The Deutschland class was a series of three Panzerschiffe (armored ships), a form of heavily armed cruiser, built by the Reichsmarine officially in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles.

Due to their heavy armament of six 28 cm (11 in) guns and lighter weight, the British began referring to the vessels as "pocket battleships".

For the rest of their peacetime careers, the ships conducted a series of fleet maneuvers in the Atlantic and visited numerous foreign ports in goodwill tours.

Admiral Graf Spee sank nine vessels in the South Atlantic before she was confronted by three British cruisers at the Battle of the River Plate.

Admiral Scheer conducted Operation Wunderland in August 1942, a sortie into the Kara Sea to attack Soviet merchant shipping, though it ended without significant success.

They ended their careers bombarding advancing Soviet forces on the Eastern Front; both ships were destroyed by British bombers in the final weeks of the war.

Lützow was raised and sunk as a target by the Soviet Navy, and Admiral Scheer was partially broken up in situ, with the remainder of the hulk buried beneath rubble.

Following Germany's defeat in World War I, the size of the German Navy, renamed the Reichsmarine, was limited by the Treaty of Versailles.

Admiral Hans Zenker, the commander in chief of the Reichsmarine, pushed hard for the navy to resume design work, and in 1925 three new proposals were drafted.

The Reichsmarine eventually opted for 28 cm (11 in) guns to avoid provoking the Allies and to ease pressures on the design staff.

Of particular importance was the continued French occupation of the Ruhr industrial area, which prevented Germany from quickly building large-caliber artillery.

Britain and the United States favored making concessions to Germany, but France refused to allow any revisions to the Treaty of Versailles.

Since the ships did not violate the terms of the Treaty, the Allies could not prevent Germany from building them after a negotiated settlement proved unattainable.

[13] The hulls contained twelve watertight compartments and were fitted with a double bottom that extended for 92 percent of the length of the keel.

[8] Deutschland could carry up to 2,750 t (2,710 long tons) of fuel oil, which provided a maximum range of 17,400 nautical miles (32,200 km; 20,000 mi) at a speed of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph).

Admiral Scheer carried 2,410 t (2,370 long tons) and had a correspondingly shorter range of 9,100 nmi (16,900 km; 10,500 mi) at 20 kn.

Admiral Graf Spee stored 2,500 t (2,500 long tons) of fuel, which enabled a range of 8,900 nmi (16,500 km; 10,200 mi).

[8] The three Deutschland-class ships were armed with a main battery of six 28 cm SK C/28 guns mounted in two triple turrets, one on either end of the superstructure.

"[27] Deutschland was laid down at the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel on 5 February 1929,[5] under the contract name "Panzerschiff A", as a replacement for the old battleship Preussen.

[33] After Hitler had given the order in late January 1943 for the two remaining ships to be scrapped, the possibility of instead converting them into aircraft carriers was discussed.

Their flight deck would have been only 10 meters (33 ft) shorter than that of the Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser Seydlitz, which had been prepared for conversion in 1942, and they would still have attained 28 knots.

[36] At the outbreak of World War II, she was cruising the North Atlantic, prepared to attack Allied merchant traffic.

She next saw action at the Battle of the Barents Sea with the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, which ended with a failure to destroy the convoy JW 51B.

Engine problems forced a series of repairs culminating in a complete overhaul at the end of 1943, after which the ship remained in the Baltic.

[40] Sunk in the Kaiserfahrt in April 1945 by Royal Air Force (RAF) bombers,[41] Lützow was used as a gun battery to support German troops fighting the Soviet Army until 4 May 1945, when she was disabled by her crew.

[43] The historian Hans Georg Prager examined the former Soviet archives in the early 2000s, and discovered that Lützow actually had been sunk in weapons tests in July 1947.

[44] Admiral Scheer saw heavy service with the German Navy, including several deployments to Spain during the Spanish Civil War, to participate in non-intervention patrols.

She was sunk by British bombers on 9 April 1945 and partially scrapped; the remainder of the wreck lies buried beneath a quay.

[50][51] Admiral Graf Spee conducted extensive training in the Baltic and Atlantic before participating in five non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in 1936–1938.

[55] Admiral Graf Spee was eventually confronted by three British cruisers off Uruguay at the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December 1939.