An item reported the positions of the major German warships on 25 April: the Tirpitz (1), Admiral Scheer (2), Hipper (3) and Prinz Eugen (4) were still at Trondheim, Norway, the Scharnhorst (5) and light cruiser Nürnberg (6) still at Kiel, Germany, the heavy cruiser Seydlitz (7) still at Bremen and the light cruiser Köln (8) still at Wilhelmshaven. There was no recent information dealing with the other major warships.
Notes
1. Laid down by Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven, Germany on 2 November 1936, launched on 1 April 1939, commissioned on 25 February 1941 and sunk by the Royal Air Force on 12 November 1944 at Tromsø, Norway, with her wreck broken up between 1948-1957. Of the Bismarck-class as answer on the French Richelieu-class battleships preceded by Scharnhorst-class succeeded by planned H-class.
2. Of the Deutschland-class panzerschiffe later classified as heavy cruisers preceded by the Admiral Hipper-class. Main armament 2x3-28cm/11”guns on fore and aft ship one turret. Laid down by Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven, Germany on 25 June 1931, launched on 1 April 1933, commissioned on 12 November 1934, sunk during an air attack at Kiel, Germany on 9 April 1945, partly broken up and the remains used of filling up the inner part of the dockyard.
3. Part of Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruisers, preceded by Deutschland-class, succeeded by the planned P-class, laid down by Blohm&Voss, Hamburg, Germany on 6 July 1935, launched on 6 February 1937, commissioned on 29 April 1939, scuttled on 3 May 1945 and between 1948-1952 salvaged and broken up
4. Of the Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruisers, preceded by Deutschland-class. Laid down by Germaniawerft, Kiel on 23 April 1936, launched on 22 August 1938, commissioned on 1 August 1940, decommissioned on 7 May 1945, surrendered on 8 May 1945, handed over to the USA and sunk on 22 December 1946 during nuclear tests.
5. Part of Scharnhorst-class battleships/battle cruisers preceded by planned L20e a-class and realized Bayern-class succeeded by Bismarch-class, laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhemshaven, Germany on 15 June 1935, launched on 3 October 1936, commissioned on 7 January 1939 and sunk while in battle off the North Cape on 26 December 1943 by the British battleship HMS Duke of York with just 36 survivors of a crew of 1,968 men. Her sister ship was the Gneisenau. The Scharnhorst was to replace the old dreadnought Elsass and so she became first know in official documents and newspaper as the Ersatz Elsass and in the contracts as "D”.
6. Part of Leipzig-class light cruisers preceded by Königsberg-class succeeed by planned M-class cruiser, ordered in 1933, laid down with yard number 234 by Deutsche Werke, Kiel, Germany on 4 November 1934, launched on 6 December 1934, commissioned on 2 November 1935, seized by the British Royal Navy in 1945, handed in December to the Soviet Union, renamed Admiral Makarov and broken up by 1960.
7. Part of Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruisers, preceded by Deutschland-class, succeeded by the planned P-class, laid down by Deutsche Schiffe- und Maschinenbau, Bremen, Germany on 29 December 1936, launched on 19 January 1939,and incomplete scuttled on 29 January 1945, salvaged and broken up in 1958.
8. Part of Königsberg-class light cruiser preceded by Emden succeeded by Leipzig-class, ordered as cruiser “D”, ersatz Arcona, laid down by Reichsmarinewerft, Wilhelmshaven, Germany on 7 August 1926, launched on 23 May 1928, commissioned on 15 January 1930, sunk in an Allied attack on Wilhelsmhaven on 30 March 1945, served until May as floating battery, salvaged and broken up in 1956.
Source
Map Room Papers (Roosevelt Administration), 1942 - 1945. U.S. Joint Intelligence Committee. Daily summary No. 137 dated 26 April 1942
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