Deutschland Class Battlecruiser Summary

3D Print Deutschland Class Heavy Cruisers

An alternative to out of the box Axis and Allies pieces, 3D print opens a new world of customized pieces, where basically any historical ship can be obtained. We use 3D printed game pieces regularly to enhance the realism of our fleet and also to use as equipment upgrade paths during the game.

These 3D designs by EBard offer exceptional detail and combined with our custom painting and decal graphics, make these ships simply the finest 3D printed game pieces available. These are guaranteed to become the most prized pieces in your collection.

The Deutschland class was a series of three heavily armed cruisers in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. The ships of the class were all stated to displace 10,000 long tons in accordance with the Treaty, but secretly they violated the weight limit. The design for the ships incorporated several radical innovations to save weight. They were the first major warships to use welding and all-diesel propulsion.

Due to their heavy armament of six 28 cm (11 in) guns, high speed and long cruising range, the class was more capable of high seas operation than the old pre-dreadnought battleships they replaced. For this reason, the British referred to them as "pocket battleships". The Deutschland-class ships were initially classified as Panzerschiffe but the Kriegsmarine reclassified them as heavy cruisers in February 1940.

Before the outbreak of World War II, Deutschland and Admiral Graf Spee were deployed to the Atlantic to put them in position to attack Allied merchant traffic once war was declared. Admiral Scheer remained in port for periodic maintenance. Deutschland was not particularly successful on her raiding sortie, during which she sank or captured three ships. She then returned to Germany where she was renamed Lützow. 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. Graf Spree damaged the British ships severely, but she herself was damaged and her engines were in poor condition. The British sending false reports of reinforcements convinced her captain to scuttle the ship outside Montevideo, Uruguay.

Lützow and Admiral Scheer were deployed to Norway in 1942 to join the attacks on Allied convoys to the Soviet Union. 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.

Ship of Class:

• Deutschland/Lützow - Sunk following air attack, April 1945
• Admiral Scheer - Sunk following air attack, April 1945
• Admiral Graf Spee - Scuttled following surface action, December 1939

Note: Sculpts of this class are identical. 

Approximate dimensions (LWH): 55mm x 6.5 mm x 8mm

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