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SMS Lützow

SMS Lützow: SMS Luetzow
Image: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).

Key facts

NameSMS LützowWikidata label
Ship typebattlecruiserWikidata P31 instance of
Cause of lossWar actionKeyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence
Nationality / flagGerman EmpireWikidata P8047 country of registry
OperatorImperial German NavyWikidata P137 operator
ConflictWorld War IWikidata P607 conflict
Sea / oceanNorth SeaNatural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon
Position56.2500, 5.8833Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0)

About the wreck

SMS Lützow was the second Derfflinger-class battlecruiser built by the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) before World War I. Ordered as a replacement for the old protected cruiser Kaiserin Augusta, Lützow was launched on 29 November 1913, but not completed until 1916. Lützow was a sister ship to Derfflinger from which she differed slightly in that she was armed with an additional pair of 15 cm (5.9 inch) secondary guns and had an additional watertight compartment in her hull. She was named in honor of the Prussian general Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow who fought in the Napoleonic Wars.

Lützow was commissioned on 8 August 1915, but did not join I Scouting Group until 20 March due to engine damage during trials. This was after most of the major actions conducted by the German battlecruiser force had taken place. As a result, Lützow saw very little action during the war. She took part in only one bombardment operation: the Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft on 24–25 April 1916, after which she became Admiral Franz von Hipper's flagship. One month later, the ship was heavily engaged during the Battle of Jutland, on 31 May–1 June.

Location

  • Recorded position: 56.2500, 5.8833 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
  • Sea / ocean: North Sea

Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.

OpenStreetMap

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article SMS Lützow (revision 1378301962), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.

Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).

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Further reading