GROßE KREUZER

The Large Cruiser Blücher and Beyond

1st Scouting Group Enroute to Dogger Bank
Battlecruisers (L - R) Derfflinger, Seydlitz and Von der Tann Enroute to Dogger Bank


German battlecruiser design got off to a bad start with their first response to Great Britain's HMS Invincible, but they recovered quickly to design and build some of the best balanced ships to see service. Using cased powder, superior optics, extensive compartmentation, and carrying more armour, SMS Von der Tann and her successors were a match individually for British battlecruisers. But outnumbered 2:1 they never got to fight their opponents individually....

Together, the ships operated as the 1st Scouting Group of the High Seas Fleet.


1909

SMS Blucher
SMS Blücher


1911

SMS Von der Tann
SMS Von der Tann


1911

Moltke Class
SMS Moltke and Goeben


1913

SMS Seydlitz
SMS Seydlitz


1914

Derffinger Class
SMS Derfflinger, Lützow, and Hindenburg


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Mackensen Class
Mackensen-class
- Never Completed

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Ersatz Yorck Class
Ersatz Yorck-class
- Never Completed

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Last Update on 01/03/2004

This page © Copyright 2000, Thomas L. Tanner, Jr. unless otherwise noted.