Tag Archives: cruiser Nurnberg

The Big German in the Big Apple for the Spirit of 86

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With the recent visit to Baltimore, New York, and Boston, and victory in the Five Sisters Race off Cape Cod by the German training barque SSS Gorch Fock, repeating the windjammer’s Bicentennial Op Sail ’76 win, we would be remiss not to mention another German training ship that came by to bask in the 4th of July events back in ’86.

Here we see the training cruiser Deutschland (A 59) of the then-West German Navy passing during the International Naval Review celebrating the centennial of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor on 4 July 1986.

Note the myriad of small boat traffic! The USCG would never allow that today. CWO3 Montie Talbert III, DN-ST-87-02482, National Archives Identifier 6421663.

And another shot from the same day.

Crew members man the rail aboard the training cruiser (Ausbildungskreuzer) Deutschland (A 59) during the International Naval Review in New York. Photographed by Emmet Francois, DN-ST-87-01180. National Archives Identifier 6421149

The schulschiff, or schoolship, Deutschland (A59) was commonly referred to by West Germany’s Bundesmarine as a “training cruiser” throughout her 24-year Cold War-era career.

Just 5,700 tons at the max, she wasn’t much of a “cruiser” when compared to contemporary Atomic-era designs (she was ordered in 1958). The 453-foot vessel had no armor, was capable of just 22 knots at maximum speed, and her main battery consisted of four 4″/55 guns, making her more of a very slow gun-armed destroyer.

Deutschland (A59). Via 1967 Jane’s

Nonetheless, FGS Deutschland was the fifth “Deutschland” in 80 years of German naval history, following in the footsteps of a London-built central battery ironclad of the 1870s, a pre-dreadnought-era battlewagon, and the well-known WWII “pocket battleship.”

Unlike her forerunners, FGS Deutschland was a happy ship, carrying out three-month training cruises each summer for up to 250 naval cadets and chief petty officers, never seeing combat.

Check out this great 10-minute Cold War German film, covering a summer “School at Sea” during her 1984 cruise.

Germany’s Last ‘Cruiser’

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A series of at least 84 cruisers of all sorts served first the Kaiserliche Marine, then the interbellum Reichsmarine, and finally, the WWII-era Kaiserliche Marine, starting with the protected cruiser SMS Irene’s circa 1886 keel laying to the handover of the famed but worn-out heavy cruiser KMS Prinz Eugen in May 1945.

And you would think that the book of Teutonic cruisers closed with the sinking of Prinz Eugen in December 1946 off Kwajalein Atoll, and the scrapping of the Soviet light cruiser Admiral Makarov (ex-KMS Nurnberg) in 1960.

Soviet light cruiser Admiral Makarov, formerly Nurnberg of Germany’s Kriegsmarine, in Tallinn for Navy Day, 1946 – Rahvusarhiiv

But then again, there was one more.

The schulschiff, or schoolship, Deutschland (A59) was commonly referred to by West Germany’s Bundesmarine as a “training cruiser” throughout her 24-year career.

15th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery returns a 21-gun salute from FGS Deutschland, then the West German Navy’s largest ship, as she enters Vancouver. This is the closest thing the ship came to receiving fire in her career. 

Just 5,700 tons at the max, she wasn’t much of a “cruiser” when compared to contemporary Atomic-era designs (she was ordered in 1958). The 453-foot vessel had no armor, was capable of just 22 knots at maximum speed, and her main battery consisted of four 4″/55-cal guns, making her more of a very slow gun-armed destroyer.

To be fair, the French at the same time fielded a lightly armed “training cruiser,” Jeanne d’Arc. She served from 1964 to 2010

Nonetheless, FGS Deutschland was the fifth “Deutschland” in 80 years of German naval history, following in the footsteps of an ironclad, a pre-dreadnought-era battlewagon, and a well-known “pocket battleship.”

Unlike her forerunners, FGS Deutschland was a happy ship, carrying out three-month training cruises each summer for up to 250 naval cadets and chief petty officers, never seeing combat.

Check out this great 10-minute Cold War German film, covering the 2.5-month “School at Sea” during her 1984 cruise.