Admiral Graf Spee was a Panzerschiff, which served with the German Kriegsmarine before and during the early stages of World War II. In view of her comparatively heavy artillery of 28 cm (11 inch) guns, she and her two sisters, Deutschland (later renamed Lützow) and Admiral Scheer, were frequently referred to as pocket battleships by the British. The Admiral Graf Spee is considered one of the most famous German warships, along with the Bismarck. A year after the Graf Spee's loss, her sisters were reclassified as heavy cruisers.
Launched in 1934, Admiral Graf Spee was named after the World War I Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee who died, along with two of his sons, in the first Battle of the Falkland Islands on 8 December 1914. She was the second vessel to be named after him, the first being the uncompleted World War I German battlecruiser SMS Graf Spee.
Displacement: 12,100 t standard; 16,200 t full load
Length: 186 m (610 ft)
Beam: 21.6 m (71 ft)
Draft (max.): 7.4 m (24 ft)
Armament: 6 × 280 mm (11 inch)
8 × 150 mm (5.9 inch)
6 × 105 mm (4.1 inch)
8 × 37 mm
10 × 20 mm
8 × 533 mm (21 inch) torpedo tubes
Rate of fire: 28 cm guns: 2.5 round/min each
15 cm guns: 6 to 8 round/min each
Gun range: 28 cm guns at 40 deg; (armor-piercing shells): 36,475 m
Estimated gun life: 28 cm guns: about 340 rounds; 15 cm guns: about 1,100 rounds
Munitions supply: 28 cm guns: 105 to 120 rounds per gun
Armor: turret face: (160 mm)
belt: (80 mm)
deck: (40 mm)
Sensors: early version of Seetakt radar
Aircraft: Two Arado 196 seaplanes, one catapult
Propulsion: Eight 9-cylinder double-acting two-stroke MAN diesels
two screws, 52,050 hp (40 MW)
Speed: 28.5 knots (53 km/h)
Range: 8,900 nautical miles at 20 knots (16,500 km at 37 km/h)
or 19,000 nautical miles at 10 knots (35,000 km at 18.5 km/h)
Crew: 1,150