The German Pocket Battleship Admiral Graf Spee

The German Pocket Battleship Admiral Graf Spee PDF Author: Stefan Draminski
Publisher: Top Drawings
ISBN: 9788364596308
Category : Battleships
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Deutschland-class ships were the first heavy vessels of the German Navy after the First World War. In Germany they were classified as "Panzerschiffe", but in other countries the term "pocket battleships" was very popular. The third and last vessel of this class was Admiral Graf Spee. She was laid down on 1 October 1932, launched on 30 June 1934 and commissioned on 6 January 1936. During the Spanish Civil War the ship patrolled coastal waters of this country. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, on 21 August 1939 the ship steamed out for the Atlantic. From 26 September she was fighting Allied shipping, sinking nine British vessels. On the morning of 13 December Graf Spee encountered a group of Allied warships (the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter and light cruisers HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles) near South American coast. The gun battle that ensued went to the history as the Battle of the River Plate. Both the Exeter and her German enemy were damaged during the course of the engagement. The commander of Graf Spee, Kapitän zur See Hans Langsdorff decided to break off the battle and enter the nearby port of Montevideo in Uruguay. According to the international law the German corsair could not stay in a neutral port longer than 72 hours. Convinced that massive British forces were concentrating in the vicinity and hence the escape was impossible, Langsdorf decided to save the crew and scuttle the ship. On 17 December Admiral Graf Spee steamed to the roadstead and there the explosive charges were fired. The German ship sunk in shallow waters and her commander shot himself three days later in a hotel in Buenos Aires. The wreckage was penetrated even during the war by British divers in order to recover more valuable items and obtain information about German technology. In the post-war years many single parts of the ship were recovered.

The German Pocket Battleship Admiral Graf Spee

The German Pocket Battleship Admiral Graf Spee PDF Author: Stefan Draminski
Publisher: Top Drawings
ISBN: 9788364596308
Category : Battleships
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Deutschland-class ships were the first heavy vessels of the German Navy after the First World War. In Germany they were classified as "Panzerschiffe", but in other countries the term "pocket battleships" was very popular. The third and last vessel of this class was Admiral Graf Spee. She was laid down on 1 October 1932, launched on 30 June 1934 and commissioned on 6 January 1936. During the Spanish Civil War the ship patrolled coastal waters of this country. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, on 21 August 1939 the ship steamed out for the Atlantic. From 26 September she was fighting Allied shipping, sinking nine British vessels. On the morning of 13 December Graf Spee encountered a group of Allied warships (the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter and light cruisers HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles) near South American coast. The gun battle that ensued went to the history as the Battle of the River Plate. Both the Exeter and her German enemy were damaged during the course of the engagement. The commander of Graf Spee, Kapitän zur See Hans Langsdorff decided to break off the battle and enter the nearby port of Montevideo in Uruguay. According to the international law the German corsair could not stay in a neutral port longer than 72 hours. Convinced that massive British forces were concentrating in the vicinity and hence the escape was impossible, Langsdorf decided to save the crew and scuttle the ship. On 17 December Admiral Graf Spee steamed to the roadstead and there the explosive charges were fired. The German ship sunk in shallow waters and her commander shot himself three days later in a hotel in Buenos Aires. The wreckage was penetrated even during the war by British divers in order to recover more valuable items and obtain information about German technology. In the post-war years many single parts of the ship were recovered.

Pocket Battleships of the Deutschland Class

Pocket Battleships of the Deutschland Class PDF Author: Gerhard Koop
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
ISBN: 1473846714
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 469

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Book Description
A concise, authoritative, heavily illustrated summary of this class of German WWII-era warships, covering their design histories and careers. The Deutschland class included three ships of a design so revolutionary that it defied conventional categories. Deutschland (later renamed Lützow), Admiral Scheer, and Admiral Graf Spee were simply termed Panzerschiffe (armored ships) by the Germans, but they were known to their opponents by the far more evocative term Pocket Battleships. Part of a six-volume series on the German Navy’s WWII-era warships written by Gerhard Koop and illustrated by Klaus-Peter Schmolke, this book contains an account of the development of the Deutschland class, a detailed description of the ships with full technical details, and an outline of their service, heavily illustrated with plans, battle maps, and a substantial collection of photographs.

The Battle of the River Plate

The Battle of the River Plate PDF Author: Dudley Pope
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1590136942
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
This tale of the Battle of the River Plate follows the machinations of the German war machine as Kapitan zur See Hans Langsdorff commands the pocket battleship Graf Spee on a mission to cripple British shipping. Through clever subterfuge and daring, the Graf Spee takes ship after ship, ultimately forcing the British Navy to send twenty ships in search of the elusive German vessel. Pope presents a true, enthralling account of the men, ships, and tactics that culminated in this naval action which so brilliantly began Britain's war at sea.

Langsdorff of the Graf Spee, Prince of Honor

Langsdorff of the Graf Spee, Prince of Honor PDF Author: Joseph Gilbey
Publisher: Hillsburgh, Ont. : J. Gilbey
ISBN: 9780968599402
Category : Rio de la Plata, Battle of the, 1939
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description


German Capital Ships of the Second World War

German Capital Ships of the Second World War PDF Author: Siegfried Breyer
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 147381460X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 686

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Book Description
“Outstanding . . . covers the major units starting with the Deutschland Class, through the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, to the Bismarck and Tirpitz.” —WW2 Cruisers The Kriegsmarine’s capital ships—Deutschland, Admiral Scheer, Graf Spee, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Bismarck, and Tirpitz—continue to generate intense interest among warship enthusiasts, despite the fact that no new source of information has been unearthed in decades. What has come to light, however, is a growing number of photographs, many from private albums and some that lay forgotten in obscure archives. These include many close-ups and onboard shots of great value to modelmakers, as well as rare action photos taken during wartime operations. This book is a careful selection of the best of these, but on a grand scale, with around one hundred images devoted to each ship, allowing in-depth coverage of its whole career, from launching and fitting out to whatever fate the war had waiting for it. For sake of completeness, there are even sections reproducing the various design studies that led to each class, while an appendix covers the uncompleted Graf Zeppelin, Germany’s only attempt to build an aircraft carrier, the vessel which clearly displaced the battleship as the capital ship of the world’s navies during the war. Essays on technical backgrounds and design origins by the well-known expert Siegfried Breyer and explanatory captions by Miroslaw Skwiot draw out the full significance of this magnificent collection of photos. “Highly recommended for those who wish to admire seven of the most magnificent warships built anywhere in the twentieth century. We will certainly never see their like again.” —Journal of the Australian Naval Institute

The Attack on Pearl Harbor

The Attack on Pearl Harbor PDF Author: Alan D. Zimm
Publisher: Casemate
ISBN: 1612000215
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 445

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Book Description
“Uses modern methods of operational analysis to determine exactly how the Japanese planned and executed the great raid . . . a worthy, useful analysis” (Naval History). The December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor has been portrayed by historians as a dazzling success. With most American historians concentrating on command errors and the story of participants’ experiences, the Japanese attack has never been subjected to a comprehensive critical analysis of the military side of the operation. This book presents a detailed evaluation of the attack on the operational and tactical level. It examines such questions as: Was the strategy underlying the attack sound? Were there flaws in planning or execution? How did Japanese military culture influence the planning? How risky was the attack? What did the Japanese expect to achieve, compared to what they did achieve? Were there Japanese blunders? What were their consequences? What might have been the results if the attack had not benefited from the mistakes of the American commanders? The book also addresses the body of folklore about the attack, assessing contentious issues such as the skill level of the Japanese aircrew; whether mini submarines torpedoed Oklahoma and Arizona, as has been recently claimed; whether the Japanese ever really considered launching a third-wave attack—and the consequences for the Naval Shipyard and the fuel storage tanks if it had been executed. In addition, the analysis has detected for the first time deceptions that a prominent Japanese participant in the attack placed into the historical record, most likely to conceal his blunders and enhance his reputation. The centerpiece of the book is an analysis using modern Operations Research methods and computer simulations, as well as combat models developed between 1922 and 1946 at the US Naval War College. The analysis sheds new light on the strategy and tactics employed by Yamamoto to open the Pacific War, and offers a dramatically different appraisal of the effectiveness of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Battleship Bismarck

Battleship Bismarck PDF Author: William H. Garzke
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1526759756
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 968

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Book Description
“A complete operational history of the Bismarck . . . with period photos [and] underwater photography of the wreck, allowing a forensic analysis of the damage.” —Seapower This new book offers a forensic analysis of the design, operation, and loss of Germany’s greatest battleship, drawing on survivors’ accounts and the authors’ combined decades of experience in naval architecture and command at sea. Their investigation into every aspect of this battleship is informed by painstaking research, including extensive interviews and correspondence with the ship’s designers and the survivors of the battle of the Denmark Strait and Bismarck’s final battle. Albert Schnarke, the former gunnery officer of Tirpitz, Bismarck’s sister ship, aided the authors greatly by translating and supplying manuscript materials from those who participated in the design and operations. Survivors of Bismarck’s engagements contributed to this comprehensive study including D.B.H. Wildish, RN, damage control officer aboard HMS Prince of Wales, who located photographs of battle damage to his ship. After the wreck was discovered in 1989, the authors served as technical consultants to Dr. Robert Ballard, who led three trips to the site. Filmmaker and explorer James Cameron has also contributed a chapter, giving a comprehensive overview of his deep-sea explorations on Bismarck and sharing his team’s remarkable photos of the wreck. The result of nearly six decades of research and collaboration, this is an “encyclopedic and engrossing” account (Naval Historical Foundation) of the events surrounding one of the most epic naval battles of World War II. And Battleship Bismarck finally resolves some of the major questions around her career, not least the most profound one of all: Who sank the Bismarck, the British or the Germans?

Henry Harwood

Henry Harwood PDF Author: Peter Hore
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
ISBN: 9781526725295
Category : Admirals
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Henry Harwood is best known for his destruction of the Admiral Graf Spee at the battle of the River Plate in December 1939 about which Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, said: 'This brilliant sea fight takes its place in our naval annals and in a long, cold, dark winter it warmed the cockles of the British hearts'. Despite that great victory Harwood remains, until now, one of three great British naval commanders of the Second World War who is without a biography. Admiral Sir Henry Harwood's wider naval career was remarkable and epitomised the Royal Navy in the first half of the twentieth century. He became a naval cadet in 1903, specialised as a torpedo officer in 1911, and for his services in the First World War was awarded the OBE in 1919. He was one of the Navy's intellectuals, gaining first class passes in all his examinations and, during his interwar service on the South American station, learning Spanish. During his service in important staff appointments and at the Imperial Defence College, he made a particular study of international relations and, in the light of perceived fallings at sea in the First World War, of tactics and command. He was thus well-qualified when in 1936 he became commodore in command of the South American division of the America and West Indies station, and well prepared to meet and defeat the German pocket battleship _Admiral Graf Spee_ with his inferior force of cruisers in 1939. He was promoted assistant chief of the naval staff at the Admiralty, and, in 1942, appointed Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, in succession to Sir Andrew Cunningham. Then, commanding a fleet too enfeebled for its tasks, he found Montgomery plotting against him and Churchill loosing confidence in him before being relieved of his command. Invalided out of the Navy in 1945, and subsequently blamed by many for the Navy's perceived failings in the Mediterranean, he died a disappointed man in 1950. The author has been given exclusive and unique access to the Harwood family archives and, in the light of these previously unpublished papers, has set about rehabilitating the character, career and achievements of this great British admiral. For all historians and enthusiasts of the Royal Navy in the Second World War, this will be essential reading.

Admiral Graf Spee

Admiral Graf Spee PDF Author: Miroslaw Skwiot
Publisher: Super Drawings in 3D
ISBN: 9788362878567
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The text part of this book describes technical specifications of the ship and her operational history in detail. This is accompanied by more than 100 color illustrations showing Admiral Graf Spee's appearance during the Battle of River Plate. Elements that are shown in detail include armament, rangefinders, radar, searchlights, catapult with aircraft, etc. In addition, superstructure's different camouflage schemes from the 1939 raid are shown. Blueprints in 1:350, 1:200, 1:100 and 1:50 scales (general views and details) are included on a separate sheet. This publication is an invaluable help to any modeler working on this ship's replica. REVIEWS Tackling Trumpeter's 1:350 kit? Fact-checking 1:700 offerings? Make this handy handbook your Graf Spee guide. Cybermodeler

River Plate 1939

River Plate 1939 PDF Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472817958
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
The first major naval action of World War II, the Battle of the River Plate was a British victory. Highly-illustrated, this engaging study will appeal to military and naval historians alike.