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105-724: The Reichsmarine ( lit.   ' Reich Navy ' ) was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic and first two years of Nazi Germany . It was the naval branch of the Reichswehr , existing from 1919 to 1935. In 1935, it became known as the Kriegsmarine (War Navy), a branch of the Wehrmacht ; a change implemented by Adolf Hitler . Many of the administrative and organizational tenets of

210-444: A double bottom that extended for 92 percent of the length of the keel . As designed, the ship's complement comprised 33 officers and 586 enlisted men. After 1935, the crew was dramatically increased, to 30 officers and 921–1,040 sailors. While serving as a squadron flagship, an additional 17 officers and 85 enlisted men augmented the crew. The second flagship had an additional 13 officers and 59 sailors. The ships carried

315-458: A 18 mm (0.71 in) thick upper deck and a main armored deck that ranged in thickness from 18–40 mm. Admiral Scheer and Admiral Graf Spee had 17 mm (0.67 in) main decks and armored decks that ranged in thickness from 17–45 mm. The armored deck in Deutschland and Admiral Scheer did not extend over the entire width of the ship due to weight; this matter

420-478: A 20 mm (0.79 in) longitudinal splinter bulkhead. The upper edge of the belt on Deutschland and Admiral Scheer was at the level of the armored deck. On Admiral Graf Spee , it was extended one deck higher. Deutschland ' s underwater protection consisted of a 45 mm (1.8 in) thick torpedo bulkhead ; Admiral Scheer ' s and Admiral Graf Spee ' s bulkheads were reduced to 40 mm (1.6 in). Deutschland had

525-495: A 20 mm (0.79 in) thick roof. The main battery turrets had 140 mm (5.5 in) thick faces and 85 mm (3.3 in) thick sides. Their roofs ranged in thickness from 85 to 105 mm (3.3 to 4.1 in). The 15 cm guns were armored with 10 mm (0.39 in) gun shields for splinter protection. Admiral Scheer and Admiral Graf Spee had some improvements in armor thickness. The barbettes, 100 mm thick in Deutschland , became 125 mm for

630-680: A German "ethnical state", especially after the Napoleonic wars . Ideal for this state was the Holy Roman Empire; the legend arose that Germany were "un-defeated when unified", especially after the Franco-Prussian War ( Deutsch-Französischer Krieg , lit. "German-French war"). Before that, the German question ruptured this "German unity" after the 1848 Revolution before it was achieved, however; Austria-Hungary as

735-477: A heavily armored ship with a single triple turret forward, and "VIII/30", a more lightly-armored ship with a pair of twin turrets. The Reichsmarine initially intended to lay down the first armored ship in 1926, but the design had not yet been finalized. The 1926 maneuvers informed the design staff that greater speed was desirable, and that year, a further two designs were submitted to Zenker. The initial design for Deutschland , ordered as " Panzerschiff A",

840-582: A historical aberration, contemptuously referring to it as " the System ". In the summer of 1939, the Nazis themselves actually banned the continued use of the term in the press, ordering it to use expressions such as Nationalsozialistisches Deutschland ("National Socialist Germany"), Großdeutsches Reich (" Greater German Reich "), or simply Deutsches Reich ( German Reich ) to refer to the German state instead. It

945-423: A kingdom), but in a modern sense, the term is used in a much more figurative sense (e.g. Die Hemelse Ryk (the heavenly kingdom, China)), as the sphere under one's control or influencas: As in German, the adjective rijk / ryk also means "rich". Deutschland-class cruiser The Deutschland class was a series of three Panzerschiffe (armored ships), a form of heavily armed cruiser , built by

1050-640: A medical command unit. The naval stations also served as a senior officer for the commanders of the various German navy ports. The Treaty of Versailles limited the size and armament of the Reichsmarine and prevented it from introducing new technologies. The restrictions were intended to prevent the German Navy from becoming a threat to the Allied powers. On the other hand, the Allies had made certain that

1155-595: A multinational state could not become part of the new "German empire", and nationality conflicts in Prussia with the Prussian Poles arose ("We can never be Germans – Prussians, every time!"). The advent of national feeling and the movement to create an ethnically German Empire did lead directly to nationalism in 1871. Ethnic minorities declined since the beginning of the modern age; the Polabs , Sorbs and even

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1260-416: A number of smaller boats, including two picket boats, two barges, one launch , one pinnace , and two dinghies . The Kriegsmarine considered the ships to be good sea boats, with a slight roll. As built, they were wet in a head sea , though this was significantly improved by the installation of a clipper bow in 1940–1941. The ships were highly maneuverable, particularly when the maneuvering setting for

1365-435: A range of 25,700 m (28,100 yd). They were supplied with a total of 800 rounds of ammunition, though later in their careers this was increased to 1,200 rounds. These shells weighed 45.3 kg (100 lb) and had a muzzle velocity of 875 m/s (2,870 ft/s). The ships were also equipped with eight 53.3 cm (21.0 in) torpedo tubes placed in two quadruple launchers mounted on their stern. As built,

1470-540: A result of the opposition, " Panzerschiff B" was not authorized until 1931. A replacement for the old battleship Lothringen , her keel was laid on 25 June 1931 at the Reichsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven , under construction number 123. The ship was launched on 1 April 1933; at her launching, she was christened by Marianne Besserer, the daughter of Admiral Reinhard Scheer , after whom

1575-591: A term for this period of German history. The common contemporary Latin legal term used in documents of the Holy Roman Empire was for a long time regnum ("rule, domain, empire", such as in Regnum Francorum for the Frankish Kingdom ) before imperium was in fact adopted, the latter first attested in 1157, whereas the parallel use of regnum never fell out of use during the Middle Ages. At

1680-698: Is indenrigs / inrikes / innenriks , meaning domestic. The adjective form of the word, rig in Danish and rik in Swedish/Norwegian, means "rich" like in other Germanic languages. Rijk is the Dutch and ryk the Afrikaans and Frisian equivalent of the German word Reich . In a political sense in the Netherlands and Belgium, the word rijk often connotes a connection with

1785-690: Is comparable in meaning and development (as well as descending from the same Proto-Indo-European root) to the English word realm (via French reaume "kingdom" from Latin regalis "royal"). It is used for historical empires in general, such as the Roman Empire ( Römisches Reich ), Persian Empire ( Perserreich ), and both the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire ( Zarenreich , literally " Tsars ' realm"). Österreich ,

1890-596: Is derived from a Common Germanic * rīkijan . The English noun survives only in the compounds bishopric and archbishopric . The German adjective reich , on the other hand, has an exact cognate in English rich . Both the noun ( * rīkijan ) and the adjective ( * rīkijaz ) are derivations based on the Common Germanic * rīks "ruler, king ", reflected in Gothic as reiks , glossing ἄρχων "leader, ruler, chieftain". It

1995-553: Is probable that the Germanic word was not inherited from pre-Proto-Germanic, but rather loaned from Celtic (i.e. Gaulish rīx , Welsh rhi , both meaning 'king') at an early time . The word has many cognates outside of Germanic and Celtic, notably Latin : rex and Sanskrit : राज , romanized :  raj , lit.   'rule'. It is ultimately from Proto-Indo-European * reg- , lit. 'to straighten out or rule'. Frankenreich or Fränkisches Reich

2100-469: Is the German name given to the Frankish Kingdom of Charlemagne . Frankenreich came to be used of Western Francia and medieval France after the development of Eastern Francia into the Holy Roman Empire . The German name of France , Frankreich , is a contraction of Frankenreich used in reference to the kingdom of France from the late medieval period. The term Reich was part of

2205-699: Is used to describe a political or governmental entity. Reich has thus not been used in official terminology since 1945, though it is still found in the name of the Reichstag building , which since 1999 has housed the German federal parliament , the Bundestag . The decision not to rename the Reichstag building was taken only after long debate in the Bundestag; even then, it is described officially as Reichstag – Sitz des Bundestages (Reichstag, seat of

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2310-576: The Reichsmarine officially in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles . The ships of the class, Deutschland , Admiral Scheer , and Admiral Graf Spee , were all stated to displace 10,000 long tons (10,160  t ) in accordance with the Treaty, though they actually displaced 10,600 to 12,340 long tons (10,770 to 12,540 t) at standard displacement. The design for

2415-577: The Reichstag elections in 1928. The question over whether to build the new ships was a major issue in elections, particularly with the Social Democrats, who strongly opposed the new ships and campaigned with the slogan "Food not Panzerkreuzer ." In May 1928, the elections were concluded and enough of a majority in favor of the new ships was elected; this included twelve seats won by Adolf Hitler 's Nazi Party . An October 1928 attempt by

2520-407: The Reichsmarine ( Flottenkommando ) was headquartered at Kiel and consisted of a flag staff and fleet commander embarked on board the flagship of the German fleet. During the 1920s, the German flagship was the battleship Schleswig-Holstein with two naval officers serving as fleet commander, Vizeadmiral Hans Zenker and Konrad Mommsen, between 1923 and 1927. The fleet commander position

2625-645: The Reichsmarine were then carried over into the organization of the Kriegsmarine . The Vorläufige Reichsmarine ( lit.   ' Provisional Reich Navy ' ) was formed after the end of World War I from the Imperial German Navy . The provisions of the Treaty of Versailles restricted the German Navy to 15,000 men and no submarines , while the fleet was limited to six pre-dreadnought battleships , six light cruisers , twelve destroyers , and twelve torpedo boats . Replacements for

2730-514: The Reichsmarine would be in the foreseeable future the strongest power in the Baltic Sea, in order to serve as a counterweight against the new Soviet Union , which was viewed with distrust by the Allies. Germany was only allowed six pre-dreadnought battleships (plus two in reserve), six cruisers (plus two in reserve), twelve destroyers (plus four in reserve), and twelve torpedo boats (plus four in reserve). The Reichsmarine tried to meet

2835-640: The Battle of the Barents Sea in December 1942, a failed attempt to destroy a convoy. Both ships were damaged in the course of their deployment to Norway and eventually returned to Germany for repairs. They ended their careers bombarding advancing Soviet forces on the Eastern Front ; both ships were destroyed by British bombers in the final weeks of the war. Lützow was raised and sunk as a target by

2940-763: The Communist Party of Germany to initiate a referendum against the construction failed. The first of the new ships was authorized in November 1928. When the particulars of the design became known by the Allies, they attempted to prevent Germany from building them. The Reichsmarine offered to halt construction on the first ship in exchange for admittance to the Washington Treaty with a ratio of 125,000 long tons (127,000 t) to Britain's allotment of 525,000 long tons (533,000 t) of capital ship tonnage. In doing so, this would effectively abrogate

3045-613: The Coronation Review for Britain's King George VI . For the rest of their peacetime careers, the ships conducted a series of fleet maneuvers in the Atlantic and visited numerous foreign ports in goodwill tours. Before the outbreak of World War II , Deutschland and Admiral Graf Spee were deployed to the Atlantic to put them in position to attack Allied merchant traffic once war was declared. Admiral Scheer remained in port for periodic maintenance. Deutschland

3150-649: The Deutsche Werke in Kiel and the Reichsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven, seeing much service with the German Navy. All three vessels served on non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War . While on patrol, Deutschland was attacked by Republican bombers , and in response, Admiral Scheer bombarded the port of Almería . In 1937, Admiral Graf Spee represented Germany at

3255-694: The East German railway incongruously continued to use the name Deutsche Reichsbahn (German Reich Railways), which had been the name of the national railway during the Weimar Republic and the Nazi era. Even after German reunification in October 1990, the Reichsbahn continued to exist for over three years as the operator of the railroad in eastern Germany, ending finally on 1 January 1994 when

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3360-664: The Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Belgium as opposed to the European part of the Netherlands or the provincial or municipal governments. The ministerraad is the executive body of the Netherlands ' government and the rijksministerraad that of the Kingdom of the Netherlands , a similar distinction is found in wetten (laws) versus rijkswetten (kingdom laws) or the now-abolished rijkswacht (lit. "guard of

3465-643: The political slogan Ein Volk , ein Reich, ein Führer ("One nation, one Reich , one leader"), in order to enforce pan-German sentiment. The term Altes Reich ("old Reich"; cf. French ancien regime for monarchical France) is sometimes used to refer to the Holy Roman Empire . The term Altreich was also used after the Anschluss to denote Germany with its pre-1938 post-World War I borders. Another name that

3570-537: The "realm of a king" (a kingdom can also be called kongedømme in Danish and Norwegian and kungadöme or konungadöme in Swedish, direct cognates of the English word). Two regions in Norway that were petty kingdoms before the unification of Norway around 900 AD have retained the word in the names (see Ringerike and Romerike ). The word is also used in " Svea rike ", with the current spelling Sverige ,

3675-427: The 10,000 long tons (10,000 t) limit of the Treaty of Versailles, however. The ships' hulls were constructed with transverse steel frames; over 90 percent of the hulls used welding instead of the then standard riveting , which saved 15 percent of their total hull weight. These savings allowed the armament and armor to be increased. The hulls contained twelve watertight compartments and were fitted with

3780-505: The Allies and to ease pressures on the design staff. The Reichsmarine held a conference to evaluate the designs in May 1925, though the results were inconclusive. Of particular importance was the continued French occupation of the Ruhr industrial area, which prevented Germany from quickly building large-caliber artillery. Nevertheless, the design staff prepared another set of designs, "I/35",

3885-539: The British and French navies formed several hunter-killer groups to track her down. These forces included four aircraft carriers, two battleships, and one battlecruiser. Admiral Graf Spee operated in concert with the supply ship Altmark . Admiral Graf Spee was eventually confronted by three British cruisers off Uruguay at the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December 1939. She inflicted heavy damage on

3990-420: The British ships, but suffered damage as well, and was forced to put into port at Montevideo . Convinced by false reports of superior British naval forces approaching his ship and the poor state of his own engines, Hans Langsdorff , the commander of the ship, ordered the vessel to be scuttled . Langsdorff committed suicide three days after the scuttling. The ship was partially broken up in situ , though part of

4095-519: The Bundestag). As seen in this example, the term "Bund" (federation) has replaced "Reich" in the names of various state institutions such as the army (" Bundeswehr "). The term "Reichstag" also remains in use in the German language as the term for the parliaments of some foreign monarchies, such as Sweden 's Riksdag and Japan 's pre-war Imperial Diet . The exception is that during the Cold War ,

4200-494: The German names for Germany for much of its history. Reich was used by itself in the common German variant of the Holy Roman Empire , ( Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR) ). Der rîche was a title for the Emperor. However, Latin, not German, was the formal legal language of the medieval Empire ( Imperium Romanum Sacrum ), so English-speaking historians are more likely to use Latin imperium than German Reich as

4305-400: The German nation rather than directly to the state of Germany. The exact translation of the term "German Empire" would be Deutsches Kaiserreich . This name was sometimes used informally for Germany between 1871 and 1918, but it was disliked by the first German Emperor, Wilhelm I , and never became official. The unified Germany which arose under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in 1871

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4410-641: The Holy Roman Empire and the German Empire, respectively; the Nazis discounted the legitimacy of the Weimar Republic entirely. The terms "First Reich" and "Second Reich" are not used by historians, and the term " Fourth Reich " is mainly used in fiction and political humor, although it is also used by those who subscribe to neo-Nazism . The German noun Reich is derived from Old High German : rīhhi , which together with its cognates in Old English : rīce , Old Norse : ríki , and Gothic : reiki

4515-641: The Naval Command). The naval commander oversaw a headquarters office known as the Marinekommandiertenabteilung which was headquartered in Berlin . The Naval Command also maintained a headquarters intelligence office Marinenachrichtenoffizier ) and a naval archives. Internal to the naval headquarters five offices known as the: The following officers served as head of the Reichsmarine from 1918 to 1935 The fleet command of

4620-591: The Navy could build a heavily armored, slow, and small warship similar to a monitor , or a large, fast, and lightly armored vessel similar to a cruiser . Actual design work on the new type of armored ship began in 1923, but the economic collapse forced a temporary halt to the work. Admiral Hans Zenker , the commander in chief of the Reichsmarine , pushed hard for the navy to resume design work, and in 1925 three new proposals were drafted. In addition to two sketches prepared in 1923, this totaled five different designs. Of

4725-486: The Nazi slogan was to put it. The term is derived from the Germanic word which generally means "realm", but in German, it is typically used to designate a kingdom or an empire, especially the Roman Empire . The terms Kaisertum ( German: [ˈkaɪzɐˌtuːm] , "Imperium") and Kaiserreich ("Imperial realm") are used in German to more specifically define an empire ruled by an emperor. Reich

4830-468: The Reichsbahn and the western Deutsche Bundesbahn were merged to form the privatized Deutsche Bahn AG . The cognate of the word Reich is used in all Scandinavian languages with the identical meaning, i.e. " realm ". It is spelled rige in Danish and older Norwegian (before the 1907 spelling reform ) and rike in Swedish and modern Norwegian. The word is traditionally used for sovereign entities, generally simply means "country" or "nation" (in

4935-576: The Republican attack on her sister Deutschland . At the outbreak of World War II, she remained in port for a periodic refit. Her first operation during World War II was a commerce raiding operation into the southern Atlantic Ocean that started in late October 1940. While on the operation, she also made a brief foray into the Indian Ocean. During the raiding mission, she sank 113,223  gross register tons  (GRT) of shipping, making her

5040-571: The Soviet Navy, and Admiral Scheer was partially broken up in situ , with the remainder of the hulk buried beneath rubble. Following Germany's defeat in World War I , the size of the German Navy, renamed the Reichsmarine , was limited by the Treaty of Versailles . The Navy was permitted a force of six pre-dreadnought battleships and six light cruisers ; the ships could not be replaced until they were twenty years old. To replace

5145-535: The Spanish Civil War in 1936–1938. She also represented Germany during the Coronation Review for King George VI in May 1937. Admiral Graf Spee was deployed to the South Atlantic in the weeks before the outbreak of World War II, to be positioned in merchant sea lanes once war was declared. Between September and December 1939, the ship sank nine ships totaling 50,089 GRT; in response,

5250-496: The Treaty did have authority to regulate the armament of all new warships. The Allies assumed that with these limitations, only coastal defense ships similar to those operated by the Scandinavian navies could be built. The Reichsmarine ' s oldest battleship, Preussen , was laid down in 1902 and could therefore be replaced legally in 1922. Design studies were considered starting in 1920, with two basic options:

5355-448: The arms restrictions with secret armament and technical innovations such as the introduction of the pocket battleship . Reich The term Deutsches Reich (sometimes translated to " German Empire ") continued to be used even after the collapse of the German Empire and the abolition of the monarchy in 1918. There was no emperor, but many Germans had imperialistic ambitions. According to Richard J. Evans : The continued use of

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5460-561: The battleships, new vessels were to displace at most 10,000 long tons (10,000 t); Germany's potential rivals were at this time limited to building vessels of 35,000 long tons (36,000 t) by the Washington Naval Treaty and subsequent agreements. The gun caliber of any new ship was not regulated by the Treaty itself, though the Naval Inter-Allied Commission of Control (NIACC) created by

5565-407: The beginning of the modern age , some circles redubbed the HRE into the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" ( Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation ), a symptom of the formation of a German nation state as opposed to the multinational state the Empire was throughout its history. Resistance against the French Revolution with its concept of the state brought a new movement to create

5670-627: The class as heavy cruisers . Due to their heavy armament of six 28 cm (11 in) guns, high speed and long cruising range, the class was more capable of high seas operation than the old pre-dreadnought battleships they replaced; for this reason, they were referred to as "pocket battleships", particularly in the British press. In 1938 Jane's Fighting Ships stated the Deutschland -class "[a]re officially rated as 'Armoured Ships' ( Panzerschiffe ) and popularly referred to as 'Pocket Battleships'. Actually, they are equivalent to armoured cruisers of an exceptionally powerful type." Deutschland

5775-512: The clauses in the Treaty of Versailles that limited Germany's naval power. Britain and the United States favored making concessions to Germany, but France refused to allow any revisions to the Treaty of Versailles. Since the ships did not violate the terms of the Treaty, the Allies could not prevent Germany from building them after a negotiated settlement proved unattainable. The three Deutschland -class ships varied slightly in dimensions. All three ships were 181.70 meters (596.1 ft) long at

5880-456: The diesel engines was used, in which half of the engines for each shaft were run in reverse. The ships heeled over up to 13 degrees with the rudder hard over. The low stern was wet in a stern sea , and equipment stored there was frequently lost overboard. The Deutschland -class ships were equipped with two sets of four 9-cylinder, double-acting, two-stroke diesel engines built by MAN . The adoption of an all-diesel propulsion system

5985-419: The end of 1942, the ship served as a training ship until the end of 1944, when she was used to support ground operations against the Soviet Army. She was sunk by British bombers on 9 April 1945 and partially scrapped; the remainder of the wreck lies buried beneath a quay . Admiral Graf Spee conducted extensive training in the Baltic and Atlantic before participating in five non-intervention patrols during

6090-458: The end of 1943, after which the ship remained in the Baltic . Sunk in the Kaiserfahrt in April 1945 by Royal Air Force (RAF) bombers, Lützow was used as a gun battery to support German troops fighting the Soviet Army until 4 May 1945, when she was disabled by her crew. Raised by the Soviet Navy in 1947, she was reportedly broken up for scrap over the next two years, according to Western works that did not have access to Soviet documents at

6195-497: The first two designs, "I/10" was a 32-knot (59 km/h; 37 mph) cruiser armed with eight 20.5 cm (8.1 in) guns while "II/10" was a 22-knot (41 km/h; 25 mph), heavily armored ship armed with four 38 cm (15 in) guns. The three designs prepared in 1925—"II/30", "IV/30", and "V/30"—were armed with six 30 cm (12 in) guns with varying levels of armor protection. The Reichsmarine eventually opted for 28 cm (11 in) guns to avoid provoking

6300-420: The forces arrayed against Allied shipping to the Soviet Union. She ran aground during a planned attack on convoy PQ 17 , which necessitated another return to Germany for repairs. She next saw action at the Battle of the Barents Sea with the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper , which ended with a failure to destroy the convoy JW 51B . Engine problems forced a series of repairs culminating in a complete overhaul at

6405-513: The guns with a maximum range of 36,475 m (39,890 yd). They fired a 300 kg (660 lb) projectile at a muzzle velocity of 910 meters per second (3,000 ft/s). The guns were initially supplied with a total 630 rounds of ammunition, and this was later increased to 720 shells. The secondary battery comprised eight 15 cm SK C/28 guns, each in single MPLC/28 mountings arranged amidships . These mountings allowed elevation to 35 degrees and depression to −10 degrees, for

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6510-480: The historically Germanic countries and regions of Europe into the Nazi state ( Flanders , the Netherlands , Denmark , Norway , Sweden etc.). A number of previously neutral words which were used by the Nazis later took on negative connotations in German (e.g. Führer or Heil ); while in many contexts Reich is not one of them ( Frankreich , France; Römisches Reich , Roman Empire ), it can imply German imperialism or strong nationalism if it

6615-647: The larger screws. The engines were rated at 54,000 metric horsepower (53,261.3  shp ; 39,716.9  kW ) and a top speed of 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph). They did not meet the expected shaft-horsepower on trials, though they did exceed their design speeds. Deutschland ' s engines reached 48,390 PS (47,730 shp; 35,590 kW) and 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph), and Admiral Scheer ' s engines reached 52,050 PS (51,340 shp; 38,280 kW) and 28.3 knots (52.4 km/h; 32.6 mph). Horsepower figures for Admiral Graf Spee are not recorded, though her top speed on trials

6720-419: The most successful capital ship surface raider of the war. Following her return to Germany, she was deployed to northern Norway to interdict shipping to the Soviet Union. She was part of the abortive attack on Convoy PQ 17 with the battleship Tirpitz ; the operation was broken off after surprise was lost. She also conducted Operation Wunderland , a sortie into the Kara Sea . After returning to Germany at

6825-411: The name of Sweden in Swedish. Thus in the official name of Sweden, Konunga riket Sve rige , the word rike appears twice. The derived prefix rigs- (Danish and pre-1907 Norwegian) and riks- (Swedish and Norwegian) and implies nationwide or under central jurisdiction. Examples include riksväg and riksvei , names for a national road in Swedish and Norwegian. It is also present in

6930-419: The name used for Austria today is composed of "Öster" and "Reich" which, literally translated, means "Eastern Realm". The name once referred to the Eastern parts of the Holy Roman Empire . In the history of Germany specifically, it is used to refer to: The Nazis adopted the term "Third Reich" to legitimize their government as the rightful successor to the retroactively renamed "First" and "Second" Reichs –

7035-459: The names of numerous institutions in all the Scandinavian countries, such as Rigsrevisionen (the agency responsible for oversight of the state finances in Denmark) and Sveriges Riksbank (commonly known as just Riksbanken ), the central bank of Sweden. It is also used in words such as udenrigs (Danish), utrikes (Swedish) and utenriks (Norwegian), relating to foreign countries and other things from abroad. The opposite word

7140-464: The once important Low Germans had to assimilate themselves. This marked the transition between Antijudaism , where converted Jews were accepted as full citizens (in theory), to Antisemitism , where Jews were thought to be from a different ethnicity that could never become German. Apart from all those ethnic minorities being de facto extinct, even today the era of national feeling is taught in history in German schools as an important stepping-stone on

7245-457: The outdated battleships were restricted to a maximum size of 10,000 tons. The Reichsmarine was considered the armed naval force of the Reichswehrministerium ( Ministry of the Reichswehr ) which was headed by a civilian minister appointed by the Weimar government. The senior most naval officer was known until 1920 as the Chef der Admiralität (Chief of the Admiralty), after which the title changed to Chef der Marineleitung (Chief of

7350-434: The partial translation "the Third Reich "), first used in a 1923 book entitled Das Dritte Reich by Arthur Moeller van den Bruck , that counted the medieval Holy Roman Empire (which nominally survived until the 19th century) as the first and the 1871–1918 monarchy as the second, which was then to be followed by a "reinvigorated" third one. The Nazis ignored the previous 1918–1933 Weimar period , which they denounced as

7455-479: The range fell to 10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi). Admiral Scheer carried 2,410 t (2,370 long tons) and had a correspondingly shorter range of 9,100 nmi (16,900 km; 10,500 mi) at 20 kn. Admiral Graf Spee stored 2,500 t (2,500 long tons) of fuel, which enabled a range of 8,900 nmi (16,500 km; 10,200 mi). Electricity was supplied by four electric generators powered by two diesel engines. Their total output

7560-581: The realm") for gendarmerie in Belgium . The word rijk can also be found in institutions like the Rijkswaterstaat , Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu and Rijksuniversiteit Groningen . In colloquial speech, rijk usually means working for the central government rather than the provincial or municipal government, much as Americans refer to the "federal" government. In Afrikaans , ryk refers to rulership and area of governance (mostly

7665-669: The road to a German nation. In the case of the Hohenzollern Empire (1871–1918), the official name of the country was Deutsches Reich ("German Realm"), because under the Constitution of the German Empire , it was legally a confederation of German states under the permanent presidency of the King of Prussia . The constitution granted the King of Prussia the title of "German Emperor" ( Deutscher Kaiser ), but this referred to

7770-644: The same way that the terms Bund (federation) and Bundes- (federal) are used in Germany today, and comparable to The Crown in Commonwealth countries and The Union in the United States . The Nazis sought to legitimize their power historiographically by portraying their ascendancy to rule as the direct continuation of an ancient German past. They adopted the term Drittes Reich ("Third Empire" – usually rendered in English in

7875-463: The sense of a sovereign state) and does not have any special or political connotations. It does not imply any particular form of government, but it implies that the entity is both of a certain size and of a certain standing, like the Scandinavian kingdoms themselves; hence the word might be considered exaggerated for very small states like a city-state. Its use as a stand-alone word is more widespread than in contemporary German, but most often, it refers to

7980-499: The ship was named. She was completed slightly over a year and a half later on 12 November 1934, the day she was commissioned into the German fleet. Admiral Graf Spee , the third and final member of the class, was also ordered by the Reichsmarine from the Reichsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven. She was ordered under the contract name " Panzerschiff C" to replace the battleship Braunschweig . Her keel

8085-623: The ships incorporated several radical innovations, including the first major use of welding in a warship and all- diesel propulsion . Due to their heavy armament of six 28 cm (11 in) guns and lighter weight, the British began referring to the vessels as " pocket battleships ". The Deutschland -class ships were initially classified as Panzerschiffe , but the Kriegsmarine reclassified them as heavy cruisers in February 1940. The three ships were built between 1929 and 1936 by

8190-423: The ships' anti-aircraft battery consisted of three 8.8 cm SK L/45 anti-aircraft guns in single mounts. These were replaced in 1935 with six 8.8 cm SK C/31 guns in twin mounts. Admiral Graf Spee and Deutschland were rearmed in 1938 and 1940, respectively, with six 10.5 cm L/65 guns, four 3.7 cm SK C/30 guns and initially ten 2 cm Flak guns—the number of 2 cm guns on Deutschland

8295-618: The state of the ship convinced Hans Langsdorff , her commander, to scuttle the ship outside Montevideo , Uruguay. Lützow and Admiral Scheer were deployed to Norway in 1942 to join the attacks on Allied convoys to the Soviet Union. Admiral Scheer conducted Operation Wunderland in August 1942, a sortie into the Kara Sea to attack Soviet merchant shipping, though it ended without significant success. Lützow took part in

8400-552: The term "German Empire", Deutsches Reich , by the Weimar Republic ... conjured up an image among educated Germans that resonated far beyond the institutional structures Bismarck created: the successor to the Roman Empire; the vision of God's Empire here on earth; the universality of its claim to suzerainty ; and in a more prosaic but no less powerful sense, the concept of a German state that would include all German speakers in central Europe—"one People, one Reich, one Leader", as

8505-441: The three Scandinavian states themselves and certain historical empires, like the Roman Empire . The standard word for a "country" is usually land , and there are many other words used to refer to countries. The word is part of the official names of Denmark, Norway and Sweden in the form of kongerige   ( Danish ) , kongerike   ( Norwegian ) , and konungarike   ( Swedish ) , all meaning kingdom, or literally

8610-474: The time. The historian Hans Georg Prager examined the former Soviet archives in the early 2000s, and discovered that Lützow actually had been sunk in weapons tests in July 1947. Admiral Scheer saw heavy service with the German Navy, including several deployments to Spain during the Spanish Civil War, to participate in non-intervention patrols. While off Spain, she bombarded the port of Almería following

8715-547: The two main Naval Sea Stations. The four type commands were: The Reichsmarine did not maintain traditional at-sea fleets, but instead assigned two geographical areas (known as Marinestation ) which oversaw all vessels operationally deployed in the North and Baltic Seas . Each naval station maintained a headquarters staff, general naval inspectorate, training department, artillery arsenal inspector, as well as

8820-617: The two remaining ships to be scrapped, the possibility of instead converting them into aircraft carriers was discussed. The hulls would have been lengthened by approximately 20 meters (66 ft), which would have used 2,000 tons of steel and employed 400 workmen. Conversion time was estimated at two years. Their flight deck would have been only 10 meters (33 ft) shorter than that of the Admiral Hipper -class heavy cruiser Seydlitz , which had been prepared for conversion in 1942, and they would still have attained 28 knots. This plan

8925-406: The two sisters. Admiral Scheer had the belt somewhat improved, and Admiral Graf Spee had a much more improved 100 mm belt, instead of 50–80 mm. The armored deck was improved as well, and some places had up to 70 mm thickness. The Kriegsmarine initially classified the ships as " Panzerschiffe " (armored ships), but in February 1940 it reclassified the two survivors of

9030-423: The waterline , and as built, 186 m (610 ft 3 in) long overall . Deutschland and Admiral Scheer had clipper bows installed in 1940–1941; their overall length was increased to 187.90 m (616 ft 6 in). Deutschland had a beam of 20.69 m (67 ft 11 in), Admiral Scheer ' s beam was 21.34 m (70 ft 0 in), while Admiral Graf Spee ' s

9135-557: Was 2,160 kW for Deutschland , 2,800 kW for Admiral Scheer , and 3,360 kW for Admiral Graf Spee , all at 220  volts . Steering was controlled by a single rudder . The three Deutschland -class ships were armed with a main battery of six 28 cm SK C/28 guns mounted in two triple turrets, one on either end of the superstructure . The turrets were the Drh LC/28 type and allowed elevation to 40 degrees, and depression to −8 degrees. This provided

9240-896: Was 21.65 m (71 ft 0 in). Deutschland and Admiral Scheer had a standard draft of 5.78 m (19 ft 0 in) and a full-load draft of 7.25 m (23 ft 9 in). Admiral Graf Spee ' s draft was 5.80 m (19 ft 0 in) and 7.34 m (24 ft 1 in), respectively. The displacement of the three ships increased over the class. Standard displacement grew from 10,600 long tons (10,800 t) for Deutschland to 11,550 long tons (11,740 t) for Admiral Scheer and 12,340 long tons (12,540 t) for Admiral Graf Spee . The ships' full load displacements were significantly higher, at 14,290 long tons (14,520 t) for Deutschland , 13,660 long tons (13,880 t) for Admiral Scheer , and 16,020 long tons (16,280 t) for Admiral Graf Spee . The ships were officially stated to be within

9345-444: Was 29.5 knots (54.6 km/h; 33.9 mph). Deutschland could carry up to 2,750 t (2,710 long tons) of fuel oil, which provided a maximum range of 17,400 nautical miles (32,200 km; 20,000 mi) at a speed of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph). An increase in speed by one knot reduced the range slightly to 16,600 nmi (30,700 km; 19,100 mi). At a higher speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph),

9450-410: Was Adolf Hitler's personal desire that Großdeutsches Reich and nationalsozialistischer Staat ("[the] National Socialist State") would be used in place of Drittes Reich . Reichskanzlei Berchtesgaden (" Reich Chancellery Berchtesgaden "), another nickname of the regime (named after the eponymous town located in the vicinity of Hitler's mountain residence where he spent much of his time in office)

9555-426: Was a radical innovation at the time and contributed to significant savings in weight. Each set was controlled by transmissions built by AG Vulcan . The engines were paired on two propeller shafts, which were attached to three-bladed screws that were 4.40 m (14 ft 5 in) in diameter. Deutschland was initially fitted with 3.70 m (12 ft 2 in) diameter screws, before they were replaced with

9660-572: Was also banned at the same time, despite the fact that a sub-section of the Chancellery was in fact installed there to serve Hitler's needs. Although the term "Third Reich" is still commonly used in reference to the Nazi dictatorship, historians avoid using the terms "First Reich" and "Second Reich", which are seldom found outside Nazi propaganda . During and following the Anschluss ( annexation ) of Austria in 1938, Nazi propaganda also used

9765-462: Was eventually increased to 28. Admiral Scheer had been rearmed by 1945 with six 4 cm (1.6 in) guns, eight 3.7 cm guns, and thirty-three 2 cm guns. The ships' main armored belt was 80 mm (3.1 in) thick amidships and reduced to 60 mm (2.4 in) on either end of the central citadel. The bow and stern were unarmored at the waterline. This belt was inclined to increase its protective qualities and supplemented by

9870-432: Was giving his christening speech. After the completion of fitting out work, initial sea trials began in November 1932. The ship was commissioned into the Reichsmarine on 1 April 1933. Serious political opposition to the ships continued after the authorization for Deutschland , and a political crisis over the second ship, Admiral Scheer , was averted only after the Social Democrats abstained from voting. As

9975-457: Was laid down at the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel on 5 February 1929, under the contract name " Panzerschiff A", as a replacement for the old battleship Preussen . Work began under construction number 219. The ship was launched on 19 May 1931; at her launching, she was christened by German Chancellor Heinrich Brüning . The ship accidentally started sliding down the slipway while Brüning

10080-406: Was laid on 1 October 1932, under construction number 125. The ship was launched on 30 June 1934; at her launching, she was christened by the daughter of Admiral Maximilian von Spee , after whom the ship was named. She was completed slightly over a year and a half later on 6 January 1936, the day she was commissioned into the German fleet. After Hitler had given the order in late January 1943 for

10185-488: Was not particularly successful on her raiding sortie, during which she sank or captured three ships. She then returned to Germany, where she was renamed Lützow . Admiral Graf Spee sank nine vessels in the South Atlantic before she was confronted by three British cruisers at the Battle of the River Plate . Although she damaged the British ships, she was herself damaged and her engines were in poor condition. Coupled with deceptive false British reports of reinforcements,

10290-550: Was not pursued. Deutschland saw significant action with the Kriegsmarine , including several non-intervention patrols , during which she was attacked by Republican bombers . At the outbreak of World War II, she was cruising the North Atlantic, prepared to attack Allied merchant traffic. Bad weather hampered her efforts, and she sank or captured only three vessels before returning to Germany, after which she

10395-472: Was popular during this period was the term Tausendjähriges Reich ("Thousand-Year Reich"), the millennial connotations of which suggested that Nazi Germany would last a thousand years. The Nazis also spoke of enlarging the then-established Greater German Reich into a " Greater Germanic Reich of the German Nation " ( Großgermanisches Reich Deutscher Nation ) by gradually and directly annexing all of

10500-408: Was prepared in 1926 and finalized by 1928. Zenker announced on 11 June 1927 that the Navy had settled on one of several proposals for the new warships. The Reichsmarine had decided that the new ships would be armed with two triple turrets mounting 28 cm guns. Political opposition to the new ships was significant. The Reichsmarine therefore decided to delay ordering the ship until after

10605-490: Was rectified in Admiral Graf Spee . Likewise, the torpedo bulkheads for Deutschland and Admiral Scheer stopped at the inside of the double-bottom but in Admiral Graf Spee extended to the outer hull. The ships' forward conning tower had 150 mm (5.9 in) thick sides with a 50 mm (2.0 in) thick roof, while the aft conning tower was less well protected, with 50 mm thick sides and

10710-624: Was renamed Lützow . She then participated in Operation Weserübung , the invasion of Norway. Damaged at the Battle of Drøbak Sound , she was recalled to Germany for repairs. While en route, she was torpedoed by a British submarine and seriously damaged. Repairs were completed by March 1941, and in June Lützow steamed to Norway. While en route, she was torpedoed by a British bomber, necessitating significant repairs that lasted until May 1942. She returned to Norway to join

10815-598: Was the first entity that was officially called in German Deutsches Reich . Deutsches Reich remained the official name of Germany until 1945, although these years saw three very different political systems more commonly referred to in English as: "the German Empire " (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933; this term is a post- World War II coinage not used at the time), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). After 1918 "Reich"

10920-408: Was then left vacant, but the flag staff remained. The purpose of the fleet command was to oversee the four major type commanders of German naval vessels. These commands were in turn responsible for the administration of various German ship classes to include equipment development, vessel deployments, and personnel assignment. Once at sea, operational control of the vessels switched to the commanders of

11025-474: Was usually not translated as "Empire" in English-speaking countries, and the title was instead simply used in its original German. During the Weimar Republic the term Reich and the prefix Reichs- referred not to the idea of empire but rather to the institutions, officials, affairs etc. of the whole country as opposed to those of one of its constituent federal states ( Länder ), in

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