June 1941 (Promoted to KADM on 1 April 1941.)
- KzS Wilhelm Meendsen-Bohlken
Wilhelm Meendsen-Bohlken was a Vizeadmiral with the Kriegsmarine during World War II and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.-Awards:* Iron Cross ** 2nd Class...
- 12 June 1941 - 28 November 1942
- FK Ernst Gruber - 28 November 1942 - 1 February 1943
- KzS / KADM Richard Rothe-Roth - 1 February 1943 - 4 April 1944 (Promoted to KADM on 1 April 1944.)
- KzS Ernst-Ludwig Thinemann - 4 April 1944 - 9 April 1945
See also
External links