Considered one of the nicest looking of the battlecruisers, the SMS Derflinger entered the High Seas Fleet at the start of WWI. Due to the dearth of major naval battles, the Derflinger spent much of her at sea time escorting minesweepers. She did participate at Dogger Bank as well as the battle in the Skagerrak. At his battle, she suffered the most casualties of any German ship that was not sunk. With the end of the war she went to Scapa Flow where she was scuttled in 1919. She lay at the bottom in a hull up configuration until raised in 1938. She stayed that way until scrapped in 1947/48, the longest period of time that any large ship has ever remained overturned.

As with all other battlecruisers, she was designed to operate against enemy cruisers. Provided large guns that outranged standard cruiser guns, she had the speed to catch them and the speed to outrun the more heavily armored battleships. It was this lack of heavier armor that made these ships so fast. They were rightly considered fleet scouts and would have made excellent commerce raiders.

In line with other books in this series, we are provided several pages of the ship's development and operational history. These include some photos of the ship. The rest of the book is chock full of 3D images of various parts of the ship. This includes before and after images of portions that were upgraded or changed during her fairly short operational life. In addition, we are provided a few sections of the below decks machinery spaces. Accompanying the book is a large 1/350 scale foldout of plans of the ship.

In all, it is a super reference for modelers and enthusiasts alike and a neat way to take a tour of this neat ship.

March 2021

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