In the interwar period, Nazi Germany implemented a program of naval rearmament in defiance of Versailles treaty restrictions. Out of this effort was born those enigmatic “Pocket Battleships,” a class of warships packing a battleship’s firepower into a cruiser’s nimble hull. The ships were a tribute to the ingenuity by which Germany could bypass international treaties and a clear indication of its resolve to regain its naval might.
The Treaty of Versailles, after the First World War, had made severe cuts in Germany’s naval ambition. The rump of the formerly mighty German Imperial Navy was compelled to hand over its fleet, which was then interned at Scapa Flow in Scotland. On June 21, 1919, German Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered that the ships be scuttled rather than allow their possible seizure by the UK in case Germany refuses the Treaty. This event was the ignominious conclusion to the High Seas Fleet: of the 74 interned vessels, 52 sank.
Despite these, Germany had already begun to rearm its military during the Weimar Republic, even before Adolf Hitler and the Nazis came to power. One such example of this was the construction of Deutschland-class cruisers, built in violation of the Washington Treaty, setting limits on the size and armament of warships. Built between 1929 and 1936, these were technically heavily armed cruisers but with a displacement of between 10,600 to 12,340 long tons—far above the 10,000 long tons limit of the treaty.
The Deutschland-class cruisers were rather unique in their design; they mounted six 11-inch guns in their primary battery, a gunfighting capability that only battleships normally had. Coupled with this armament, 28 knots brought them into a class of formidable opponents. These ships did not have any intention of defense but were perfectly suited for commerce raiding.
The Pocket Battleships first saw action during the Spanish Civil War, when they were dispatched for shore bombardment. The first two ships of the class, Deutschland and Admiral Scheer were tried out in this role. The Deutschland was attacked by Spanish Republican aircraft, which angered Hitler enough to order a bombardment of the port of Almería by Admiral Scheer.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, all three Pocket Battleships were reclassified as heavy cruisers and put into service as commerce raiders. In 1940, Deutschland, renamed Lützow to avoid losing the symbolic name of the nation for one of its vessels, took part in the German invasion of Norway. Damaged by a British submarine, she went on to continue her attacks against independent merchant shipping and convoys. By the end of the war, she was used as a gun battery against the Soviet advance.
Admiral Scheer was by far the most successful of the Pocket Battleships in her commerce-raiding role. She spent 161 days at sea, sinking 113,223 gross register tons worth of shipping. She later became a training ship and supported ground operations against the Soviets. In April 1945, she was damaged by mobile bombs during a British air raid on Kiel and capsized in port. Her wreck remains buried near the current port facilities within the city.
Of the three Pocket Battleships, Admiral Graf Spee was the most famous. At the beginning of the war, she served as a commerce raider in the South Atlantic. She sank nine ships amounting to 50,089 GRT from September to December 1939. She was being sought so intensely by both the British and French navies that each deployed a hunting group. In the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December 1939, the Graf Spee engaged three British cruisers off the coast of Uruguay. While the Graf Spee was responsible for much damage to British ships, she was damaged and had to be put into the port of Montevideo. Her captain, Hans Wilhelm Langsdorff, could not escape and did not wish to allow his ship to fall into the hands of the enemy, so he ordered the ship scuttled. Three days later, he committed suicide in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
For decades, the wreck of the Graf Spee lay there, a navigation hazard. The recent efforts to raise the vessel have raised controversy, especially with regard to the 880-pound bronze eagle from its stern. There had been concerns this eagle might be used to further neo-Nazi movements; now the Argentine millionaire who is trying to buy it stated that it would be “pulverized.”
To a large degree, the story of the Pocket Battleships is one of German naval ingenuity and determination—defiant of international constraints. In that respect, a speedy, heavily armed ship became almost a unique blend of both, leaving an indelible mark on history.