| Built: | Blohm & Voss, 1937 |
| Richard Beitzen Deutsche Werke, 1935 | |
| Theodor Riedel Germania, 1936 | |
| Dimensions: | 374 ft 0 in (114 m) × 37 ft 0 in (11.28 m) × 9 ft 3 in (2.82 m) |
| Displacement: | 1625 tons (1651 tonnes), standard |
| Main Armament: | 5 × 5 in (127 mm), in five single turrets |
| Anti-aircraft Armament: | 4 × 37 mm |
| 4 × 20 mm | |
| Torpedo Tubes: | 8 × 21 in (533 mm) in two quadruple units |
| Anti-submarine Armament: | Depth charges |
| Machinery: | Geared turbines. High-pressure water tube boilers |
| Maximum 50,000 SHP, giving 36 knots | |
| Complement: | 283 |
| Built: | 1941/42 |
| Dimensions: | 410 ft 0 in (125 m) × 39 ft 4 in (12 m) × 9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) |
| Displacement: | 2603 tons (2645 tonnes) |
| Main Armament: | 5 × 5.9 in (146 mm), in one twin and three single turrets. Some (e.g. Z30) fitted with a lighter single turret forward to improve seagoing characteristics |
| Anti-aircraft Armament: | 4 × 37 mm |
| 4 × 20 mm | |
| Torpedo Tubes: | 8 × 21 in (533 mm) in two quadruple units |
| Machinery: | Geared turbines. Designed 55,000 SHP giving 36 knots |
Articles 181 and 190 of the Treaty of Versailles severely limited post-First World War development of the German navy, a central provision restricting German ‘battleships’ to a maximum 10,000 tons displacement, whereas the Washington Naval Agreement of 1922 restricted the size of battleships of the major naval powers (Britain, France, Italy, Japan and the United States) to 35,000 tons. As the time for replacing the older battleships Germany had been allowed to keep in 1918 approached, the problem greatly exercised the planners and architects of the German navy. The solution arrived at proved to be unique and in many ways revolutionary – the aptly nicknamed ‘pocket battleship’. The basic premise was actually quite simple – to build a vessel fast enough to outrun more heavily armed enemy battleships, yet with sufficiently powerful main armament to outgun enemy heavy cruisers which had a faster turn of speed.
The first of this new class of vessel, the Deutschland, caused quite a stir in naval circles (see outline specification). Her combination of range, speed, and firepower made an ideal commerce raider, and commerce raiding, it was decided, would be the main aim of the German navy in any future conflict with Great Britain. Two sister vessels followed the Deutschland, the Admiral Scheer, one of the most successful German surface raiders of the Second World War, and probably the most familiar of the three, Admiral Graf Spee.
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