In January of 1940, the mighty pocket battleship Admiral Hipper was paving
the way for a Kriegsmarine convoy that had to deliver infantrymen to the Norwegian coasts.
But as the German vessels approached the port of Trondheim, a furious fight broke out with
British warships approaching from the horizon. HMS Glowworm went straight for the German
formation, and only Admiral Hipper could stop her from breaking it.
The two warships then fought relentlessly as the salvos penetrated the ships’ armored belts,
and smoke and fire emerged from the decks. But knowing that the fight was lost,
HMS Glowworm decided to go down with honor and launched a desperate charge.
The ship slowly turned to face Admiral Hipper and approached as fast as she could to ram her.
At that point, Admiral Hipper kept still, laconic, and prepared for the impact…
Admiral Hipper-class Cruisers
The Treaty of Versailles after World War 1 significantly limited the German Navy from
developing more vessels or buying upgraded ships. Moreover, Germany did not participate in the
subsequent Washington and London Naval Treaties. In 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party sought
to overcome the humiliation the German people and its armed forces had suffered and threatened
to back away from the Geneva Conference if the world powers did not accept their rearmament.
After signing the Anglo-German Naval Agreement in June of 1935, the newly created Kriegsmarine
was allowed to have a naval power 35 percent the size of the Royal Navy.
The seasoned sailors were now allowed to build five 10,000-long tons heavy cruisers.
The German Navy’s plan was to quickly develop the five ships it was allowed to,
and one of the Kriegsmarine’s earliest projects was the design of the Admiral
Hipper-class ships, which began in mid-1935.
This cruiser class was named after Admiral Franz von Hipper, who had risen to fame after
commanding a battlecruiser group during the furious Battle of Jutland in 1916.
The class comprised the lead ship Admiral Hipper, Prinz Eugen, Blucher, Lutzow, and Seydlitz,
but only the first three saw action during the global conflict against the Allied forces.
Admiral Hipper Admiral Hipper was the lead ship of her class.
She was laid down in Slipway 9 at the Blohm & Voss Shipyard in Hamburg on July 6, 1935,
and launched two years later on February 6. The vessel was christened by Erika Raeder,
wife of Generaladmiral Erich Raeder. In April of 1939, she was commissioned
under the expertise of Captain Hellmuth Heye, but she soon underwent several
modifications before her running trials. Admiral Hipper was 202.8 meters long,
had a beam of 27.3 meters, and a maximum draft of 7.2 meters. Moreover,
the ship's length increased to 205.9 meters following the installation of a clipper bow.
Overall, Admiral Hipper displaced 15,910 long tons and over 18,000 while fully loaded, and was driven
by three 3-bladed propellers and three turbo-units produced by Blohm & Voss. Each included three
high, medium, and low-pressure turbines, while several others were used in reverse.
The ship was manned by a crew of 1,340 sailors and 42 officers, and her top speed was 32 knots
or 37 miles per hour at 132,000 shaft horsepower. Her maximum range was 8,000 miles at 20 knots.
The cruiser’s armored belt was between 70 and 80 millimeters thick,
while its main one was between 20 to 50. Also, the main battery turrets were protected at the
front by an armor layer that was 105 millimeters thick, with the sides reaching 70 millimeters.
In addition, Admiral Hipper had one catapult that could launch three Arado Ar 196 aircraft for
reconnaissance missions and various operations. To keep her fast, Hipper used eight 203-millimeter
or 8-inch guns for her main battery with four twin gun mounts. Two were fitted forward and two aft.
Secondary armament comprised twelve 10.5-centimeter or 4.1-inch cannons
that were mounted in six dual mounts, with three of them located on starboard and three in port.
Furthermore, Hipper was fitted with twelve 3.7-centimeter guns and eight 2-centimeter
guns to increase her anti-aircraft power. Finally, Admiral Hipper fielded four triple
53.3-centimeter torpedo tubes and up to 150 naval mines to destroy hostile convoys.
Invading Norway Following her commission, Admiral
Hipper steamed into the Atlantic for training and visited different ports and countries. By the time
the Wehrmacht invaded Poland in September of 1939, the ship was still under trial.
After returning to the Blohm & Voss dockyard for a refuel, she began her first war patrol
in January of 1940 alongside the powerful battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the
destroyers Wilhelm Heidkamp and Karl Galster. The convoy was then deployed to the North
Sea off Bergen in Norway to locate British merchant ships, but they never spotted any.
Upon her return, Admiral Hipper was assigned to participate in Operation Weserübung,
the invasion of Norway. She was the flagship of Group 2, composed of several destroyers. Their
task was to deploy 1,700 jagers from the mountain troops to the port of Trondheim.
Group 2 left Wilhelmshaven on April 6 with the support of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.
During the journey, the destroyer Bernd von Arnim engaged the British destroyer
HMS Glowworm and called for help. Admiral Hipper quickly responded, closed the distance,
and scored several hits on the enemy ship. Unarmed and half sunk, Glowworm’s Captain,
Lieutenant Commander Gerald Broadmead Roope, decided to fight to his last
breath and turned his ship to face Hipper. The ships collided like two bulls charging
against each other, and Glowworm tore off a 40-meter section of Hipper’s armored belt on
the starboard side. Shortly after, Glowworm’s boilers exploded, and the vessel sank.
Hipper was only able to pick up 40 survivors. Upon approaching Trondheim, Admiral Hipper was
disguised as a British ship. She then delivered the mountain troops, waited for them to seize
control of the Norwegian batteries, and left for Wilhelmshaven to undergo repairs.
Raiding the Atlantic After her overhaul at Wilhelmshaven
in September of 1940, Wilhelm Meisel became Admiral Hipper’s new commanding officer. The
ship was then sent to the Atlantic for commerce raiding but suffered several mechanical problems.
In November, she was finally able to break into the Atlantic as part of Operation Nordseetour.
Then, after passing undetected through the Denmark Strait on December 6,
Hipper began hunting a convoy of over 20 troopships, opening fire with all her guns
to cause as much destruction as possible. Two ships were severely damaged before the
British escort warships reacted and went after Admiral Hipper.
However, the ship managed to keep them at bay with her main guns, damaging the dome of the British
destroyers before they vanished on the horizon. The ship then made way for the port of Brest
for refueling, and by February of 1941, Hipper was ready for her second sortie.
Operating alongside Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and several U-boats, the hunter team soon spotted
convoy SLS 64, which comprised 19 merchant ships. Admiral Hipper sank 13, accounting
for more than 32,000 long tons of supplies. The cruiser then spent Christmas in a German
port and was subsequently deployed to Norway to disrupt Allied merchant shipping again.
Standoff at the Barents Sea In March of 1942, Hipper was
transferred to Trondheim, where she joined Lützow, Admiral Scheer, and the
battleship Tirpitz for Operation Rösselsprung, a dashing attack to destroy convoy PQ17. Twelve
destroyers accompanied the German task force. The Allied convoy was escorted by the aircraft
carrier HMS Victorious and the battleships HMS Duke of York and USS Washington.
During the pursuit, Lutzow and several destroyers had to turn back while the hostile
convoy dispersed, and the entire operation had to be aborted after they were detected.
The convoy continued operations in December of 1942 to support the Soviet Union, and Admiral
Raeder executed Operation Regenbogen with orders to attack any convoy they spotted in Norway.
Then, on December 30, Admiral Hipper became the flagship of Vizeadmiral Oskar Kummetz
and a force of destroyers that was sent to hunt down convoy JW 51B, composed of
15 merchant ships and over 18 warships. Kummetz split his forces to draw away the
escorts from the north, while the remaining three destroyers would attack the convoy from the south.
At 9:00am on December 31, the British spotted Admiral Hipper, and a fight broke out with the
first salvos from both sides. Kummetz then backed away to draw the British destroyers.
Admiral Hipper was hit three times during the encounter, one of which damaged her propulsion
system and led to secondary fires. Then, as the German destroyers tried to screen
the flagship from further damage, the British vessels carried on pummeling them.
Smoke and fire filled the skies, and upon realizing that his forces were outnumbered,
Kummetz issued a striking order over the radio: (QUOTE) "Break off action and retire to the west.”
Aftermath The Kriegsmarine sank two vessels and severely
damaged three destroyers during the confrontation, while the Royal Navy sank the Friedrich Eckoldt
and severely damaged Admiral Hipper. Still, Admiral Hipper managed to limp back
to Germany for repairs, and was decommissioned on February 8, 1943. Repair work began at Kiel,
but the cruiser was moved to Pillau to protect her from Allied bombers.
After several setbacks in reaching operational status, Admiral Hipper
was moved to Kiel again in February of 1945, but Royal Air Force bombers soon attacked
the shipyard and severely damaged the ship. After the attack, the crew scuttled the wrecked
ship at her moorings, and when the war finally ended, Admiral Hipper was broken up for scrap.
Her bell is on display at the Laboe Naval Memorial near Kiel.
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