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The Heavy Cruisers That Doomed Themselves

In early 1945, Germany’s war situation deteriorated rapidly, and the surface fleet of the Kriegsmarine faced a grim fate. Most of Germany’s heavy warships had been sunk, leaving just two operational Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruisers, Admiral Hipper and Prinz Eugen, both iconic but struggling vessels. Meanwhile, Seydlitz lay incomplete in the besieged city of Königsberg, and another member of the class, the former Lützow, had been sold to the Soviet Union in 1940 but was never completed. This video explores the dramatic final chapters of the Admiral Hipper-class ships, whose fates were sealed in 1945 by bombs, torpedoes, or scrapping. The heavy cruiser Blücher was the first of the class to be lost. She had barely completed her trials in 1940 when she was deployed in Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of Norway. However, she was unprepared for the defenses in Oslofjord. Norwegian shore batteries and torpedoes from Oscarsborg Fortress disabled and eventually sank Blücher, thwarting Germany’s plans to secure Oslo and signaling a disastrous start for the Kriegsmarine’s surface fleet in WWII. The lead ship of the class, Admiral Hipper, had a similarly tumultuous career. Severely damaged in the Battle of the Barents Sea in 1942, she returned to Germany for repairs. Following Hitler’s order to decommission major surface ships after the loss of Bismarck and other major vessels, Hipper was moved between ports, eventually ending up in Kiel. There, in 1945, she was devastated by Allied bombings, which wrecked her superstructure and rendered her beyond repair. Her hulk was ultimately scuttled in a drydock and later scrapped by the British after the war. Seydlitz, another of the class, was a unique case. Originally launched in 1939 but left incomplete, she was later selected for conversion into an aircraft carrier. However, as resources dwindled, the conversion was halted, and she was moved to Königsberg to avoid bombings. By January 1945, as Soviet forces advanced on the city, Seydlitz was scuttled to prevent her from falling into enemy hands. The Soviets raised the wreck but ultimately decided not to complete the ship, scrapping her in the 1950s. Prinz Eugen, the most famous of the class, had an eventful career. She survived the war relatively intact and was handed over to the United States as a war prize. Taken to Bikini Atoll, she participated in nuclear tests in 1946, where her durability against radiation and explosions was tested. Though she survived the blasts, radiation damage ultimately led her to capsize and sink in the lagoon, where her remains still lie. The story of the former Lützow, sold to the Soviet Union in 1940 and renamed Petropavlovsk, adds a final layer to the class's story. Never fully completed, she served as a floating artillery battery during the siege of Leningrad, supporting Soviet forces against the German advance. After the war, Petropavlovsk was laid up and eventually scrapped by the Soviet Union. From desperate wartime service to post-war testing, the Admiral Hipper-class ships met diverse and dramatic ends. Their fates provide a vivid illustration of the changing tides of WWII and the turbulent final days of the Kriegsmarine, encapsulating the technological ambitions and ultimate struggles of Germany’s surface fleet in WWII. Intro 0:00 KMS Blucher 0:54 KMS Admiral Hipper 10:28 KMS Seydlitz 15:34 KMS Prinz Eugen 18:08 KMS Lutzow 28:27 Conclusion 31:22 Sources/Other Reading:    • Death of the Kriegsmarine   Wreck video:    • Prinz Eugen Shipwreck | JONATHAN BIRD'S BL...   https://www.amazon.com/Northern-Theat... https://hmsjervisbay.com/Story.HX84.php https://www.amazon.com/German-Light-C... https://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Cruisers... https://www.amazon.com/Spoils-War-Ene... https://www.amazon.com/s?k=9781784388... Video Information: Copyright fair use notice. All media used in this video is used for the purpose of education under the terms of fair use. All footage and images used belong to their copyright holders, when applicable.