The cruiser Admiral Hipper (1937-1945): the history of creation and service. Navy of Germany

The German ship "Admiral Hipper" was one of the best cruisers of the Kriegsmarine during the Second World War. He took part in the capture of Norway, conducted several raids in the Atlantic, and his last battle took place in the cold Barents Sea. The last one and a half years of his service, the cruiser remained in the port in a canned state.

Design

On paper, the cruiser Admiral Hipper appeared in 1934. It was then that the Naval Staff formulated the basic requirements for the new ship. First, the ship was waiting for an equal fight against future French and British opponents. Secondly, the German Navy wanted to get a ship capable of quickly escaping the persecution of enemy battleships "Dunkirk" and "Strasbourg." This moment was very important - these models promised to become the most terrible hunters for insufficiently high-speed cruisers. Finally, thirdly, the novelty was intended for raider operations on ocean and sea open spaces.

The Admiral Hipper cruiser belonged to the same type of heavy cruisers. It was planned to build five such ships. As a result, in addition to the "Hipper", there were also "Prince Eugen" and "Blucher". Two other ships "Lutzov" and "Seydlitz" did not have time to finish building. The heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper was named after Franz von Hipper, commanding a detachment of German ships in the battle of Dogger Bank and Jutland.

Building

The "Admiral Hipper" tab began on July 6, 1935, at the shipyard in Hamburg. It became possible after the denunciation of the Treaty of Versailles, which at one time established restrictions for the German army and navy. Hitler was preparing for revenge and behaved defiantly, while the countries that won the First World War looked at it through their fingers. To somehow not lose face, the British government concluded a separate agreement, according to which the German Navy had the right to increase its naval forces to 35% of the British. Anyway, but the Germans no longer considered the opinion of future opponents and began to prepare for the impending bloodshed in an accelerated pace.

During the first year and a half, the ship's construction period was completed. On February 6, 1937, a heavy cruiser was launched. At the festive ceremony, the traditional bottle of champagne was smashed by the wife of Admiral Raeder, commander of the fleet. During the First World War, he entered the headquarters of von Hipper, and when launching a new ship, he delivered a solemn speech.

Due to the accelerated militarization of Germany, the competing military industries demanded all new materials, means and labor. As a result, Admiral Hipper's acceptance was constantly postponed. The Prince Eugen was built even longer. At the launching ceremony of this vessel, Hitler and Hungary's regent Miklos Horthy were present . The place of its construction was Kiel, where the "Hipper" was later transferred. The last in their type of heavy cruisers appeared cruiser "Blucher".

Getting Started

The German cruiser Admiral Hipper was recruited on April 29, 1939. It arrived just in time - the Second World War was approaching. The first few months of its operation, the ship was tested in Kiel. On March 20, 1940, the crew was ordered to send the vessel to Cuxhaven. "Admiral Hipper", like almost the entire existing Krigsmarine structure, was to take part in the invasion of Norway, which became part of the operation "Wesenburg" (or "Teachings on Weser").

The cruiser led the second group, whose goal was to capture the important port of Trondheim. The destroyers Jacobi, Riedel, Ecopeltt and Heinemann joined him. On board the "Hipper" were the signalmen, the headquarters of the Luftwaffe group and parts of the 83rd engineer battalion and the 138th mountain regiment. They had to take care of Norwegian coastal batteries.

The squadron left Cuxhaven on April 6 in the face of worsening weather. On the way, she entered into a minor skirmish with the British forces. Now the British knew about the movement of the Germans, although for a long time they could not understand the true aims and scale of the operation that had begun.

"Teachings on Vezere"

April 8, 1940 on the way to Norway, the cruiser Admiral Hipper "departed from the previous course and went to the rescue of the destroyer" Bernd von Arnim. " This ship collided with the British vessel Glouvorm of the same class. The commander of the "Hipper" Helmut Heije attacked the enemy ship, even though the enemy used smoke screens and torpedoes. For the entire battle, "Glouvorm" only once hit the German cruiser, hitting his right side near the breakwater. It was a minor damage, but the British destroyer so easily did not get off and sank. Finally, "Glouvorm" dealt on the "Hipper" ramming blow, the consequences of which had to be repaired for three weeks.

On the night of April 9, the German cruiser cast anchor in the raid of Trondheim. Attempt of Norwegians to resist was extremely modest: the battery on the coast produced several shots, after which the enemy stopped fighting with the German squadron. The task of the group was completed. The cruiser Admiral Hipper went back to Germany for repairs.

Juno

In May, the ship was put in order in Kiel, where a connection was being formed that was supposed to help other German ships stuck in Norway because of the British blockade. The upcoming operation was called "Juneau". In addition to the "Hipper", the battleships "Gneisenau" and "Scharnhorst", as well as the destroyers "Lodi", "Galster", "Shemann" and "Steinbrick.

On the way to Norway, the cruiser met a British 530-ton trawler "Juniper". A small ship came under fire from 105-mm German antiaircraft guns. Soon the trawler banked and sank. Simultaneously, the Shemann, which was operating nearby, sank a Navy tanker Oil Oil Pioneer.

On the same evening on June 6, the "Admiral Hipper" built in 1937 intercepted the British military transport "Oram". The vessel returned home from Norway and for the fortune of the British was empty (not counting the actual team). Several volleys of high-explosive shells did their job: "Oram" slowly sank to the bottom of the sea. The British were brought aboard German ships.

On June 8, the cruiser and neighboring destroyers received orders to go to Trondheim. For this reason, Admiral Hopper was unable to take part in the destruction of the aircraft carrier Glories. The next few days the ship was in the raid of Trondheim. Then on the evening of June 20, the "Hopper" went to the aid of a damaged torpedo "Scharnhorst". The cruiser marched with Gneisenau and Galster. The journey was short. At midnight the Gneisenau was torpedoed by the British submarine Clyde. Battleship took a lot of water, and the detachment had to return to Trondheim, and failed to fulfill its mission. Because of the damage to the two leading ships, Admiral Hipper became the most serious combat unit of the Third Reich in the waters of Northern Norway.

Atlantic Raid

Some famous cruisers of World War II have long been used only in inland waters. So was Admiral Hepper. And only on November 30, 1940, he finally made his long-awaited ocean trip. The middle Atlantic at latitude Brest-Newfoundland was swarming with British convoys. In this zone, transport routes intersected, along which strategically important troops and cargo were transported. The only free ship capable of attacking the convoys at that time was precisely Admiral Hipper. Other famous cruisers of the Second World War were occupied. Against the background of these circumstances, the ship, making noise in the northern seas, proceeded to Operation Nordseetour.

December 25, "Hipper" found a convoy, covered with a cruiser "Barvik" and several other units of light cruisers. The German ship attacked the group, but finding a serious threat of defeat retreated. By a lucky coincidence, the crew managed to protect its ship from noticeable damage.

Finished with an ineffective meeting with the convoy, the new captain Meisel decided to return to Europe. Sailors are tired of combat duty in severe climatic and weather conditions. But the next day on the way back to the captured "France" "Hipper", finally, smiled luck. The ship was attacked by the merchant steamer Jamna. On the target collapsed heavy fire of guns, which were joined by two torpedoes. The ship drowned quickly, but Meisel feared that the British had managed to transmit a distress signal to a nearby convoy. If he had caught up with the Hipper, the Germans would have had to fight an unequal battle again. Therefore, having finished with "Jamna", the captain gave the order to go to France. In a hurry, Mayzel did not begin to bring aboard Englishmen sinking into the ocean. As a result, all 111 people who were on the "Jamna" were killed. On December 27, Admiral Hipper anchored in the dock of Brest.

The Azores Battle

After the Atlantic voyage "Hipper" needed repairs. The repair took exactly a month, and already on February 1, 1941 the cruiser again went into the ocean waters. On the eleventh day, near the Azores, the German ship stopped the steamer Island with a warning shot. Once this ship was German and was called "Dalia". Now it belonged to Great Britain. "Hipper" sank the victim behind his convoy.

From the seamen "Islanda" brought up aboard, Maizel learned of an absolutely defenseless group of ships floating nearby. It was an escort from Freetown (Sierra Leone). In its composition there were as many as 19 ships belonging to England, Norway and Greece. The most important luck was that the convoy was completely deprived of a security escort. On February 12 "Admiral Hipper" sank 7 ships without any obstacles. 3 more received serious damage.

Having achieved the most impressive success for his service, Admiral Hipper returned to Brest. In March 1941, he moved to the city of Kiel, where he spent exactly one year. During this time the ship was modernized and covered with a new camouflage. In March 1942, he arrived in Trondheim. The cruiser was expecting the last northern campaign.

Regenborgen

Determining which heavy cruisers such as "Admiral Hipper" had to deal with the interception of Arctic convoys, the command of the German fleet stopped at the choice of the group's main ship. With the entry into the war of the USSR, such operations became extremely important. Arctic convoys went to the Soviet Union from the United States and Britain. With the help of them, the Lend-Lease program was implemented. On the northern sea route , the USSR supplied the military materials necessary for the struggle with the army of the Third Reich.

The operation to intercept the next convoy was called "Regenborgen" ("Rainbow"). Command it took over the commander-in-chief Kriegsmarine Admiral Raeder. Together with the "Hipper" in the raid, another heavy cruiser "Lutzov" was involved, as well as six destroyers. The detachment left for sea on December 30, 1942. It was a polar night. Because of the storm, the ships were covered with a crust of ice, which prevented the use of communication devices and guns.

"New Year's battle"

On the morning of December 31, the convoy was spotted by unknown destroyers. The Germans were lucky: the British decided that they stumbled upon a Soviet patrol. Because of this error, the fire, discovered by the ships of the Third Reich, became a complete surprise for the convoy. Nevertheless, the British quickly corrected their mistake. Their ships were rebuilt into battle formation, and a smoke screen curtained the battlefield.

Half an hour after the collision, captain of the convoy Robert Sherbrooke recognized the awesome silhouette of Admiral Hipper. The first purpose of the cruiser was to select the destroyer "Ecates", through which the aimed fire was opened. Because of the weather and the smokescreen the German gunners had difficulty in tracking down the enemy ship. However, at 13 o'clock, the Ecates drowned, and its 80 sailors were picked up by a trawler who had come to the rescue.

Everything went according to the Kriegsmarine plan, but at the most inopportune moment, the British cruisers Sheffield and Jamaica appeared on the horizon unexpectedly for the Germans. They covered Admiral Hipper with a deadly fire. The German destroyers took the ships approaching their own, approached them too closely and received fatal hits. Meanwhile, another cruiser Lutzov retired in pursuit of the convoy. The captain of the ship realized his mistake, but it was too late: he gave the order to depart to the port. Having fired from Admiral Hipper, the convoy continued his journey to Soviet Murmansk. The failure of the operation led to the resignation of Erich Raeder from the post of commander-in-chief of the German fleet.

In reserve

Strongly damaged in the Barents Sea, the Admiral Hipper cruiser followed repairs, after which it was enlisted in the reserve and stopped at Gotenhafen. Almost a thousand-and-a-half team decreased several times. In March 1944, an order was issued to prepare the ship for future operations. However, it was not possible to do it in the due time. There were not enough spare parts and people, constantly interfering with the activity of the Soviet and Soviet aircraft. Boiler room number 3, burnt in the "New Year's battle", and did not put in order. Once upon a time, an excellent fighting machine was not suitable even for patrolling the coast.

1945 has come. On January 1, the fleet management ordered three months to put Admiral Hipper and his twin Prince Eugen in order. Meanwhile, Soviet troops were approaching the port. Because of this, instead of repair had to do evacuation. January 29 "Hipper" left Gotenhafen, despite the fact that he had only one turbine. On the "chrome" ship, in addition to his team, there were 1,500 evacuees. Soon the cruiser was in the area where the Soviet submarine "S-13" sunk a passenger liner "Wilhelm Gustlov" on the 30th. Captain Hans Henigst, due to the workload of the ship, passed by boats and life rafts, on which the Germans slept in the disaster.

On February 2, Admiral Hipper arrived in Kiel. The next day the port was attacked by British aircraft. During the raid, the ship received several more hits. A fire broke out and the burnt-out cruiser sat down at the bottom of his dock. After this episode, the Navy stopped trying in vain to repair the former pride of the fleet. After the surrender of the Third Reich in May 1945, Admiral Hipper was dismantled for metal.