German training cruiser Deutschland (A59)

For other ships of the same name, see Deutschland (disambiguation).

History

West Germany
Name:	Deutschland
Ordered:	1958
Builder:	Nobiskrug, Rendsburg
Laid down:	11 September 1959
Launched:	5 November 1960
Acquired:	10 April 1963
Commissioned:	25 May 1966
Decommissioned:	28 June 1990
Fate:	Sold for scrap, October 1993
General characteristics
Class & type:	Type 440 cruiser
Displacement:	4,880 long tons (4,958 t) standard 5,684 long tons (5,775 t) full load
Length:	130 m (426 ft 6 in) w/l 138.2 m (453 ft 5 in) o/a
Beam:	16.1 m (52 ft 10 in)
Draft:	5.1 m (16 ft 9 in)
Propulsion:	CODAD 2 × Mercedes-Benz and 2 × Maybach diesel engines, all 16-cylinder, 4-stroke (Maybach engines replaced in 1981 with Mercedes-Benz engines), 2 shafts 2 × Wahodag boilers feeding 1 set of geared Wahodag steam turbines driving center shaft, 16,000 hp (12,000 kW) 3 × 4-bladed Escher-Wyss controllable pitch propellers; 2 rudders 643 tons of oil and diesel fuel
Speed:	22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Range:	3,800 nmi (7,000 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried:	3 motor pinnaces 3 motor cutters 30 life rafts
Complement:	172 officers and men, and up to 250 cadets
Sensors and processing systems:	Radar: LW-08, SGR-114, SGR-105, SGR-103, M-45 Sonar ELAC 1BV
Armament:	4 × 100 mm/55 main guns (4 × 1) 6 × 40 mm/70 AA guns (2 × 2, 2 × 1) 2 × fixed 533 mm torpedo tubes aft (removed in the mid-1970s) 4 × trainable 533 mm anti-submarine torpedo tubes 2 × 375 mm anti-submarine mortars Mine laying capability
Notes:	2 cranes; 3 anchors (one aft, two fore)

Deutschland (A59) was a naval ship of the Bundesmarine, the West German Navy. She was constructed and used as a training cruiser ("Schulschiff") in peacetime and planned for multi-role missions in the event of war: troop ship, hospital ship, minelayer, and escort. For this reason the ship was only lightly armed for its size (no guided missiles), the machinery was rather impractical and diverse, and large teaching rooms were included. Also, civilians served alongside military personnel.

In her time Deutschland was the largest naval vessel of West Germany. Permission to build the ship was granted despite being larger than allowed by tonnage restrictions imposed by the WEU on West Germany. (The later Berlin class replenishment ships of the reunited Germany are much larger.) Like most German post-war naval ships she was completely NBC protected. Deutschland was the smallest German cruiser since the 4,385-ton SMS Brummer and Bremse of 1915.

This one-ship class, Type 440 of the German designation system, cost 95 million DM.

Service career and fate

Ordered in late 1958, the training ship Deutschland was laid down at Nobiskrug shipyard in Rendsburg on 11 September 1959. Launched on 5 November 1960, it was originally intended to name the Federal German Navy's training ship Berlin. For obvious political reasons however (Germany and Berlin being divided and the latter existing under the four power status, and the allies objecting the name chosen), the plan was abandoned and the vessel named after the German nation - "Deutschland" for Germany.

Delivered 10 April 1963, Deutschland was commissioned on 25 May 1966 and, like the sail training ship Gorch Fock, attached to the Naval Academy Mürwik in Flensburg-Mürwik. During her active service, thousands of cadets of the post-war West German navy completed the three month practical part of their officer's training on board Deutschland. The ship remained in active service until she was decommissioned on 28 June 1990. Notwithstanding the prominent role that the ship had played in the naval officer training of the Bundesmarine from the mid-1960s for nearly 25 years, all attempts to preserve the ship, e.g. as a museum, failed. FGS Deutschland was finally sold in October 1993 for scrap, and in January 1994 she was towed to Alang, India to meet her fate.

Pictures

FGS Deutschland (A 59) in Venice during the 54. AAR in August 1980
FGS Deutschland (A 59) at anchor in Lustrafjord near Skjolden in June 1980
Transfer from FGS Deutschland to FGS Lütjens (D 185) in the Gulf of Sirte in August 1980

Namesakes in German naval service

Prior to the Type 440 class training ship Deutschland, other surface warships in German naval service were carrying the same name.

Imperial German Navy

1.) The ironclad SMS Deutschland, launched in 1874,

2.) The pre-dreadnought battleship SMS Deutschland, launched in 1904

3.) The auxiliary minelayer SMS Deutschland, launched in 1909 as a civilian ship and commissioned in 1914

Kriegsmarine

4.) The pocket-battleship Deutschland, launched in 1931 and renamed Lützow in 1940.

References

Verein Schulschiff "Deutschland" 1989 e.V.
Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1983). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1982, Part I. London: Conway Maritime Press, Ltd.

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Ship classes of the German Navy

Destroyers	101A Hamburg 103B Lütjens 119 Fletcher

Frigates and corvettes	120 Köln 122 Bremen 123 Brandenburg 124 Sachsen 125 Baden-Württemberg 130 Braunschweig

Fast attack craft	149 Silbermöwe 140 Jaguar 141 Seeadler 142 Zobel 143 Albatros 143A Gepard 148 Tiger

Mine warfare	320 Lindau 332 Frankenthal 333 Kulmbach 352 Ensdorf 742A Mühlhausen

Submarines	XXI Wilhelm Bauer 201 202 205B 206A 212A

Training ships	440 Deutschland

Auxiliary ships	404 Elbe 423 Oste 441 Gorch Fock 520 Barbe 702 Berlin 703 Walchensee 704 Rhön 720 Helgoland 721 Eisvogel 722 Wangerooge 738 Bottsand 751 Planet 760 Westerwald

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