British Leander-class cruisers
German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee
An item dated London, England 19th December referred
to naval sources claiming that the fact that the German cruiser of the Köln-class
(1) was destroyed by just a single torpedo pointed out that something was wrong
with the German methods of building. Another indication was that the relatively
small calibre main guns (15,2cm/6”) of the British cruisers HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles
managed to damage the armour of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee
(1) above expectations. The British blamed the method of electric welding used
by the German shipyards to decrease the weight instead of the traditional
riveting of armour plates. It was believed that electric welding could reduce
the weight of a ship of 10.000 ton with around 900 ton.
Notes
1. The Köln belonged to the Königsberg-class light
cruisers consisting of the Karlsruhe, Königsberg and Köln of which the first
two were sunk in 1940. 85% of their hulls were welded instead of riveted. On 13
December 1939 were the Leipzig and Nürnberg of the Leipzig-class, the
successors of the Königsberg-class, torpedoed by the British submarine HMS
Salmon although surviving, both ships more as 90% welded.
2. The British HMS Ajax and the New Zealand HMNZS
Achilles were of the Leander-class light cruisers
3. Of the
Deutschland-class armoured ships well known as pocket battleships later
classified as heavy cruisers. Laid down by Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven,
Germany on 1 October 1932, launched on 30 June 1934, commissioned on 6 January
1936, after the Battle of the River Plata with British/New Zealand cruisers on
13 December, scuttled by her own crew in the harbour of Montevideo, Uruguay on
17 December 1939.