Construction
Seydlitz was ordered by the Kriegsmarine from the Deschimag shipyard in Bremen. Seydlitz was originally designed as a light cruiser version of the Admiral Hipper class heavy cruisers, armed with twelve 15 cm (5.9 in) guns instead of the Admiral Hipper's eight 20.3 cm (8.0 in) guns. The Kriegsmarine decided, however, to complete the ship identically to Admiral Hipper on 14 November 1936. Her keel was laid on 29 December 1936, under construction number 940. The ship was launched on 19 January 1939, but after the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, work was halted when the ship was approximately 95 percent complete.
Seydlitz was 210 meters (690 ft) long overall and had a beam of 21.8 m (72 ft) and a maximum draft of 7.9 m (26 ft). The ship had a design displacement of 17,600 t (17,300 long tons; 19,400 short tons) and a full load displacement of 19,800 long tons (20,100 t). Seydlitz was powered by three sets of geared steam turbines, which were supplied with steam by twelve ultra-high pressure oil-fired boilers. The ship's top speed was 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph), at 132,000 shaft horsepower (98,000 kW). As designed, her standard complement consisted of 42 officers and 1,340 enlisted men.
Seydlitz's primary armament was eight 20.3 cm (8.0 in) SK L/60 guns mounted in four twin gun turrets, placed in superfiring pairs forward and aft. Her anti-aircraft battery consisted of twelve 10.5 cm (4.1 in) L/65 guns, twelve 3.7 cm (1.5 in) guns, and eight 2 cm (0.79 in) guns. The ship also carried a pair of triple 53.3 cm (21.0 in) torpedo launchers abreast of the rear superstructure. The ship was equipped with three Arado Ar 196 seaplanes and one catapult. Seydlitz's armored belt was 70 to 80 mm (2.8 to 3.1 in) thick; her upper deck was 12 to 30 mm (0.47 to 1.2 in) thick while the main armored deck was 20 to 50 mm (0.79 to 2.0 in) thick. The main battery turrets had 105 mm (4.1 in) thick faces and 70 mm thick sides.
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