NIEMIECKI CIĘŻKI KRĄŻOWNIK ADMIRAL HIPPER LUB BLÜCHER

Admiral Hipper was a German heavy cruiser, the keel of which was laid in 1934 and launched in July 1935. The cruiser entered the rope service of the German Navy (German Kriegsmarine) in February 1937. The ship was 206 m long, 21.8 m wide, and had a full displacement of 18,400 tons. The maximum speed of the Admiral Hipper cruiser was around 32-33 knots. The main armament was 8 203 mm guns in four twin turrets, and the secondary armament included: 12 105 mm guns or 17 40 mm cannons. The Admiral Hipper was the first ship of the type to bear the same name - the Admiral Hipper. Cruisers of this type were ordered in order to significantly strengthen the Kriegsmarine's heavy forces. They emphasized the greatest possible autonomy, and the artillery armament was rather typical of heavy cruisers of the late 1930s. The cruiser Admiral Hopper underwent its baptism of fire in April 1940, when it supported German landings in Norway. From the second half of 1940, it was used against British merchant ships. In March 1942 he was transported to Norway and from there he acted against British and Soviet Arctic shipping. On December 31, 1942, he took part in the Battle of the Barents Sea. From April 1943, he served in the Baltic Sea, supporting primarily the activities of the German army in the coastal zone. At the beginning of 1945 he was re-routed - this time to Kiel, where he was masked. There, on May 3, 1945, it sank as a result of an air raid by Allied planes.The Blucher was a German heavy cruiser, the keel of which was laid in 1935 and launched in June 1937. The cruiser entered the rope service of the German Navy (German Kriegsmarine) in September 1939. The ship was 206 m long, 21.8 m wide, and had a full displacement of 18,200 tons. The cruiser Blucher's top speed was around 32-33 knots. The main armament was 8 203 mm guns in four twin turrets, and the secondary armament included: 12 105 mm guns or 16 37 mm cannons. The Blucher was the second Admiral Hipper class ship. Cruisers of this type were ordered to significantly strengthen the Kriegsmarine's heavy forces. They emphasized the greatest possible autonomy, and the artillery armament was rather typical of heavy cruisers of the late 1930s. The combat career of the cruiser Blucher was very short and tragic. It was used for the first time in combat in Operation Wesserubung, i.e. the attack on Norway in April 1940. However, in the course of an exchange of fire with Norwegian coastal batteries, the Blucher was seriously damaged, and shortly afterwards successfully finished off by torpedo boats in the Oslo fjord on April 9, 1940. Despite sinking relatively close to the shore, the cruiser dragged from 600 to about 1,000 people to the bottom with it.