Warships attributed to the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) and the Nazi Germany Navy (Kriegsmarine) in World of Warships.
The German Kriegsmarine / Kaiserliche Marine is the fifth faction to be introduced into World of Warships, with their first ship being the tier VIII premium battleship Tirpitz. Their actual tech tree, in form of a Cruiser line, was added in October 2015, just a month after release of the game. The Battleship line was added in August 2016, and the Destroyer line was released in December 2016. The Aircraft Carrier line was added in July 2020. The Destroyer line was split in June 2021, and the second battleship line was released in October 2021.
The German Navy in general have some of the most durable ships in the game, that are capable of surviving in close-range combat. Their guns are surprisingly fast-firing, and they have powerful close-range weaponry — secondary guns for battleships and torpedoes for cruisers. Most of their high-tier ships also have a long-lasting, long-range Hydroacoustic Search, enabling them to dodge torpedoes and intercept destroyers. However, these ships are enormous in size, thus having a high visibility and being an easy target. Their HEs are also poor, forcing them to rely on AP shells.
Researchable ships
- You Are Number 6: Like destroyers, all of these submarines lack proper names, and are identified by numbers.
U-69
Tier VI German Submarine. U-69 was the lead boat of the Type VIIC sub-class. These boats started construction in 1939, and were the mainstay of the Kriegsmarine's U-boat arm. It was the largest series of submarines in the world, with 568 units commissioned. They served in six different navies, with the last one, Spanish G-7, being decommissioned in 1970. One example, U-995, has been preserved as a museum ship.U-190
Tier VIII German Submarine. The IXC/40-class submarines were a slightly faster version of the IXC class. They were meant to complement the more numerous VII-class in long-range operations. A total of 87 boats were completed, and served in other navies, with the last being decommissioned in 1968. A single example of the type, U-534, was raised in 1993 and brought to England for preservation as a museum ship.- Ascended Extra: The actual lead boat of the class was called U-167. U-190 herself was neither the first to be laid down, nor the first to be commissioned. Her only notable trait was her short career in the Royal Canadian Navy in 1945-1947. Here, she's chosen to represent her class. It was possibly done to avoid confusing players with similar names.
U-2501
V-25
Tier II German Destroyer.G-101
Tier III German Destroyer.V-170
Tier IV German Destroyer.T-22
Tier V German Destroyer.Ernst Gaede
Tier VI German Destroyer.- BFG Has the option to mount 150mm guns, the largest for a destroyer caliber weapon.
- Military Mashup Machine: Due to her large size, poor turning radius, and big guns, she feels more like a light cruiser than a destroyer.
Leberecht Maass
Tier VII German Destroyer of the universal line.Z-23
Tier VIII German Destroyer of the universal line.- Nerf: She had the option to mount 150mm guns before the German Destroyer line split. This crosses into Artistic Licence – History for the sake of smooth gameplay progression, since the historic Z23 was only ever armed with 150mm single mounts.
Z-46
Tier IX German Destroyer of the universal line based on the Type 1936C destroyer design for which two were laid down but never completed (Z47 being the other).Z-52
Tier X German Destroyer of the universal line based on the Type 1944 destroyer design.
- BFG: As noted above, the entire line is armed with 150mm guns, which is the largest calibre of armament on any tech-tree destroyer. No other individual destroyer much less tech-tree branch of destroyers is so armed (Ernst Gaede notwithstanding), while five premiums have it (Ragnar sneaking in with 152mm guns), of which two are German as well.
- Mighty Glacier: For ships which are meant to be fast and nimble, the German destroyer leaders handle very clumsily with poor turning and acceleration characteristics (Elbing's turning circle could embarrass no few battleships). And until patch 12.5, they did not have access to the speed boost consumable for much needed extra speed.
Z-31
Tier VII German Destroyer of the artillery line.- All the Other Reindeer: In general, the line is not considered to be especially strong (particularly in traditional destroyer roles, i.e., scouting and securing objectives), being slow to get anywhere or accomplish much. But Z-31 stands out as the worst of the bunch, tier for tier. It has lower artillery DPM, torp DPM, manoeuvrability, and utility than even its predecessor at Tier VI, Ernst Gaede. Z-31 is often judged as one of the worst ships in the whole game and undoubtedly the worst German ship.
Gustav-Julius Maerker
Tier VIII German Destroyer of the artillery line, based on the Type 1937J design for a heavily armed ocean-going escort destroyer.Felix Schultz
Tier IX German Destroyer of the artillery line based on an adjusted design of the Type 1938A/Ac design for a large destroyer capable of operating throughout the Atlantic.Elbing
Tier X German Destroyer of the artillery line based on the planned Spaehkruezers (scout cruisers) of Plan Z.
- Acrofatic: With her legendary module, the otherwise unremarkable Elbing (speed-wise, at least) gets a speed boost which is found on French destroyers, capping out at a top speed of almost 46kts, which is faster (much faster in some cases) than what most other destroyers can manage with their standard boosts, making her a surprisingly nimble and slippery ship. Her guns also turn much faster thanks to this module, which helps in close-in fights against multiple enemies.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: For a given definition of 'pint-sized' (Elbing is larger than many cruisers and is the only destroyer in the game with more than 30k HP without modifiers), but for a destroyer, Elbing has phenomenal AP penetration abilities. While the whole line benefits from improved ricochet angles, the Elbing stands out for having AP performance similar to or even better, in some cases, than heavy cruisers (only being marginally worse than its German cruiser counterpart Hindenburg).
- Named After Somebody Famous & Hometown Nickname: With the exceptions of Hermelin (German for 'ermine'), Aegir & Siegfried (figures from Norse mythology), all the German cruisers (both tech-tree and premium) are named after a town/city in the German Empire/Germany (such as Nurnberg/Mainz) or a famous figure from German/Austro-Prussian military history (including Yorck/Prinz Eugen).
Hermelin
Tier I German Cruiser. She's available for free the first time you log into the game.A large armored gunboat capable of operating on the high seas, intended for colonial service. Besides her powerful armament, Hermelin was also noted for her high speed, uncommon for this ship type. Based off of the Kolonialkanonenboot (Colonial Gunboat) Type K which was an attempt by German designers to create a class of gunboat suitable for use in naval bases and colonial holdings. Designed from 1938-39–when the Germans didn’t have any overseas colonies requiring such a vessel, but were planning on getting some soon—a series of 8 ships were planned to be constructed before the entire project was cancelled, likely due to the beginning of the Second World War.
- Anti-Air: She actually has AA guns, and her twin 128mm main batteries are dual-purpose, but being a Tier 1 ship, you rarely get to use them.
- Starter Equipment: First German ship available for free at the start of the game.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Described as a floating citadel.
Dresden
Tier II German Cruiser.SMS Dresden was a light cruiser of the Kaiserliche Marine. Laid down in 1906 and completed in 1908, she didn't fully enter service until 1909, due to several accidents during her sea trials. She spent three years with the High Seas Fleet before being stationed in the Mediterranean and then sent to the Caribbean to protect German interests during the Mexican Revolution. In July 1914, she was tasked with carrying the recently deposed dictator Victoriano Huerta to exile in Jamaica, after which she was meant to return to Germany. The outbreak of war prevented this, and she instead conducted anti-commerce warfare off Brazil before sailing to the Pacific Ocean. There, she joined up with the East Asia Squadron led by Admiral Maximilian von Spee. Under Spee's command, Dresden participated in the Battle of Coronel, where two British cruisers were sunk and two more chased off, and then in the Battle of the Falkland Islands, where a superior British squadron led by the battlecruisers Invincible and Inflexible overwhelmed and sank almost all of Spee's ships. Dresden was one of two survivors; she escaped back to the Pacific, but her luck ran out eight months later when she was cornered off the Chilean island of Más a Tierra and attacked by two British cruisers. Her captain ran up a white flag and sent an officer to speak to the British, who demanded Dresden's unconditional surrender. Her crew promptly scuttled the ship and were subsequently interned in Chile until the end of the war. The badly mangled wreck lies in 70 meters (230 ft) of water off Más a Tierra and has occasionally been visited by underwater archaeologists and other divers. Her bell, compass, and several flags have been retrieved and are now preserved in German museums.
Kolberg
Tier III German Cruiser.The last protected cruiser in the German Navy, SMS Kolberg was laid down at the Schichau-Werke yard in Danzig, Prussia (now Gdansk, Poland) in January 1908. The ship was developed from the Dresden-class multipurpose cruisers and was tasked with the same primary roles: scouting for the heavier elements of the German fleet and raiding enemy commerce when the opportunity arose. In contrast to her predecessors, she had larger dimensions, a higher speed and a more powerful artillery. During modernization, Kolberg received two deck-mounted torpedo tubes in addition to her primary armament. Kolberg herself had a very active career for the Kaiser’s navy. She entered service just a few scant years before the outbreak of World War I, and ultimately fared better than Dresden did over the course of the war. She saw action during the Scarborough Raid and the Battle of the Dogger Bank, though she missed the great clash of fleets at Jutland. She spent the rest of her war in the Baltic and avoided being sent to Scapa Flow with the rest of the High Seas Fleet after the German surrender. She was given to France as war reparations and served in the French navy for five years. In 1925, she was decommissioned and used as a parts boat for other German cruisers in French service before being broken up for scrap in 1929.
- Fragile Speedster: She has abysmal armor and guns which are terrible in the tier she's usually get matched in. But her impressive speed, rudder shift time and great battery fire rate allows her to effectively protect teammates from enemy destroyers.
Karlsruhe
Tier IV German Cruiser.SMS Karlsruhe was a light cruiser of the Königsberg class, laid down in 1915 and launched in 1916. She took the name of a cruiser that had sunk in 1914. She missed the major battles of the war, and by the time she was commissioned in December 1916 the German fleet had ceased major operations. She participated in a battle against British light forces in 1917 and was part of the task force for Operation Albion (the invasion of the West Estonian Archipelago). At the end of the war, she was to take part in the planned last sortie of the High Seas Fleet, which was essentially meant as a glorious suicide run. Admirals Reinhard Scheer and Franz von Hipper, aware that Germany was on the verge of defeat, planned to inflict as much damage as possible on the British fleet in order to improve their government's bargaining position. Several battleship crews mutinied when they got wind of the plan, as the sailors were unwilling to sacrifice their lives for no real purpose when the end was in sight, and the sortie was canceled. Karlsruhe was sent to Scapa Flow with the rest of the High Seas Fleet and scuttled in 1919. Her wreck still lies at the bottom of the harbor in 25 meters (82 ft) of water, and is now a popular destination for recreational divers.
Königsberg
Tier V German Cruiser.Königsberg and her two sisters were among the few ships that the interwar German Reichsmarine was permitted to build. Königsberg was laid down in 1926 and commissioned in 1929. Throughout the 1930s, she and her sisters served as training ships and also participated in neutrality patrols during the Spanish Civil War. Her wartime career was short; during the invasion of Norway in April 1940, Königsberg was crippled by Norwegian coastal artillery while attacking Bergen and was destroyed in harbor the following day by Royal Navy bombers. The wreck was raised in 1942 and scrapped in 1943.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: Sort of. Königsberg is unique among cruisers in the game for having centerline turrets which aren't quite on the centerline. Historically, turrets X and Y of the entire class were offset to increase their overall arcs of fire. In-game, this is balanced by having very good starboard firing angles, but relatively poor port firing angles (especially for Y-turret).
- Glass Cannon: With surprisingly good guns and two triple torpedo tubes on each side of the ship, Köonigsberg packs a formidable punch. However, a good salvo from a battleship is likely to hit her citadel, severely damaging if not killing the ship outright.
Nürnberg
Tier VI German Cruiser.Nürnberg was a Leipzig-class light cruiser built for the Kriegsmarine as part of their first major wave of ship construction following the signing of the London Naval Treaty in 1930 and the Nazis' rise to power in 1933. She was laid down in 1934 and completed the following year. She cut her teeth on neutrality patrols during the Spanish Civil War and participated in the occupation of Memel in 1939. On the outbreak of general war that year, she was part of a force sent to destroy the Polish Navy, though several of their ships slipped the cordon and escaped to Britain. After this, she was tasked with mining operations in the North Sea and the Baltic. On 13 December 1939, while escorting a destroyer squadron back from a minelaying operation in British waters, she and her sister ship Leipzig were both hit by torpedoes from the British submarine Salmon, but successfully evaded a British airstrike the following day. After undergoing repairs, she was sent to Norway and spent the rest of the year either there or in the Baltic. In 1941 she was reclassified as a training ship for U-boat sailors, though was briefly put back into service when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June. She spent the remainder of the war on various assignments in the Baltic and Norway; her high crew turnover rate kept her in a low-readiness state, and as a result she was not assigned to support the evacuation of German forces in the Baltic region. In January 1945, she was once again assigned to minelaying duties, but because of fuel shortages she only carried out one sortie before sailing to Copenhagen, where she remained until the German surrender in May. She was turned over to the Soviet Union as war reparations and renamed Admiral Makarov; after several years of service with the 8th Fleet, she was apparently taken out of service sometime in the late 1950s and reportedly scrapped in 1960. She has the distinction of being the longest-serving major warship in the Kriegsmarine, and the only one that saw active service after the war.
Yorck
Tier VII German Cruiser.- Tough Act to Follow: Upon unlocking Admiral Hipper, Yorck is generally seen as this due to its relative nimbleness, better AP shell characteristics (more reliable damage dealer and better penetration) and higher HE DPM.
Admiral Hipper
Tier VIII German Cruiser.Admiral Hipper was the lead ship of her class of heavy cruisers, built in defiance of the tonnage limits imposed by the Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935. She was laid down that year, launched in 1937, and commissioned in 1939, just in time for the outbreak of war. She was still undergoing refits and sea trials at that time and did not see action until the German invasion of Norway in April 1940. As they were approaching the Norwegian coast, Hipper encountered the British destroyer HMS Glowworm, which at first attempted to escape, but then turned back, fired torpedoes, and ultimately rammed Hipper in a brave but futile last attack.note Hipper led the assault on Trondheim, bluffing her way past the Norwegian coastal artillery batteries and successfully debarking troops in the port. She returned to Germany for repairs from her battle with Glowworm before being sent back to Norway to attack British transports and merchant shipping. In December 1940, she was assigned to conduct Kreuzerkrieg (anti-commerce) warfare in the Atlantic Ocean. After two extended patrols in the Atlantic, with mixed results, Hipper returned to Germany for overhaul, then was sent back to northern Norway to attack Murmansk-bound convoys. In December 1942 she led a German squadron that attacked the strongly escorted Convoy JW 51B, in what became known as the Battle of the Barents Sea. Hipper sank a destroyer and a minesweeper, but was forced to retreat after being damaged by the British cruisers Sheffield and Jamaica. Hitler was enraged by the failure of the German force to sink any merchant ships, and ordered that the Kriegsmarine was to pay off its entire surface fleet thereafter to concentrate entirely on submarine warfare. Hipper returned to Germany and was decommissioned in accordance with Hitler's decree. In 1944, she was recommissioned as a training ship, stationed in Gotenhafen, and spent most of the year on exercises in the Baltic. As the Red Army advanced on Gotenhafen in early 1945, Hipper fled the city with over 1,300 refugees onboard, arriving safely in Kiel. There, she put into a shipyard for refit, only to be severely damaged by a British airstrike in April, after which her crew scuttled her at her moorings. She was raised that summer, towed to nearby Heikendorfer Bay, and broken up for scrap beginning in 1948.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Admiral Franz von Hipper
, who commanded the German battlecruisers at Scarborough, Dogger Bank, and Jutland and became commander of the German Empire's High Seas Fleet late in World War One.
Roon
Tier IX German Cruiser.- Alternate History: Roon and Hindenburg are both based off of "panzerschiff" (think Graf Spee) designs but are heavy cruisers in game. They follow a logic where they had their double 283mm (11") turrets replaced with triple 203mm (8") turrets at the last minute.
- Heal Thyself: Roon and Hindenburg notably get three shots of the damage repair as opposed to the standard two. This allows them to have a total of five or skip the "superintendent" skill and get the same results as other cruisers.
Hindenburg
Tier X German Cruiser.
- Jack of All Stats: Hindenburg is quite competitive in all its stats and with a few unique skills not shared by its peers to keep things interesting. She is therefore a favorite in competitive matches.
Clausewitz
German Super-Cruiser. She is a project of a large raider, armed with twelve 210mm guns.
- Boring, but Practical: She lacks any unique mechanics that avilable to other superships. Instead she has very high specs.
- Achilles' Heel: Because of their turtleback armor scheme they are extremely vulnerable to plunging fire and dive bombers. Their atrocious anti-air stat (and later ships' horrible turning circles) double up on this, as airdropped torpedoes and AP bombs from dive bombers can easily turn them into burning wrecks.
- Enemy-Detecting Radar: Starting at tier 8, German battleships mount the Hydroacoustic Search consumable that allows them to detect enemy ships behind smoke screens, and torpedoes further out than normal.
- Lightning Bruiser: German battleships are typically fast for their tier, particularly at higher tiers where most can manage 30+ knots (few other tech-tree lines have this consistency of high speed), and a the entire line of ships are notoriously difficult to citadel at close range (especially the Bayern).
Nassau
Tier III German Battleship of the main line.SMS Nassau was the first German dreadnought, laid down in response to the launching of HMS Dreadnought in 1906. She was laid down in 1907 and commissioned in 1909, followed by three more ships of her class: Posen, Rheinland, and Westfalen. They formed part of the I Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet and saw action at the Battle of Riga Gulf and then at Jutland, where they formed the center of the German line. During the night engagements following the battle, Nassau collided with the destroyer HMS Spitfire, losing twenty feet of side plating. Nassau saw no further action during the war, and as the oldest German dreadnought she was not sent to Scapa Flow with the rest of the fleet. She was given to Japan as war reparations in April 1920, but they could find no use for her and sold her for scrap a few months later.
- Damned by Faint Praise: She's easily the best of the Tier 3 battleships, but that's not saying much as all the Tier 3 battleships really suck.
Kaiser
Tier IV German Battleship of the main line.SMS Kaiser was the lead ship of her class of dreadnought, laid down in 1909 and commissioned in 1912. She and her sisters formed the III Battle Squadron of the High Seas Fleet and participated in most of its major actions. She and her sisters sortied in support of the German battlecruisers during the Scarborough Raid and several other minor actions before the Battle of Jutland, where she scored hits on the dreadnought Malaya, destroyer Nomad and armored cruiser Defence. Later, she participated in several more raids and other attempts by the German fleet to lure out isolated elements of the British fleet, none of which were successful, and also in Operation Albion and the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight. She was scuttled with the rest of the High Seas Fleet at the end of the war, but was raised in 1929 and broken up for scrap.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Is a fairly good ship and would be more popular if it weren't for the Tier 3 König Albert being essentially the same thing but a tier lower. Partially rectified when Wargaming permanently stopped selling the König Albert.
König
Tier V German Battleship of the main line.SMS König was the lead ship of her class of dreadnoughts. They were ordered in response to the Orion-class dreadnoughts of the Royal Navy. König was laid down in 1911 and commissioned just days after the outbreak of WWI in August 1914. She and her sister ships took part in most of the major actions of the High Seas Fleet, including the Lowestoft Raid, the Scarborough Raid, and of course the Battle of Jutland. At Jutland, she and her sisters were in the forefront of the German line and consequently gave and received some of the heaviest damage of the battle. In 1917, she participated in Operation Albion, where she engaged and damaged the Russian pre-dreadnought Slava to the point where the latter was forced to scuttle. König was to have taken part in the last sortie of the fleet, but the battleship crews began to mutiny when word got out, causing the cancellation of the plan. She was interned at Scapa Flow and scuttled on 21 June 1919. Though most of the ships were later raised and scrapped, König and her sister ships Markgraf and Kronprinz Wilhelm still lie in the Flow and are popular sites for recreational divers.note
- Jack of All Stats: Very maneuverable for a battleship with a small turn-circle and decent speed while possessing tough armor and 10 quick-firing 12-inch/305mm guns.
Bayern
Tier VI German Battleship of the main line.Bayern was the lead ship of her class of super-dreadnought battleships. She was commissioned too late to fight at Jutland and in consequence saw only relatively minor action for the entirety of her short career. She hit a mine during Operation Albion and was significantly damaged, requiring extensive repairs. She was to have taken part in the final sortie of the fleet, but her crew joined the mutinies taking place on other ships and the sortie was canceled. Bayern was interned and scuttled at Scapa Flow, like the rest of the High Seas Fleet. She was raised and broken up for scrap in 1935.
- Mighty Glacier: While not as slow as the US battleships, she's very tough with decent guns.
Gneisenau
Tier VII German Battleship of the main line. She is the only ship in the main line to get torpedoes. The Gneisenau in-game is a What If? configuration, showing her in post-refit form with the six 15in/380mm guns instead of the nine 11in/283mm guns she and her sister used during their active service. She also has very unusually strong AA for a German battleship which is thanks to her other oddity of ditching her 4in/105mm and 6/in150mm secondaries for all dual purpose 5in/128mm guns, whereas other German ships have to rely on 4im/105mm guns for long range air defense.- Anti-Air: She stands out among the German battleships and other tier seven battleships by having all of her many secondaries function as dual purpose guns. With the right commander skills she can use this to slaughter enemy planes.
- Lightning Bruiser: Her armor is as impressive as her speed. She is able to move at impressive 32 knots, only tied by Hood among her tier and a full eleven knots higher than the USS Colorado. Unlike Hood, she shares the advanced armor scheme of Scharnhorst.
- Military Mashup Machine: With her high speed and maneuverability, torpedoes, and low number of guns, she can feel more like a heavy cruiser.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Field Marshal August Neidhardt von Gneisenau, a prominent figure behind Napoleon's first defeat and chief of staff for the Prussian army during the Hundred Days and Waterloo.
- Powerful, but Inaccurate: Her six 15-inch guns hit very hard, but have poor accuracy. She will either decimate the enemy or be forced to rely on her other weapons.
Bismarck
Tier VIII German Battleship of the main line. One of the most famous battleships of World War II (if not the most famous), Bismarck differs from her sister ship Tirpitz in carrying Hydroacoustic Search and an improved AA suite. Bismarck had a short but eventful career, spanning just eight months, eight days of which were spent at sea. She was the most powerful battleship ever built by Germany and one of the best produced by any European power. After her commissioning in 1940, she spent the remainder of the year on sea trials and shakedowns. In early 1941, she was designated for Operation Rheinübung, a large-scale raid against British merchant shipping. As originally conceived, Bismarck was to have been accompaned by Tirpitz and the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, but Tirpitz was not finished in time, Scharnhorst was down for overhaul, and Gneisenau had been damaged and required repairs. Thus, Bismarck went to sea with only the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. She was spotted by Swedish planes and ships on her way out through the Baltic and then by RAF reconnaissance planes in Norway, giving the British plenty of notice of her intentions. HMS Hood and Prince of Wales were sent to hunt down and sink the two German ships, but in a stunning reversal, Hood blew up and sank after a hit from Bismarck detonated her aft magazines just eight minutes into the battle. In return, however, Prince of Wales scored a hit that holed the battleship's bow and cut off access to her forward fuel oil tanks, forcing Admiral Günther Lütjens to cancel her participation in the operation and send Prinz Eugen on alone. Now enraged, the Royal Navy unleashed its capital ships to hunt down and sink Bismarck as she headed to France for repairs, but she nearly managed to escape until a lucky shot from a Swordfish torpedo bomber jammed her rudder and left her unable to maneuver. Bismarck made a last stand against the oncoming British warships, who pounded her relentlessly until her crew finally opted to scuttle her and abandon ship. Only 116 members of the crew survived. Bismarck's wreck was rediscovered in 1989 by Robert Ballard, the same man who relocated Titanic and Yorktown, among other historic wrecks. She sits upright in 4,791 meters (15,719 feet) of water, 650 km west of the French coast.- Back from the Dead: Invoked with her From the Bottom of the Ocean perma-camo which is a surprisingly faithful reproduction of the battle damage suffered by Bismarck during her last battle (it even has a overpen hole in the bow which the player can look clean through).
- Point Defenseless: Averted. She can get her secondaries firing out to 10.6km, and with the correct build, they will hit and deal significant damage at that range. the amount of lead they can throw out makes even battleships think twice about getting too close. Her AA suite isn't bad either.
- Memetic Badass: You'd be hard pressed to find another tech-tree ship that has as high a reputation as Bismarck. Its helps that her Real Life counterpart is also regarded as one.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Otto von Bismarck, the man responsible for uniting Germany and forming the basis for the German Empire.
- Tough Act to Follow: She really doesn't do the Friedrich der Große any favors by being regarded as so far above her peers.
Friedrich der Große
Tier IX German Battleship of the main line. An H-class project (specifically H-39, which was ostensibly an upsized Bismarck, much like the ingame model), Friedrich der Große gains health in exchange for reduced maneuverability and concealment compared to its predecessor.- Named After Somebody Famous: Fredrick The Great, king of Prussia (and actually the proposed name for H-39).
- Power Creep: When introduced, Friedrich der Große had the best survivability and secondaries of any tier 9 battleship. However, Lion (has an extremely good Repair Party) and Musashi (simply by sheer hitpoint value alone) dethroned Friedrich der Große in survivability when they were released, and Alsace finishes the combo by having a better secondary suite (if fully oriented for secondaries)(this is debateable, as French secondaries follow the usual 1/6 caliber pen rule as opposed to the Germans getting the 1/4 HE pen quirk. For raw damage, the Germans are better, but for firestarting, the French are better) when it was released. And all three ships have better main batteries. She is, fortunately, the only battleship with Hydroacoustic Search.
- Power Up Let Down: She is actually inferior to Bismarck in maneuverability and used to suffer guns with a noticeably reduced rate of fire. She was later buffed, and her stock guns now has almost the same reload time as Bismarck's, while having larger caliber, so this is no longer the case.
Preussen
Tier X German Battleship of the fast battleship line. Another variation of H-class battleships, she was introduced in early 2022 as a replacement for Großer Kurfürst. She boasts eight 457mm guns with an improved reload time.
Hannover
German Super-Battleship of the fast battleship line. A variation of H-42 project, equipped with 483 mm guns in four twin turrets.
- Limit Break: She can improve her secondaries for about a minute after firing enough adjustment fire salvos.
- Alternate History: Starting with Tier VII, these ships get extensive post-WWI refits. It means that they not only were finished, but survived the Great War and weren't interned (and eventually scuttled at Scapa Flow by their crews), as the German battlecruisers were in real life.
- Glass Cannon: As befits the designation of 'battlecruiser', all the ships have battleship levels of armament, but noticeably weaker armor (with plating which is more like that of heavy cruisers) and very noticeably weaker survivability (on average having between 75 and 80% the HP of their same-tier battleship counterpart in the German tech-tree). And while their main battery is also weaker, this difference is not particularly significant, instead they also have very powerful secondary batteries and heavy torpedo armament (especially at higher tiers).
- Lightning Bruiser: Even more so than the main battleship line, the German battlecruisers are universally fast for their tier, which becomes even more noticeable the further up the line you go. Schlieffen, which has the highest base speed of all tech-tree battleships in the game, is capable of outpacing more destroyers (never mind cruisers) than one may reasonably expect (with the skill Brisk (which provides a speed buff when undetected), she can move faster than more than half a dozen destroyers when they don't engage their speed boosts, and in the cases of F. Sherman, Daring, and Druid, none of those three even have speed boosts... and better yet, Schlieffen can overhaul F. Sherman even without this skill)!
- Named After Someone Famous: The entire line (both historic and speculative) of ships are named after specifically Prussian/Prusso-German generals, with the strange exception of Prinz Rupprecht note .
- National Animal Stereotypes: Tier IX and X ships has unique camouflages that add golden eagles on their bows.
Von der Tann
Tier III German Battleship of the battlecruisers line.SMS Von der Tann was the first German battlecruiser, as well as the first major ship of the Kaiserliche Marine to be powered by turbines. When launched, she was the fastest dreadnought-type warship afloat, with a top speed of 27 knots, and was faster and better armored than her British counterparts, the Invincible class, though she had a smaller main battery (280mm/11-inch as opposed to Invincible's 305mm/12-inch guns).note Von der Tann was laid down in 1908 and commissioned in 1910. During WWI, she participated in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, the Scarborough and Lowestoft Raids, and the Battle of Jutland. She scored the killing hits on HMS Indefatigable; an eyewitnesss stated that he saw two shells from Von der Tann hit Indefatigable, which blew up about thirty seconds later. In return, Von der Tann was mauled by British dreadnoughts, sustaining damage that knocked out all of her guns, lights, and one of her rudder engine rooms. The battlecruiser successfully limped home and was repaired. The remainder of her career was unremarkable, and she was scuttled with the rest of the High Seas Fleet after the end of the war. The wreck was raised and broken up in the 1930s.
Moltke
Tier IV German Battleship of the battlecruisers line.SMS Moltke was the lead ship of her class of battlecruiser. She was laid down in 1908 and commissioned in 1911. Upon the outbreak of WWI, she was assigned to the I Scouting Group and participated in most of the major fleet engagements of the war, including the Battle of Heligoland Bight, the Battle of Dogger Bank, the Lowestoft and Scarborough Raids, and Jutland. At Jutland, she engaged the British battlecruisers and the Fifth Battle Squadron, sustaining four hits from 380mm shells that knocked out one of her 150mm guns and flooded her hull with 1000 tons of water. After undergoing repairs, she participated in Operation Albion and several abortive raids into British waters; one of these raids she threw a propeller, blew out some of her steering machinery, and was then hit by a torpedo from a British submarine. She limped home for repairs, but saw no further action before the end of the war. Like the rest of the High Seas Fleet, she was scuttled in Scapa Flow in 1919, then later raised and broken up for scrap in the 1930s.
Derfflinger
Tier V German Battleship of the battlecruisers line.SMS Derfflinger was the lead ship of her class of battlecruiser, laid down in 1912 and commissioned a month after the beginning of WWI. She participated in the Scarborough and Lowestoft Raids and the Battle of Dogger Bank; in the latter engagement she crippled the battlecruiser Lion with a shell that punched through its belt armor and flooded its port feed tank, forcing it to shut off its engines. At Jutland a year and a half later, Derfflinger's gunnery contributed to the destruction of three ships: the battlecruisers Queen Mary and Invincible and the armored cruiser Defence. In return she was heavily damaged by the British fleet, with most of her guns knocked out. After repairs, 'Derfflinger'' went back into service, though she spent the rest of the war waiting for an opportunity to lure and destroy part of the British fleet, which never came. She was interned at Scapa Flow and scuttled in 1919. She remained on the bottom longer than most of the wrecks, as she wasn't raised until 1939. She spent the duration of WWII at anchor while capsized, earning the unusual distinction of having been afloat longer upside down than she was right side up. She was finally broken up for scrap in 1946.
Mackensen
Tier VI German Battleship of the battlecruisers line. Unlike all previous ships in the line, this class was never commissioned, as they all were unfinished as of 1918.Prinz Heinrich
Tier VII German Battleship of the battlecruisers line. It's the last ship in the line that was actually laid down - so-called "Ersatz Yorck" class that was a direct continuation of the Mackensen class.- Mistaken Identity: Downplayed, but because of the many collabs between World of Warships and Azur Lane, the 'Prinz Heinrich's from each game can be confused for each other, resulting in further confusion when one realises AL's is a P-class cruiser, while WOWS' is an Ersatz Yorck battlecruiser which are completely different in design philosophy. This can be explained by how the two have different namesakes. Based on known naming conventions, AL's Prinz Heinrich was named for Kaiser Wilhelm II's brother (who served as an admiral during WWI cf. Admirals Scheer and Graf Spee), while WOWS' Prinz Heinrich was named for Frederick the Great's younger brother (a talented Prussian general in his own right cf. Zieten). Unfortunately, with the 2023 collab, the confusion may grow because the inclusion of AL Prinz Heinrich as a captain, trained for AL Prinz Heinrich (which is a clone of the tech-tree ship), severely muddies the distinction between the two.
Zieten
Tier VIII German Battleship of the battlecruisers line. Project GK4531 was created in 1918 as an assessment for a new fast battleship. Naturally, she was never even meant to be built.- All of the Other Reindeer: Because of the turret layout and the atypically star-destroyer-like superstructure, most players utterly loathe how the Zieten looks, even though the ship performs very well all told.
Prinz Rupprecht
Tier IX German Battleship of the battlecruisers line. Project GK4541 was an another assessment design that was recreated in-game.Schlieffen
Tier X German Battleship of the battlecruisers line. Project GK5041 was yet another assessment design of German Empire.
- Bribing Your Way to Victory: Downplayed example, but she was sold on auction before the release of the line proper. Only 1000 people got the ship this way, and no one else could access her for a couple of months.
- Memetic Mutation: Schlieffen secondaries go 'brrrrrrrrrr!' Justified because this ship has the highest and longest-ranged secondary output in the game (practical DPM, since she is out-DPM'd on paper at shorter ranges by a small handful of ships).
- More Dakka: As noted above, Schlieffen has insane secondary output, but it has to be seen to be able to truly appreciate it. When in-battle and a division of three Schlieffens (or even just two) get within secondary range of an enemy ship and are given the opportunity to boost their accuracy, that poor sucker will be positively deluged. Zooming in to that enemy ship will show the sheer quantity of shells raining down. Taken to its logical extreme (such as when teams from American and British navies played an exhibition match), massed Schlieffens' secondaries can make the server crap itself, leaving it incapable of rendering any of the shells or tracers, only the explosions when they hit.
Rhein
Tier IV German Aircraft Carrier.Weser
Tier VI German Aircraft Carrier. A project carrier intended to use a converted Admiral Hipper class hull.August von Parseval
Tier VIII German Aircraft Carrier.Manfred von Richthofen
Tier X German Aircraft Carrier. A project intending to use a spare H-class hull (the ones Friedrich der Große and Großer Kurfürst are based on) for an aircraft carrier design.
- The Battlestar: Boasts ''even more'' secondaries (of the 105mm caliber) than the memetically secondary-heavy Graf Zeppelin (due to being based on Großer Kurfürst‘s hull), with 24 of the damn things (where Zeppelin "only” has 12 of that caliber, but also 16 of the bigger, but slower 150mm gun).
Premium ships
Emden
Tier II German CruiserA Dresden-class protected cruiser, and amongst the most famous raider vessels in history. Emden was laid down in 1906 and completed in 1909. Soon after her commissioning, she was assigned to the German East Asia Squadron, where she was to spend the bulk of her career. Shortly after arriving on her station, she was sent to help suppress a native insurrection in the Caroline Islands before returning to China. She spent the next few years on routine patrols and other duties, up until the outbreak of World War I. She quickly captured a Russian steamer, which was converted into an armed raiding ship, and then joined the rest of the East Asia Squadron in the Mariana Islands. Upon learning that Japan had declared war on Germany and was sending ships to hunt his squadron down, Admiral Maximilian von Spee opted to take his squadron to South America and ultimately make an effort to break through to Germany. Emden's captain proposed that one of the cruisers be detached as an independent raider, and Admiral Spee agreed, cutting Emden loose. For the next three months, she rampaged through the Indian Ocean, sinking or capturing seventeen British and Russian merchant ships, two Entente warships, and raiding the ports of Madras and Penang. The Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney finally cornered her at the Cocos Islands; after a two-hour battle that left Emden barely operational, the captain beached her on North Keeling Island and surrendered. Some of her crew had already gone ashore as a landing party and were able to escape in an epic journey that took them from the Cocos to Constantinople via the Dutch East Indies and Yemen. The wreck remained where it was and was slowly pounded to bits by the waves. A Japanese company salvaged most of the ship in the 1950s, though parts of the wreck still lie in the shallows off North Keeling. Her bell, stern ornament, three guns, and other artifacts have been salvaged and are held in various collections in Australia.
Admiral Graf Spee
Tier VI German Cruiser. A Deutschland-class panzerschiff, she is the most famous of the class. She was laid down in 1932 and completed in 1936. Upon her commissioning, she became the flagship of the Kriegsmarine. Her first few years of service were spent in neutrality patrols off the Spanish coast during that country's civil war, along with a few showing-the-flag visits to foreign countries, including an appearance at the 1937 Fleet Review for King George VI's coronation. When war broke out in 1939, the Kriegsmarine's surface fleet was ordered to begin commerce warfare against British and Allied shipping. Graf Spee sank nine merchant ships in the South Atlantic before she was cornered at the River Plate by a British cruiser squadron. After a brief battle in which both sides gave as good as they got, Graf Spee put into the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo for repairs while the British cruisers took up blocking positions to prevent her escape. The British Admiralty successfully tricked Captain Hans Langsdorff into believing that heavy British units were on their way to sink Graf Spee. After considering his options, Langsdorff decided to scuttle the ship rather than risk his crew's lives on a dash to the neutral port of Buenos Aires. On 17 December 1939, Graf Spee's crew sailed her out into the Montevideo roadstead and detonated scuttling charges, sinking the ship in 11m of water. Captain Langsdorff committed suicide three days later, while his crew were interned in Argentina for the rest of the war. The wreck was partially broken up between 1942 and 1943 and has been the focus of intermittent salvage efforts since 2004.- BFG: Her 283 mm guns were the biggest cruiser-mounted guns in the game for a long time. While more battlecruisers have been added, she remains the lowest tier ship this description could apply to.
- Crippling Overspecialization: She will obliterate other cruisers, but fares badly against battleships due to her unsatisfactory armor and struggles against destroyers due to her low volume of fire.
- Military Mashup Machine: The Deutschland-class defied easy classification in Real Life and in-game, though by all intents and purposes they were heavy cruisers with lower-end-caliber battleship artillery (making them somewhat of a prototype "cruiser killer"/supercruiser, along the lines of the Alaska class). The British called her a "pocket battleship" due to her large amount of firepower in what basically amounts to a cruiser.
- She also sports torpedoes with longer range than normal (8 km instead of 6km) for German cruisers with excellent firing arcs. This gives her a fighting chance against the battleships that would normally rip her apart at close range.
- Mighty Glacier: By cruiser standards; slow note but packs devastating firepower and boasts enhanced durability in comparison to other cruisers.
- Named After Somebody Famous: German Admiral Maximilian von Spee, who was killed in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in World War One aboard the armored cruiser SMS Scharnhorst (no relation to the in-game battleship) trying to hold off a superior British force. The Graf Spee was actually christened by Maximilian von Spee's daughter.
Prinz Eugen
Tier VIII German Cruiser. Prinz Eugen is an Admiral Hipper-class cruiser famous for both serving with the Bismarck on its fateful maiden and final voyage and surviving the war almost unscathed, one of the very few Kriegsmarine ships to do so. She briefly served in the United States Navy before being expended as a target at Bikini Atoll. Her wreck lies in shallow water at Kwajalein Atoll; the stern is still visible above the surface.- Heal Thyself: After update 0.76, she mounts the repair party party consumable.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Her ability to train commanders 50% faster is actually quite powerful for grinding. Especially after free commander XP was added to the game, allowing a player with a 19 point German cruiser captain and a Prinz Eugen to print commander XP to be used to level up any captain.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Prince Eugene of Savoy, who was one of the most successful military commanders in modern European history, and was the person responsible for liberating central Europe after the Ottomans ruled it for one and a half centuries.
- Palette Swap : Averted but only just before 0.7.4, averted thoroughly afterwards. Before, Prinz Eugen trades a small amount of Admiral Hipper's AA for a couple of thousand HP. Said patch gave Hipper a 1.5s quicker reload while Prinz Eugen receives a Repair Party, which means the tech tree ship is better offensively, while Prinz Eugen is tougher.
Mainz
A speculative Tier VIII German Cruiser of the Admiral Hipper class (presumably Seydlitz) which replaces the 4 x 2 203mm main battery with the three gun 150mm turrets of the Nurnberg.- Palette Swap: Like Prinz Eugen, averted, because of the different main battery, but also the slight tweaks elsewherem, namely to the torpedo loadout (4x4 instead of 4x3), and the 25mm fore and aft plating (instead of 27mm).
- Set the World on Fire: While Mainz doesn't have the highest HE DPM or fires-per-minute capabilities, a combination of improved HE penetration common to German artillery, better survivability than most rivals which might also embody this trope, and rate of fire, she is capable of scoring damage via HE spamming very reliably whether with or without setting fires, and thus has this reputation among many players (both those who play her and those who die to her). Bonus points when commanded by Gunther Lutjens who increases rate of fire after 140 hits.
Ägir
Tier IX Premium German Cruiser. Ägir represents a speculative version of the O-class battlecruisers that were designed as part of Plan Z, the Kriegsmarine's 1939 rearmament program. She is a cruiser-killer, designed to hunt down and destroy enemy cruisers with her powerful 305mm guns and torpedoes.- Anti-Air: She has a very good AA suite that can quickly chew through enemy planes.
- Bribing Your Way to Victory: She can be bought in the Armory for coal or doubloons and comes with an enhanced credit package, letting a skilled captain rack up lots of cash with her very quickly.
- Composite Character: Ägir seems to represent a theoretical transitional stage between the P-class cruiser and O-class battlecruiser designs; she has the O-class hull and armor belt, but carries 305mm guns that split the difference between the 283mm guns of the P-class and the 380mm guns meant for the O-class.
- Heal Thyself: She has access to the Repair Party consumable, significantly boosting her survivability.
- Jack of All Stats: Ägir doesn't excel at anything, but she is a fast, tough, well-rounded ship that can snipe from range, brawl up close, and provide AA fire support.
- Lightning Bruiser: Ägir can move at 33.5 knots and is well-armed enough to kill other enemy cruisers and even brawl with battleships.
- Made of Iron: Ägir has a deep health pool and battleship-tier torpedo protection. Combined with Repair Party, she can hang tough where other cruisers would be smashed. (For reference, she has 37% torpedo damage reduction, which is actually higher than almost every battleship at her tier and is only surpassed by a handful of Tier X ships.)
- Meaningful Name: She is named for Ægir, a jötunn from Norse mythology who is said to personify the power of the sea.
König Albert
Tier III Premium German Battleship.- Bribing Your Way to Victory: She's essentially the tier 4 Kaiser moved down to tier 3, with only minor nerfs. None of the Tier 3 BB's are even close to being as good, so King Albert proves devastating at her tier.
- Back from the Dead: Meta example. No one expected the König Albert to make a return to the premium shop given that Wargaming has put the König Albert in the "do not sell" list due to her overperformance. But she went on sale again on July 15th 2018. Another, even later example, in that she was made available for purchase with summer tokens during the 2020 summer 'sale' (really just a glorified crate sale, with the addition of Vampire, König Albert, and a permanent camo for Atlanta being the only non-crate purchases available).
- Lightning Bruiser: Can boast being both the fastest and tankiest of the tier 3 Battleships. She is actually entirely capable of outrunning several tier 3 cruisers.
- Master of All: Among the tier 3 battleships, only Nassau can boast being better than her in a category in a meaningful way (with a much faster reload). For everyone else, the König Albert is simply better at everything at once.
- Eventually HMS Bellerophon was added to the game and is able to compete with the König Albert on some levels. The British ship boasts slightly better speed and better HE but suffers from worse AP, stealth, and armor.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Much like Bellerophon and Dreadnought, Konig Albert's stats aren't really impressive. Her being considered a Game-Breaker has to do more with how the other tier 3 battleships suck.
Prinz Eitel Friedrich
German tier 6 premium battlecruiser of the Mackensen-class. The first German battlecruiser introduced in the game, she can be earned by completing a 4-stage campaign ("In the Name of His Highness") or bought from the store.- Anti-Air: She boasts the strongest among ships of her type at her tier.
- Boring, but Practical: Prinz Eitel Friedrich doesn't feature a whole lot gimmicks for a premium. She is fast and accurate, but so are other ships at her tier. However her weaknesses are also quite manageable and its possible to earn the ship for free. Her strengths are also quite meta friendly.
Scharnhorst
German tier 7 premium battleship, one of the five battleships in-game to carry torpedoes.The Scharnhorst in-game displays the actual guns used by the Scharnhorst-class battleships during service, being nine 283mm (11") guns in three triple turrets rather than the six 380mm (15") in three twin turrets seen on the tech-tree Gneisenau.
- Jack of All Stats: With decent AA, torpedoes, strong armor, high speed, and relatively fast reloading and strong enough guns, she can take on pretty much anything in her tier with a reasonable probability of coming out the victor.
- Military Mashup Machine: Boasting fast reloading but very small 11-inch guns she is even more like a cruiser than Gneisenau.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Gerhard von Scharnhorst.
Tirpitz
Bismarck's slightly less famous sister, differing from her sister by carrying torpedoes and the usual premium benefits.- Named After Somebody Famous: Alfred von Tirpitz, who turned the Imperial German Navy from a modest navy in the earlier days of the German Empire to a powerful fighting force capable of threatening the Royal Navy.
- Point Defenseless: At first. From the time of her release up until Patch 6.4, she had the worst secondary battery range of all the Tier 8 battleships, at a measly 4.5km. Her tech-tree sister ship, in comparison, has a base range of 7.5km, which the Tirpitz could never equal even with all secondary range boosting modules, skills, and signals. Come Patch 6.4, however, and her base range has been increased to 7.5km to match her sister's, dramatically improving her secondaries' usefulness. She also mounts torpedoes which can deter other ships from trying to point blank her, making it an aversion of this trope.
Odin
Tier VIII Premium German Battleship. A theoretical battleship design (although it really just looks like an uparmored and slightly upgunned Scharnhorst class battlecruiser), wielding 9 305mm guns and torpedoes.- Military Mashup Machine: Like Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, Odin is a difficult ship to classify; she falls somewhere between a battlecruiser and a battleship in terms of armor and armament.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Odin is the king of the gods in Norse Mythology.
Großer Kurfürst
Tier X Premium German Battleship. A hypothetical (read: fictional) evolution of H-class battleships, Großer Kurfürst used to sit atop the German battleship line. She is one of the most durable ships in the game, boasting impressive armor and even more impressive HP pool. In early 2022 she was removed from the tech tree and became a coal premium.- Acrofatic: As close to a vehicular example as is possible. Großer Kurfürst was at one point both the largest and fastest tier X battleship.
- Always a Bigger Fish: Yamato and Iowa were the biggest ships in the game... up until Großer Kurfürst stepped in and took away their titles. And then ''Kremlin'' took it away from ''Kurfürst''. And relating to below mention of her secondary battery, her primacy as THE ship for a secondary build was usurped by Schlieffen upon release of the battlecruiser line.
- Artistic License – Ships: Her tech specs are a bit off. She's far bigger than H-41 project, has heavier armor and triple gun turrets, and yet her displacement is practically the same as said project.
- Death of a Thousand Cuts: With the most secondaries in the game, it's safe to say this trope is in play. A properly captained secondary build Kurfürst can terrorize an enemy flank, while making torp rushing a suicide mission.
- Mighty Glacier: Practically a mobile island, and with the turning radius of one as well. However, her twelve guns (especially the 420s) can be devastating if an enemy shows enough broadside, while her secondary battery is even more fearsome.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Her name means Great Elector, the popular name for Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg-Prussia, whose reforms started Prussia's rise from a Duchy to a Kingdom and later the German Empire.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: She was removed from the tech tree as a means to cure this, her place taken by Preussen. While her two tech-tree predecessors had eight guns with an improved reload time, she has twelve guns with normal battleship reload. It wasn't always the case, as Friedrich der Große had the same guns, but after she was buffed, Großer Kurfürst became an outlier.
Erich Loewenhardt
Based on early plans for Graf Zeppelin, and armed with HE dive bombers, unusual for German carriers.Graf Zeppelin
Graf Zeppelin is the first aircraft carrier introduced outside of the IJN and USN. She was very nearly completed but was not due to a snag in the development of carrier capable planes note .- The Battlestar: Has by far the most powerful secondaries on any aircraft carrier after the rework, with only Kaga comparing (and then only in gun size).
- Bribing Your Way to Victory: Zigzagged. The Graf Zeppelin's power level swung wildly during her initial testing and at her initial release she was commonly considered the worst Tier 8 carrier because of underwhelming fighters, horrendously inaccurate dive bombers and complete lack of torpedo bombers. The backlash reached levels where Wargaming pulled back the carrier from sale for re-balancing. The current version has a reputation as being unforgiving but deadly in the hands of an expert. Then with the repeated nerfs to AP bombs, along with her aircraft's infamous fragility, Graf Zeppelin is considered to be nearly as unusable in its intended role as it was upon its first release.
- Named After Someone Famous: She is named for Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin, an aviation pioneer who designed the world's first successful rigid airships.
