was a "" (armored ship), nicknamed a "pocket battleship" by the British, which served with the of Nazi Germany during World War II. The vessel was named after World War I Admiral Maximilian von Spee, commander of the East Asia Squadron who fought the battles of Coronel and the Falkland Islands, where he was killed in action. She was laid down at the shipyard in Wilhelmshaven in October 1932 and completed by January 1936. The ship was nominally under the limitation on warship size imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, though with a full load displacement of , she significantly exceeded it. Armed with six guns in two triple gun turrets, and her sisters were designed to outgun any cruiser fast enough to catch them. Their top speed of left only a few capital ships in the Anglo-French navies fast enough and powerful enough to sink them.
The ship conducted five non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in 1936–1938 and participated in the Coronation Review of King George VI in May 1937. was deployed to the South Atlantic in the weeks before the outbreak of World War II, to be positioned in merchant sea lanes once war was declared. Between September and December 1939, the warship sank nine vessels totaling , before being confronted by three British cruisers at the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December. inflicted heavy damage on the British ships, but she too was damaged and was forced to put into port at Montevideo, Uruguay. Convinced by false reports of superior British naval forces gathering, Hans Langsdorff, commander of the ship, ordered the vessel to be scuttled. The ship was partially broken up in situ, though part of the ship remained visible above the surface of the water.
Design
was long overall and had a beam of and a maximum draft of . The ship had a design displacement of and a full load displacement of , though the ship was officially stated to be within the limit of the Treaty of Versailles. was powered by four sets of MAN 9-cylinder double-acting two-stroke diesel engines. The ship's top speed was , at . At a cruising speed of , the ship had a range of . As designed, her standard complement consisted of 33 officers and 586 enlisted men, though after 1935 this was significantly increased to 30 officers and 921–1,040 sailors. The ship was equipped one catapult but had no aircraft hangar. One floatplane was carried on the catapult. The initial Heinkel He 60 was replaced with an Arado Ar 196 before the outbreak of the war. was the first German warship to be equipped with radar. A FMG G(gO) "Seetakt" set was mounted on the foretop range finder.
s primary armament was six SK C/28 guns mounted in two triple gun turrets, one forward and one aft of the superstructure. The ship carried a secondary battery of eight SK C/28 guns in single turrets grouped amidships. Her anti-aircraft battery originally consisted of three L/45 guns, though in 1935 these were replaced with six L/78 guns. In 1938, the 8.8 cm guns were removed, and six L/65 guns, four SK C/30 guns, and ten C/30 guns were installed in their place. The ship also carried a pair of quadruple deck-mounted torpedo tubes placed on her stern.
s armored belt was thick; her upper deck was thick while the main armored deck was thick. The main battery turrets had thick faces and 80 mm thick sides.
Service history
was ordered by the from the shipyard in Wilhelmshaven. Ordered as , replaced the old pre-dreadnought battleship . Her keel was laid down on 1 October 1932, under construction number 125. The ship was launched on 30 June 1934; at her launching, she was christened by the daughter of Admiral Maximilian von Spee, the ship's namesake. She was completed slightly over a year and a half later on 6 January 1936, the day she was commissioned into the German fleet.
spent the first three months of her career conducting extensive sea trials to ready the ship for service. The ship's first commander was (KzS) Conrad Patzig; he was replaced in 1937 by KzS Walter Warzecha. After joining the fleet, became the flagship of the German Navy. In the summer of 1936, following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, she deployed to the Atlantic to participate in non-intervention patrols off the Republican-held coast of Spain. Between August 1936 and May 1937, the ship conducted three patrols off Spain. On the return voyage from Spain, stopped in Great Britain to represent Germany in the Coronation Review at Spithead for King George VI on 20 May.