Re: Germany - Admiral Hipper class Heavy Cruiser
Posted: January 26th, 2014, 8:40 pm
Once again, thank you for the comments!
As the first ship of her class that included serveral new technologies, Admiral Hipper underwent a long series of trials. The failures in the contruction soon became obvious: The flat funnel made smoke a problem on several platforms, the vertical bow caused considerable wetness and the open admiral's- and navigation bridge were inadequate. Returning to the drydocks in July 1939, those flaws were corrected. However, due to time contrains, Admiral Hipper only got the 'cheap' version of an Atlantic bow. A slanted addition starting from above the waterline without a third anchor. When the war broke out in September of 1939, Admiral Hipper still underwent sea trials.
The winter of 1939/1940 caused Admiral Hipper (like many other German ships) to be stuck in the harvours and when she finally moved again on January 31st, 1940, she was still far from ready. Travelling from Hamburg to Wilhelmshaven, she was eqipped with a FuMO-22 radar on her tower mast rangefinder. On February 18th, 1940, Admiral Hipper left together with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau on Operation 'Nordmark': The target were the British shipping lines around the Shetlands isles. The operation wasn't successful (no targets sighted), but gave Admiral Hipper's crew valuable experience. On March 20th, Admiral Hipper was moved to Cuxhaven in preparation for the invasion of Norway. For that, to additional 20mm single flak were installed on turrets B and C. Those were not the usual Navy flaks but land-based mounts.
For Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Norway, Admiral Hipper led Warship Group II with the target of Trondheim, together with four destroyers (Z5 Paul Jakobi, Z6 Theodor Riedel, Z8 Bruno Heinemann and Z16 Friedrich Eckolt) and five supply ships (Sao Paolo, Levante, Main, Skagerrak, Moonsund). The heavy cruiser herself carried 1700 soldiers for the invasion. Leaving on April 6th, the ships joined up with Group I. April 7th and 8th all ships had to fight with heavy weather, casuing the fleet, especially the destroyers, to disperse. One of the destroyers of Group I, Z11 Bernd von Armin, encountered the British destroyer Glowworm, herself escorting the Reknown, which was mining the Norwegian waters. Bernd von Arnim called for reinforcements and Admiral Hipper responded. The British destroyer proved to be no match for the cruiser and was left to fend for herself when a hit destroyed her radio installations. After missing with all torpedoes and failing to escaped, the British commander attempted to ram Admiral Hipper. The German commander recognized the plan and attempted to evade the smaller ship, but the heavy sea slowed down the reaction of the bigger ship. Glowworm hit Admiral Hipper below the starboard anchorand ripped up the hull until the forward torpedo tubes, destroying them as well in the process. With the British destroyer sinking, the battle was over, Admiral Hipper could rescue 31 British sailors from the sea.
The cruiser had taken heavy damage, lost around 253m³ of oil and had to be partially flooded to counter the listing. Firepower-wise, however, Admiral Hipper was still in almost full strenght and continued towards Trondheim. The only futher combat was a short exchange of shots between a coastal battery at Hysnes and Admiral Hipper, which quickly went in the German's favour. Three of the four destroyers took on troops and occupied the battery, while Admiral Hipper and Friedrich Eckoldt continued towards Trondheim. With the succesfull landing of all of her troops, Admiral Hipper had completed her mission, yet the damaged from the battle with the destroyer would require a long repair.
As the first ship of her class that included serveral new technologies, Admiral Hipper underwent a long series of trials. The failures in the contruction soon became obvious: The flat funnel made smoke a problem on several platforms, the vertical bow caused considerable wetness and the open admiral's- and navigation bridge were inadequate. Returning to the drydocks in July 1939, those flaws were corrected. However, due to time contrains, Admiral Hipper only got the 'cheap' version of an Atlantic bow. A slanted addition starting from above the waterline without a third anchor. When the war broke out in September of 1939, Admiral Hipper still underwent sea trials.
The winter of 1939/1940 caused Admiral Hipper (like many other German ships) to be stuck in the harvours and when she finally moved again on January 31st, 1940, she was still far from ready. Travelling from Hamburg to Wilhelmshaven, she was eqipped with a FuMO-22 radar on her tower mast rangefinder. On February 18th, 1940, Admiral Hipper left together with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau on Operation 'Nordmark': The target were the British shipping lines around the Shetlands isles. The operation wasn't successful (no targets sighted), but gave Admiral Hipper's crew valuable experience. On March 20th, Admiral Hipper was moved to Cuxhaven in preparation for the invasion of Norway. For that, to additional 20mm single flak were installed on turrets B and C. Those were not the usual Navy flaks but land-based mounts.
For Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Norway, Admiral Hipper led Warship Group II with the target of Trondheim, together with four destroyers (Z5 Paul Jakobi, Z6 Theodor Riedel, Z8 Bruno Heinemann and Z16 Friedrich Eckolt) and five supply ships (Sao Paolo, Levante, Main, Skagerrak, Moonsund). The heavy cruiser herself carried 1700 soldiers for the invasion. Leaving on April 6th, the ships joined up with Group I. April 7th and 8th all ships had to fight with heavy weather, casuing the fleet, especially the destroyers, to disperse. One of the destroyers of Group I, Z11 Bernd von Armin, encountered the British destroyer Glowworm, herself escorting the Reknown, which was mining the Norwegian waters. Bernd von Arnim called for reinforcements and Admiral Hipper responded. The British destroyer proved to be no match for the cruiser and was left to fend for herself when a hit destroyed her radio installations. After missing with all torpedoes and failing to escaped, the British commander attempted to ram Admiral Hipper. The German commander recognized the plan and attempted to evade the smaller ship, but the heavy sea slowed down the reaction of the bigger ship. Glowworm hit Admiral Hipper below the starboard anchorand ripped up the hull until the forward torpedo tubes, destroying them as well in the process. With the British destroyer sinking, the battle was over, Admiral Hipper could rescue 31 British sailors from the sea.
The cruiser had taken heavy damage, lost around 253m³ of oil and had to be partially flooded to counter the listing. Firepower-wise, however, Admiral Hipper was still in almost full strenght and continued towards Trondheim. The only futher combat was a short exchange of shots between a coastal battery at Hysnes and Admiral Hipper, which quickly went in the German's favour. Three of the four destroyers took on troops and occupied the battery, while Admiral Hipper and Friedrich Eckoldt continued towards Trondheim. With the succesfull landing of all of her troops, Admiral Hipper had completed her mission, yet the damaged from the battle with the destroyer would require a long repair.
