Casemate DKM Heavy Cruiser Admiral Hipper Super Drawings in 3D

[Shar2]

DKM Heavy Cruiser Admiral Hipper

Kagero Super Drawings in 3D

Admiral Hipper, the first of five ships of her class, was the lead ship of the Admiral Hipper class of heavy cruisers which served with Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1935 and launched February 1937; and entered service shortly before the outbreak of war, in April 1939. The ship was named after Admiral Franz von Hipper, commander of the German battlecruiser squadron during the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and later commander-in-chief of the German High Seas Fleet.

Admiral Hipper saw a significant amount of action during the war. She led the assault on Trondheim during Operation Weserübung; while en route to her objective, she sank the British destroyer HMS Gloworm. In December 1940, she broke out into the Atlantic Ocean to operate against Allied merchant shipping, though this operation ended without significant success. In February 1941, Admiral Hipper sortied again, sinking several merchant vessels before eventually returning to Germany via the Denmark Strait. The ship was then transferred to northern Norway to participate in operations against convoys to the Soviet Union, culminating in the Battle of the Barents Sea on 31 December 1942, where she sank the destroyer Achates and the Minesweeper Bramble but was in turn damaged and forced to withdraw by the light cruisers HMS Sheffield and HMS Jamaica.

Disappointed by the failure to sink merchant ships in that battle, Adolf Hitler ordered the majority of the surface warships scrapped, though Admiral Karl Dönitz was able to convince Hitler to retain the surface fleet. As a result, Admiral Hipper was returned to Germany and decommissioned for repairs. The ship was never restored to operational status, however, and on 3 May 1945, Royal Air Force bombers severely damaged her while she was in Kiel. Her crew scuttled the ship at her moorings, and in July 1945, she was raised and towed to Heikendorfer Bay. She was ultimately broken up for scrap in 1948–1952; her bell resides in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.

This softback book, in their Super Drawings in 3D series is another brilliant addition to this ever increasing range. The 3D renderings are as beautiful as ever and show the ship as she was in December 1942. As usual you get a full tour of the ship showing the tiniest detail in a format that can really help the modeller, especially as there are areas or points of view that you just wouldn’t get in photographs. The whole ship above the waterline is covered with just a cursory glance at the propellers. Perhaps the only area they could improve these books is with the inclusion of some of the underwater fittings and fixtures. The first eight pages contain the text which covers her design, development, powerplant, armament, anti-aircraft armament upgrades and her war history. The rest of the seventy seven pages are filled with the 3D renderings. In addition Kagero have also included an A1 double side sheet of plans, with one side contain full side, top down, bow and stern views in 1:350. The other side contains a ¾ view off the bow in what looks like 1:200 scale along with some large scale drawings of the ships foreward turrets Anton and Bruno, along with three styles of ships boats.

Conclusion
The clarity of each rendering is what makes this series of books a must have for anyone interested in maritime history in general or these ships in particular. Very highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of