Blucher (Ship)

Blücher was the name for 2 German cruisers, one of which served in World War I, the other in World War II. Both were named for a Prussian general and hero at the Battle of Waterloo.

Armored cruiser Blücher[edit]

This Blücher was the last German armored cruiser built, and part of the German High Seas Fleet during World War I. After the war began, the ship took part in a number of raids on the British North Sea coast. On December 16, 1914, she, along with the battlecruisers Seydlitz and Moltke, bombarded Hartlepol on the east English coastline. Although the Blücher was hit by shore batteries, she and the rest of the force were able to elude the Royal Navy and return to port.^[1]

A later raid resulted in the Battle of Dogger Bank on January 24, 1915. The German force consisting of 3 battlecruisers (Moltke, Seydlitz, and Derffinger), the Blücher, 4 light cruisers, and 18 destroyers were on an offensive sweep in the North Sea when they were intercepted by a superior British force that included five battlecruisers. The Germans ran for home port, but the British ships were faster. Blücher was the last ship in the German line, and was hit repeatedly by salvos from the battlecruisers. The other German units escaped, but the Blücher went down with over 700 of her men.^[2]

Heavy cruiser Blücher[edit]

The Hipper-class heavy cruiser Blücher was laid down in 1936 and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine on September 20, 1939. She displaced 18,700 tons and was 202 meters in length. Her armament included 8 8-inch guns in twin turrets and 12 4-inch guns in single turrets and, in addition, Blücher carried three Arado float planes. Three steam turbine engines provided a maximum speed of 32.5 knots. Her crew consisted of 50 officers and 1500 men, led by Captain Heinrich Woldag.

For the first months after she was commissioned, the Blücher was kept busy with trials and further improvements. In April, she was declared ready for active duties, and assigned to Operation Weserubung, the German invasion of Norway. The Blücher was loaded up with 800 infantry troops and their equipment and sent north to seize the port of Oslo. She set sail on April 8, 1940, along with the pocket battleship Lützow, the light cruiser Emden, and some smaller ships. On the way, the force was spotted and attacked by the British submarine Trident. The attack caused no damage, but the element of surprise had been lost. The group entered Oslofiord after dark and was illuminated by searchlights around midnight, but not fired upon. The German ships continued, to find that the fiord's navigation lights had been extinguished, making the transit much more dangerous. The Blücher unloaded most of the troops she was carrying onto some of the smaller ships, and continued on. At 0440 hours, she was illuminated once again, and forty minutes later, she was fired upon by the heavy guns at Oskarburg fort and the somewhat smaller guns at Dobrak on the opposite bank. The ship sped up to attempt to get past the reach of the guns, but the range was point-blank, and the Blücher suffered heavy damage. She made it past the danger point, but was crippled. Her rudder was jammed, the midsection of the ship was on fire, and worst of all, she was cut off from the other ships by the crossfire, so none of them could come to her assistance. When an ammunition magazine exploded, rupturing fuel bunkers and igniting the fuel, the order was given to abandon ship. At 0730 hours on April 9, the Blücher capsized.^[3]

References[edit]

1. ↑ The World’s Great Battleships, by Robert Jackson, Thunder Bay Press, 2000
2. ↑ A History of War at Sea, by Helmut Pemsel, Naval Institute Press, 1975
3. ↑ German Heavy Cruisers, 1939-45, by Gordon Williamson, Osprey Publishing

Links[edit]

• Armored cruiser Blücher
• Heavy cruiser Blücher
• Timeline of the heavy cruiser Blucher
• Photo gallery of the heavy cruiser Blücher