De Agostini Warships DAKS03
Deutschland-class Heavy Cruiser Diecast Model
Kriegsmarine, Admiral Graf Spee, 1936

1:1250 Scale		Length		Width
Deutschland-class Heavy Cruiser		5.75"		0.75"

Admiral Graf Spee was a Deutschland-class heavy cruiser ("pocket battleship") which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II. The vessel was named after Admiral Maximilian von Spee, commander of the East Asia Squadron that fought the battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands in World War I. She was laid down at the Reichsmarinewerft shipyard in Wilhelmshaven in October 1932 and completed by January 1936. The ship was nominally under the 10,000 long tons (10,000 t) limitation on warship size imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, though with a full load displacement of 16,020 long tons (16,280 t), she significantly exceeded it. Armed with six 28 cm (11 in) guns in two triple gun turrets, Admiral Graf Spee and her sisters were designed to outgun any cruiser fast enough to catch them. Their top speed of 28 kn (52 km/h; 32 mph) left only a handful of ships in the Anglo-French navies able to catch them and powerful enough to sink them.

Between September and December 1939, the ship sank nine ships totaling 50,089 gross register tons (GRT), before being confronted by three British cruisers at the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December. Admiral Graf Spee inflicted heavy damage on the British ships, but she too was damaged, and was forced to put into port at Montevideo. Convinced by false reports of superior British naval forces approaching his ship, Hans Langsdorff, the commander of the ship, ordered the vessel to be scuttled. The ship was partially broken up in situ, though part of the ship remains visible above the surface of the water.

Deutschland-class Heavy Cruiser

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De Agostini Warships

The De Agostini "Warships" range presents affordable, ready-made diecast models of Warships in 1:1250 scale. To help keep the price down, these items arrive in low-cost, discardable blister type packaging.

De Agostini "Warships" diecast models feature:

• Diecast metal construction with some plastic components.
• Pad printed markings and placards that won't fade or peel like decals.
• Display stand with printed ship name.