DKM O Class Battlecruiser Barbarossa

[73north]

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/trumpeter-05370-dkm-o-class-battlecruiser-barbarossa--1422597

 

new release announced .

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday @73north, I have a small book "German Surface Warships 1" from a series 'Navies of the Second World War' by Macdonald which I bought over 40 years ago and this class of ship rates a mention. I didn't know that the first, designated "O" was named Barbarossa. AFAIK none were even started, they were still in the design stage. She would have been an interesting warship. Regards, Jeff.

[TallBlondJohn]

11 hours ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday @73north, I have a small book "German Surface Warships 1" from a series 'Navies of the Second World War' by Macdonald which I bought over 40 years ago and this class of ship rates a mention. I didn't know that the first, designated "O" was named Barbarossa. AFAIK none were even started, they were still in the design stage. She would have been an interesting warship. Regards, Jeff.

 

None were ever named, Barbarossa is a guess. But not a bad one. Still its a bit depressing to see these never-where's put out while there are real ships unkitted, especially in 1/350 - such as Sheffield, Victorious or Illustrious. But swastikas sell.

[MagisterMan]

46 minutes ago, TallBlondJohn said:

 there are real ships unkitted, especially in 1/350 - such as Sheffield, Victorious or Illustrious. But swastikas sell.

 

Hopefully, a day will come, when we'll finally witness already promised Dido-class cruisers and Nelson&Rodney...

But no one knows, when.

Even the Trumpeter itself 😄

 

 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

5 hours ago, TallBlondJohn said:

None were ever named, Barbarossa is a guess. But not a bad one.

Gidday Again, I didn't think it was named either. I thought German practice was to reveal the name of the ship at the time of launching, but obviously a name would have been decided before then. I would have thought that had she been named then it would have been of a former Field Marshall/General or Admiral. With the exception of the Deutschland/Lutzow that seems to have been the practice.

     And yes, I think it is a strange choice for a new kit. In my build queue is a plan to convert a 1/570 Scharnhorst into Gneisenau with six 38-cm guns which is what this ship would have carried. This planned ship's secondary and heavy AA outfit was a bit light on though, considering the size of the ship.

     Regards, Jeff.

[TallBlondJohn]

The Germans were starting to run out of famous personages - Hitler's dinnertime musings for the H class were Ulrich von Hutten and Götz von Berlichingen. Who? Medieval knights, worth a look on Wikipedia.

 

I suspect these battlecruisers might have been named after German states, like the old pre-dreadnoughts. They were deeply flawed, like most of the Z-Plan. This site has a very interesting set of essays:

 

http://www.avalanchepress.com/gamePlanZ.php

 

 

 

 

[73north]

sorry for late reply , the name Barbarossa was given to the kit by Trumpeter  themselves , I thought it was the in-game name of the actual O Class  , but that is actually Siegfried — German Tier IX (Battle)cruiser.

 

https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Siegfried

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday @73north, I've never done wargaming although I imagine it could be fun. (Why would anyone do it if it wasn't? 🙂) Looking at the particulars in that link it almost looks a science, quite indepth.

     Regards, Jeff.

[S-boat 55]

It's good they tie in with popular games by releasing some of this stuff, just really wish they'd release an iron Duke or r class in 350,

 

Do also find it odd though that they choose what if German subjects rather than their cruisers which outside the Hipper class are so far not represented, 

Edited July 9, 2022 by S-boat 55

[ArnoldAmbrose]

On 7/8/2022 at 2:07 AM, TallBlondJohn said:

The Germans were starting to run out of famous personages - Hitler's dinnertime musings for the H class were Ulrich von Hutten and Götz von Berlichingen. Who? Medieval knights, worth a look on Wikipedia.

Gidday, as you suggested I looked these Gentlemen up. I'm wondering why the names of Von der Tann, Moltke, Goeben, Derfflinger and Hindenburg weren't proposed. These were all used for German battlecruisers in WW1. Also Seydlitz and Lutzow but these names were already taken.

     Regards, Jeff.

[TallBlondJohn]

20 minutes ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday, as you suggested I looked these Gentlemen up. I'm wondering why the names of Von der Tann, Moltke, Goeben, Derfflinger and Hindenburg weren't proposed. These were all used for German battlecruisers in WW1. Also Seydlitz and Lutzow but these names were already taken.

     Regards, Jeff.

 

Well - ask Hitler. He wasn't known for total rationality. Slightly more seriously, I think these names would probably have appeared on cruisers. Apart from Hindenburg there's nobody else in German history of Bismark's stature who wasn't a king. Politics had a lot to do with German ship naming - Raeder stood for tradition, but anything with strong monarchist ties wasn't popular with the Nazi leadership, so the various minor royalty of the WWI era wouldn't have been repeated and that probably counted against Hindenburg too.

 

Barbarossa and Frederick the Great would probably have been exceptions, so they can be put on other fictional Z-Plan battleships - but its all speculation.

Edited July 10, 2022 by TallBlondJohn

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday, until now I didn't know who Barbarossa was. I only knew it was the name of the German invasion of Russia so I looked him up. Thanks. The others were Generals and Field Marshals AFAIK. But I agree, it's somewhat academic now. Still, it keeps the names free for What-ifs. 🙂

Regards, Jeff.

[Seahawk]

Maybe I looked up the wrong Wikipedia entry, but it is not obvious to me why a warship of an aggressively nationalistic Germany would be named after an Ottoman corsair and naval commander who actually captured the possession of Naples from the Hapsburgs. Even his name is from the Italian.  As others have pointed out there are plenty of Germanic names with tradition to choose from.

Am I missing something?

[Richard502]

Seahawk: yes, wrong wiki entry. look for emperor Friedrich I., aka Barbarossa

Richard

[ArnoldAmbrose]

On 6/29/2022 at 4:06 AM, 73north said:

new release announced .

       Gidday, I saw this kit today, in a hobby store south of Perth, Western Australia. The image depicted in your first post was that on the box and yes, she's named Barbarossa. My wife took a photo (with the store's permission) but we neglected to ask permission to post it here.

       I didn't buy it, 1/350 isn't really my preferred scale, but I still want to re-arm a Revell 1/570 Scharnhorst as Gneisenau.      Regards, Jeff.

[Holden SSV Guy]

Hi all, this kit has arrived today and I can confirm she is longer than the Scharnhorst, about the same as Akagi, with excellent turrets and 15” guns. An additional option this comes with is 3 x triple turrets which when compared the the sets on my Scharnhorst it would appear to be optional 11” guns. Also comes with all of the basic etch that would be needed. I will wait a while and see if a deck becomes available, overall a very nice kit for AUD $250. Cheers. 
 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

1 hour ago, Holden SSV Guy said:

Hi all, this kit has arrived today and I can confirm she is longer than the Scharnhorst,

Gidday, a book I have gives a length of 843 feet oa, Scharnhorst being 771 feet oa. Surprisingly, the book gives a beam that is slightly narrower than that of Scharnhorst.

Regards, Jeff.