German cruiser Blücher
Service
- as Blücher20 September 1939 — 9 April 1940202 days of the war
- Name
- Blücher
- Namesake
- Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher
- Laid down
- 15 August 1935
- Launched
- 8 June 1937
- Commissioned
- 20 September 1939
- Fate
- Sunk in the Battle of Drøbak Sound on 9 April 1940 (1940)
- Status
- Wreck
Specifications
- Displacement, standard
- 15,915 long tons (16,170 t)
- Displacement, full load
- 18,200 long tons (18,492 t)
- Length
- 203.2 m (666.7 ft) OA
- Beam
- 22 m (72.2 ft)
- Draught
- 7.2 m (23.6 ft)
- Speed
- 32 knots (59.3 km/h, 36.8 mph)
- Complement
- 1,382
- Main gun
- 203 mm (8 in)
Blücher was a Admiral Hipper-class cruiser, operated by the Kriegsmarine. The ship was named after Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. Her keel was laid on 15 August 1935. Launched on 8 June 1937, she entered service on 20 September 1939.
Her class ran to four ships. The class followed the Deutschland-class cruiser and was succeeded by the P-class cruiser.
Displacement was 15,915 long tons standard and 18,200 long tons at full load. She measured 203.2 m (667 ft) long with a beam of 22 m (72 ft). Her designed speed was 32 knots, and she carried a complement of 1,382.
Her main battery was eight 203 mm (8.0 in) guns. She carried three aircraft. Her machinery developed 132,000 shp.
She was in commission for 202 days of the Second World War.
She was sunk on 9 April 1940, at 59°42′N 10°36′E. The wreck survives.
Written from the harvested record. Every figure above is sourced; the wording is this site's own.
Armament and machinery
Armament and machinery
- Propulsion
- 3 × Blohm & Voss steam turbines
- 3 × propellers
- Power
- 12 × ultra-high pressure boilers
- 132000 shp
- Armament
- 8 × 20.3 cm SK C/34 guns
- 12 × 10.5 cm SK C/33 guns
- 12 × 3.7 cm SK C/30 guns
- 8 × 2 cm C/30 guns
- 12 × 533 mm torpedo tubes
- Armour
- Belt: 70 to 80 mm
- Armor deck: 20 to 50 mm
- Turret faces: 105 mm
- Aircraft
- 3 aircraft
Sister ships
Sources
- Facts harvested from German cruiser Blücher on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
- Photograph: Klein, A. — This image was provided to Wikimedia Commons by the German Federal Archive (Deutsches Bundesarchiv) as part of a cooperation project . The German Federal Archive guarantees an authentic representation only using the originals (negative and/or positive), resp. the digitalization of the originals as provided by the Digital Image Archive — CC BY-SA 3.0 de — Wikimedia Commons