"Bjørnar Bolsøy" wrote in message
...
"Keith Willshaw" wrote in
:
"Bjørnar Bolsøy" wrote in message
...
Alan Minyard wrote in
:

Not only was the Blucher the flagship of the operation,
it was the German navy's newest and most modern battle ship,
thus the navy's pride.


Erm no

The Blucher was a heavy cruiser (Schwere Kreuzer) and while
its loss was serious it had 4 sister ships, one of which was sold
to the USSR in 1940 (and sunk by the Luftwaffe in 1941).

And later resurfaced I believe.

Indeed, it was bombed in port and the hulk was raised in 1943
and used as a floating battery

Admiral Hipper, the first
cruiser, was comissioned in april 1939 with Blucher in sep
1939. However she was delayed because of a series of
modernifications she underwent in the 1939/40 winter.


Hipper served in the Norwegian campaign, she was engaged and
rammed by the British destroyer Glowworm (which blew up),
putting a 120ft gash in her side. She was able to continue on to
Trondheim, where she silenced the only shore battery that opened fire.

Neither the Prinz Eugen, Lutzow or Seydlitz had been built
or comissioned at the time.


Prinz Eugen was launched in August 1938 but was still fitting out
at the time of the Norwegian campaign. This was delayed by
damage received in an air raid in July 1940 and she didnt
commission until August 1940

Seydlitz was launched in 1939 but never completed. Work was halted
in 1942 when the plan was changed to converting her into a
carrier but this was never completed and she was scuttled
at Konigsberg in March 45

Keith