The Ships of Brawling Battleships Steel: German Battle Cruiser Derfflinger

Laid down in January 1912, successfully launched on July 12, 1913 (after getting stuck on the slipway during the original launch on June 14, 1913) and commissioned on September 1, 1914, Derfflinger carried a main armament of eight 12 inch main guns mounted two per turret; two superfiring centerline forward, one centerline aft and one centerline aft placed one deck higher to allow it to fire over the other aft turret. The Derfflinger class was the first German battle cruiser class with 12 inch guns. Derfflinger was the name ship of a four-ship battle cruiser class, of which only three of the ships were completed, and the ships had coal-fired turbine engines with oil-fired supplementary burners. The ship was named after Georg von Derfflinger (1606–1695), who came from humble origins to become a Prussian Field Marshal. As was the case with all German battle cruisers, the ships of this class were much better protected than the British battle cruisers and actually were closer to the "fast battleship" concept of the Second World War. During the war, Derfflinger was, with the other German battle cruisers, often used in "tip and run" raids to draw out their British opposite numbers. The purpose of these raids was to use submarines to torpedo reacting British battle cruisers or to draw them to the battleships of the High Seas Fleet, lurking in support at a distance. She was involved in the December 16, 1914 bombardment of Scarborough and the April 24, 1916 bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft. At the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916, where she helped sink the British battle cruisers Invincible and Queen Mary, Derfflinger was heavily damaged by 17 heavy and four cruiser shells and had two turrets burnt out. She shipped 3,000 tons of water but made it home under her own power. After the Armistice, she was interned at Scapa Flow from November 24, 1918. In common with almost all of the German ships interned there, Derfflinger was scuttled on June 21, 1919. Salvaged during 1934, she was gradually scrapped until she was gone by April 1948.

See other German battlecruisers: Lutzow, Moltke, Seydlitz