O-class (battle cruiser)
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| O class | |
| Overview | |
| Type: | Battle cruiser |
| Units: | planned: 3 in service: 0 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Displacement: | Draft: 35,410 t |
| Length: | 242 m |
| Width: | 27.5 m |
| Draft: | Maximum: 7.6 m |
| Speed: | Maximum: 35 kn |
| Crew: | 1500 men |
| Range: | 12,000 nautical miles at 16 knots |
| Drive: |
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The battlecruisers of the O-class are a draft of the German Navy that was never carried out.
planning
The battlecruisers of the O-class were planned in 1937 at the same time as the P-class , the successors to the ships of the Deutschland-class . The ships officially bore the designation "Battleship O", the expression "battle cruiser" never officially existed in the German Navy.
In 1939, consideration was given to replacing three of the twelve ironclad ships in the Z-Plan with the same number of these new battlecruisers. Construction contracts were given on August 8, 1939 to Deutsche Werke Kiel AG , F. Krupp Germaniawerft Kiel and the Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven . "O" went to the German works, and should be on since the launch of the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin built no longer occupied Helling 2 and delivered from June 1, 1943rd "P" went to the Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven and was to be built on slipway 2, which had not been used since the battleship Tirpitz was launched , and should also be delivered on June 1, 1943. The Friedrich Krupp Germania shipyard in Kiel was commissioned with the battle cruiser "Q". The slipway VIII was to be used for this as soon as the aircraft carrier B , which was scheduled for launch on July 1, 1940, had expired. The delivery date was therefore set to December 1, 1943.
Construction was not started on any of the ships, but components were already in place. Each of the three battlecruisers was to receive one of the four boiler systems under construction for aircraft carrier B, and these propulsion systems for carrier B were to be recreated for the aircraft carrier. The 38 cm turrets , which were intended for converting the battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst from their 28 cm turrets to the more heavily armored turrets, should now be used for the O-class battlecruisers, and the two battleships should continue until to build another 38 cm turret, keep their weaker armament.
The ships were designed for the trade war . Therefore they should be given a mixed drive system. Diesel engines were intended for long-distance travel at medium speed, additional turbines were intended for high speed in combat.
The main task of this battle cruiser was the attack on enemy convoys to cargo ships to sink. Although the armor would only have been that of a cruiser, these ships could have endangered well-protected Allied convoys due to the weapon range of their main artillery.
Armament
- artillery
6 × 38 cm SK C / 34 (L / 52)
6 × 15 cm SK C / 28 (L55)
8 × 10.5 cm SK C / 33 (L / 65)
12 × 37 mm Flak
20 × 2 cm Flak 38 (L / 65)
- Torpedoes
6 × 53.3 cm torpedo tubes
units
Battleship O
- Deutsche Werke Kiel (designed)
Battleship P
- Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven (designed)
Battleship Q
- Germania shipyard Kiel (designed)
Footnotes
- ^ Siegfried Breyer: Battleships and battle cruisers 1921–1997 - Internationaler battleship construction, Bernd & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 2002, ISBN 3-7637-6225-6 , p. 189
- ↑ Marine High Command Office BNr AV a 477/39 GKdos. of June 26, 1939 (BA / MA RM 7/1203)
- ^ Siegfried Breyer: The Z-Plan - Striving for the World Power Fleet , p. 32.