Battleship Admiral Scheer

The pocket battleship Admiral Scheer belonged to the Deutschland class. Like her sisters Admiral Graf Spee and Lützow, this powerful German warship was built with electric arc welding, instead of rivets, which had been used in the past to join steel plates. The manufacturer was the Marinewerft in Wilhelmhaven. It was launched in 1933 and commissioned on November 12, 1934. It was a fast battleship, which was armed with six 280-mm naval guns.

The first WW2 combat sortie of Admiral Scheer would take place on October 31, 1940. On November 5, it attacked a British convoy, sinking HMS Jervis Bay, which was an armed merchant cruiser. In February 1941, she would capture a British oil tanker and sink the merchant ship Gregorios. In 1942, together with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen and two destroyers, she would patrol the waters off the coast of Norway, attacking the Allied arctic convoys. In 1944, Admiral Scheer returned to the Baltic Sea, where she would rescue German refugees at the end of the war. On April 9, 1945, she was sunk by RAF bombers.

Specifications

Type: Heavy cruiser/ pocket battleship/ Panzerschiffe

Length: 183 m

Beam: 21.3 m

Draft: 5.8 m

Displacement: 15,180 tons

Power Plant: eight MAN diesel engines, with two propellers, generating 55,000 horse power.

Speed: 28.3 knots

Range/Endurance:  10,000 nautical miles

Radar: FuMO-27

Crew: 1,040 sailors + 30 officers

Below, schematic drawing of Panzerschiffe Admiral Scheer

Photo of Admiral Scheer in 1941

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Type VII U-Boat

The Type VII U-Boat was a class of submarines in service with the German Kriegsmarine from 1936 to 1945. They were low-cost, conventional, compact and simple to build boats. However, it was very reliable and easy to handle at all times. It was produced in large numbers, with a total of 721 seagoing underwater boats in four basic versions. It became the backbone of the German submarine force during the Battle of the Atlantic, sinking a huge number of Allied merchant vessels and warships.

Being commissioned in 1936, the Type VIIA proved to be very successful as it was first operated in anger during the Spanish Civil War. Therefore, it was adopted as the standard mass-produced type. By mid 1937, however, production of this German submarine had switched to the Type VIIB U-Boat, which was larger than its predecessor and saddle tanks had been added and upgraded with more powerful diesel engines. It was thought it would the last one of the class. Nevertheless, in 1940, it would be superseded by the Type VIIC, which was massively produced, with 616 submarines. The VIID would be the last development, with 32 units made.

From May 1943, all Type VII submarines began to urgently being refitted, with the most valuable changes being the fitting of a snort air pipe for charging the batteries while submerged. It also underwent an extension of the conning tower. Also a pair of 20mm AA guns were fitted to the submarine. By this time, the situation became a desperate battle against British destroyers that were equipped with more advanced sonars and radars.

Combat History

Exploits of the vast fleet of Type VII submarines were heroic and legendary. On September 17, 1939, the U-29 sank the British carrier Courageous. On October 14, Gunther Prien took U-47 into the impenetrable Scapa Flow, a sea strait in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sinking the battleship Royal Oak and two other vessels. However, U-99 would be sunk by HMS Walker in March 1941. Prien and Schepke kept sinking merchant ships until they were discovered and sunk by Allied warships. From then on, German submarines would operate in packs, and, by 1943, they had lost the efficiency and surprise advantage they had enjoyed, because of the Allied advance in radar technology.

Specifications (Type VIIC)

Length: 67.10 m (220 ft, 2 in)

Beam: 6.20 m (20 ft, 4 in)

Draft: 4.74 m (15 ft, 7 in)

Displacement: 861 tons (submerged)

Power Plant: two 6-cylinder, 4-stroke diesel engines

Speed: 17.7 knots on surface, and 7.6 knots submerged

Range: 8,500 nautical miles (15,500 km)

Crew: 52 officers and sailors

Armament: five 533-mm torpedo tubes, with four in bow and one in stern section. It had a fourteen G7a compressed air-driven torpedoes. One 8.8 cm naval gun.

Below, two photos of the Type VIIB version; side view and tower.

 

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Battleship Roma

Battleship Roma was a powerful war vessels used by the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) during World War II. It was a Littorio class battleship, featuring nine 15-inch (381mm) naval guns. She was built at the Trieste Yard by C.R.D.A., being launched on June 9, 1940. She was commissioned on June 14, 1942. In December, 1942, she would become the flagship of the Regia Marina.

Like her three sisters of the class, Roma main duty was to escort German and Italian cargo ships carrying armament and other military equipment to supply the Afrika Korps and Italians troops fighting in North Africa. While she and her sister Vittorio Veneto were moored at La Spezia naval base, they were attacked by American B-17 bombers on June 5, 1943. During this air raid both Italian battleships were damaged but not impaired.

Roma would be hit again twice during the night of June 23-24. Having been repaired at Genoa, she returned to service again. Along with Vittorio Veneto and Italia battleship, and three Regia Marina's cruisers, Roma sailed from La Spezia to Malta right after the armistice with the Allies had been signed. When the Germans found out about this betrayal, they launched an air raid to attack the Italians warships. Roma would be hit by two radio-controlled Fritz-x bombs dropped by Dorniers Do-217 bombers. Several hours later she would sink to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. She had broken into two pieces before going down. It was September 9, 1943.

Specifications

Type: Littorio Class Battleship

Length: 240.68 m (789 ft, 8 in)

Beam: 32.82 m (107 ft, 8 in)

Displacement: 46,215 tons (full loaded)

Draft: 9.6 m (31 ft, 6 in)

Power Plant: 4 steam Belluzo geared turbines, with 4 screw propellers, which were supplied by 8 Yarrow boilers, delivering 128,200 HP

Speed: 30 knots

Range: 9,000 nautical miles

Armament: nine 15-in (381mm) naval guns, which were set up in three triplet turrets; twelve 6-in (152mm) guns; four 120mm, twelve 90mm, twenty 37mm, and sixteen 20mm AA guns.

Below, the Battleship Roma in June 1942. You can see the fore portion of ship bristling with six of her nine381mm guns.

The aft view of this Littorio class battleship

 

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Fuso Class Battleship

The Fuso class battleship was one of two war vessels in service with the Imperial Japanese Navy during WW2. The lead ship was the Fuso and her sister, the Yamashiro. The former had been laid down at the Kure Navy Yard in 1912 and completed in 1915, while the Yamashiro was built at the Yokosuka Navy Yard between 1913 and 1917. Fitted with twelve 14-inch (356mm) naval guns, they were superior and more powerful than her American and British counterparts at the time they were commissioned. They were iconic Japanese battleships with their towering pagoda-style bridge structures.

Service Modifications and Upgrade

In the 1930s, both warships underwent extensive modifications, which would dramatically change their appearance. During this process, armor protection was increased as the total weight of armor was raised to slightly more than 12,000 tons. This meant 42% of the ship total displacement (35,300 tons). To increase protection from torpedo attack, two armor blisters were added, which increased the beam by 127 feet. As for their power plant, the original 24 coal-fired boilers were replaced with six Kampon oil-fired boilers and 2 Kampon steam turbines, with 4 shafts, were fitted. This new propulsion system increased their power to 40,000 HP.

Wartime Service

Although they were built at the beginning of WW1, they would have to wait until World War II to see combat action. They took part in the Battle of Midway as escort battleships, coming out unscathed. The Fuso would be used to carry troops to Truk in the Central Pacific in 1943. In October 1944, both battleships took part in Operation Sho-go, which was the last Japanese attempt to fight a decisive battle to save the Philippine islands from an Allied invasion, resulting in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

In this military operation, they both were detached from the main body of the First Striking Force due to their slow speed, forming into Force C as it entered Leyte Gulf from the south. During the subsequent battle of Leyte Gulf, Fuso was hit twice; one bomb dropped by a US Navy dive bomber struck her stern portion. As they sailed in Surigao Straight, they were hit by torpedoes fired from American warships. After ferocious fighting, both of them would be sunk in Surigao Straight on October 25, 1944.

Specifications

Type: Battleship

Displacement: 35,300 tons (38,000 full-loaded)

Length: 202.7 m (665 ft)

Beam: 28.7 m (94 ft, 2 in)

Draft: 8.7 m (29 ft, 8 in)

Speed: 24.75 knots

Range: 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km)

Crew: 1,400 sailors and officers

Below, the Fuso battleship in 1933, with her trademark pagoda tower.

The impressive armament of the Yamashiro; the 356mm guns. Photo taken in 1937.

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