The Ships of Brawling Battleships Steel: Germany Battle Cruiser Lutzow

Laid down in July 1912, launched on November 29, 1913 and commissioned on August 8, 1915, Lutzow 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 up to allow it to fire over the other aft turret. This class was the first German battle cruiser class with 12 inch guns. Lutzow was a member of the three-ship Derfflinger battle cruiser class and the ships had coal-fired turbine engines with oil-fired supplementary burners. As was the case with all German battle cruisers, the ships of this class were much better protected than the opposing British battle cruisers and really more akin to the "fast battleships" of World War II. The ship’s namesake was Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm Lutzow (1781–1834), a noted Prussian general during the Napoleonic Wars. After commissioning, Lutzow suffered serious turbine damage during her trials and was not ready for active service until March 1916. During the war, Lutzow was, along with the other German battle cruisers, often used in raids to embarrass and draw out the British battle cruisers. 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, steaming in reserve at a distance. She was involved in the bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft in April 1916 and in the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916, where she was the flagship of Admiral Franz von Hipper (1863–1932). She sank the British battle cruiser Invincible but was hit by a deluge of 24 heavy shells and a torpedo, shipping 7,500 tons of water and forcing Hipper to switch his flag to Moltke. Down by the bows, her propellers were actually above water as she almost made it home to safety. After rescuing the survivors (116 were killed), German torpedo boats finished the Lutzow , the only German capital ship lost at the battle and the only German battle cruiser lost during the war. The wreckage was partially dismantled during 1961 and 1962 at the site of the sinking.

See other battle cruisers: Seydlitz, Von der Tann, Indefatigble