German cruiser Admiral Hipper
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The German cruiser Admiral Hipper was the lead ship of the Admiral Hipper class heavy cruisers which served with the Kriegsmarine of Germany during World War II.
Description
The ship was named after Admiral Franz von Hipper, commander of the German battlecruiser squadron during the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and later commander-in-chief of the German High Seas Fleet. Admiral Hipper was the first ship of her class, the others being Blücher and Prinz Eugen. (There were two more ships in the class: Lützow, sold to the Soviet Union in 1939 before completion, and Seydlitz, converted into an aircraft carrier but never completed.) Admiral Hipper was laid down at Blohm & Voß in Hamburg on 6 July 1935, launched on 6 February 1937 and commissioned on 29 April 1939.
History
Admiral Hipper took part in the German invasion of Norway (Operation Weserübung). On 8 April 1940 she encountered the British destroyer Glowworm north-west of Trondheim (Norway's third largest city, roughly half way up Norway's west coast). After exchanges of fire and despite fatal damage, Glowworm turned to ram Admiral Hipper, causing serious damage before sinking.
On 9 April 1940, she entered Trondheim's harbour. Troops landed from Admiral Hipper occupied the city in the early hours, flying the Nazi flag on the city's old Kristiansten fortress and other municipal buildings before most of the inhabitants had even awoken.
After damage repairs, Admiral Hipper operated with the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau off Norway to disrupt British supply routes. By October, 1940, Admiral Hipper needed serious overhauls to her machinery and returned to Kiel. Despite this work, two attempts to break out to the Atlantic were abandoned due to machinery breakdown and fires. Repairs were made at Kiel and Hamburg, delaying active service until December.
At last, Admiral Hipper broke out undetected into the Atlantic and operated as a merchant raider, based at Brest, France.
The first attack, on troop convoy WS-5A, took place in December 1940. Although one of the escorting British cruisers, HMS Berwick, was heavily damaged, the impact on the convoy was limited to damage to two merchantman. Engine problems and low fuel stores obliged Admiral Hipper to return to Brest. En route, she encountered and sank the freighter Jumna. Repairs took about a month to complete.
Admiral Hipper sailed on her second Atlantic cruise on 1st February 1941. On 12th February, she intercepted the unescorted convoy SLS-64. Seven ships out of 19 were sunk, but the convoy scattered and poor weather aided their escape. Short of 203-mm ammunition, Admiral Hipper returned to Brest on 14 February 1941.
The cruiser returned to Kiel via the Denmark Strait, arriving on 28 February 1941. Repairs were carried out and modifications made to increase fuel storage and, thus, cruising range.
From March 1942, Admiral Hipper was based in Norway for operations against Arctic convoys and in preparation against an anticipated British action against Norway. On New Year's Eve 1942, she took part in the failed German naval attack on convoy JW-51B. Despite its strength, the German attack was repelled (Battle of the Barents Sea) and Admiral Hipper was damaged. She returned to Wilhelmshaven, where she was decommissioned and moved to Gotenhafen (Gdynia).
Due to Hitler's disillusionment with the Kriegsmarine surface fleet, Admiral Hipper was not ready for service until January 1945, when she was used, partly repaired, to evacuate refugees and wounded troops from the Eastern Front.
Admiral Hipper was scuttled in dock at Kiel Deutsche Werke yards on 2 May 1945. Raised and moved to Heikendorfer Bay in 1946, she was broken up there between 1948 and 1949.
See also
- List of World War II ships
- List of Kriegsmarine ships
- List of naval ships of Germany
- List of ship launches in 1937
- List of ship commissionings in 1939
- List of shipwrecks in 1945
- Other ships in class:
- * German cruiser Blücher
- * German cruiser Prinz Eugen
- * German cruiser Seydlitz
- * German cruiser Lützow (Hipper class)
External links
- [Admiral Hipper technical data] – From German naval history website [german-navy.de]
- [Timeline of the Admiral Hipper]
- [Maritimequest Admiral Hipper photo gallery]
- [link]
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