German cruiser Lützow ( 1939 ) Lützow was a heavy cruiser of the German Kriegsmarine , the fifth and final member of the , but was never completed . The ship was laid down in August 1937 and launched in July 1939 , after which the Soviet Union requested to purchase the ship . The Kriegsmarine agreed to the sale in February 1940 , and the transfer was completed on 15 April . The vessel was still incomplete when sold to the Soviet Union , with only half of her main battery of eight guns installed and much of the superstructure missing . Renamed " Petropavlovsk " in September 1940 , work on the ship was effected by a German - advised Soviet shipyard in Leningrad . Still unfinished when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 , the ship briefly took part in the defense of Leningrad by providing artillery support to the Soviet defenders . She was sunk by German artillery in September 1941 and raised a year later in September 1942 . After repairs were effected , the ship was renamed " Tallinn " and used in the Soviet counter - offensive that relieved Leningrad in 1944 . After the end of the war , the ship was used as a stationary training platform and as a floating barracks before being broken up for scrap sometime between 1953 and 1960 . Construction . " Lützow " was ordered by the Kriegsmarine from the Deschimag shipyard in Bremen . " Lützow " was originally designed as a light cruiser version of the heavy cruiser s , armed with twelve guns instead of the " Admiral Hipper " s eight guns . The Kriegsmarine decided , however , to complete the ship identically to " Admiral Hipper " on 14 November 1936 . Her keel was laid on 2 August 1937 , under construction number 941 . The ship was launched on 1 July 1939 , but was not completed . " Lützow " was long overall and had a beam of and a maximum draft of . The ship had a design displacement of and a full load displacement of . " Lützow " 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 , at . As designed , her standard complement consisted of 42 officers and 1 , 340 enlisted men . " Lützow " s primary armament was eight SK L / 60 guns mounted in four twin gun turret s , placed in superfiring pairs forward and aft . Her anti - aircraft battery was to have consisted of twelve L / 65 guns , twelve guns , and eight guns . The ship also would have carried a pair of triple torpedo launchers abreast of the rear superstructure . The ship was to have been equipped with three Arado Ar 196 seaplanes and one catapult . " Lützow " s armored belt was thick ; her upper deck was thick while the main armored deck was thick . The main battery turrets had thick faces and 70 mm thick sides . Service history . In October 1939 , the Soviet Union approached Germany with a request to purchase the then unfinished " Admiral Hipper " - class cruisers " Lützow " , " Seydlitz " , and " Prinz Eugen " , along with plans for German capital ships , naval artillery , and other naval technology . The Kriegsmarine denied the request for " Seydlitz " and " Prinz Eugen " , but agreed to sell " Lützow " , as well as gun turret s and other weaponry . The price for the heavy cruiser was set at 150 million Reichsmarks , nearly double the original cost of the vessel , which was 83 , 590 , 000 Reichsmarks . Complete technical specifications , the results of engine trials , and spare parts were included in the sale . Eighty percent of the material was to be provided within twelve months of the transfer , with the remainder to be provided within fifteen months . " Lützow " was renamed " L " , her original contract name , for the transfer to the Soviet Union . In February 1940 , when the agreement was concluded , " Lützow " was fitting - out in Bremen . Her main battery guns had been transferred to the German army and placed on railway mountings ; they had to be dismantled and returned to Bremen . The ship was then towed to Leningrad on 15 April by a private German towing company . The two navies agreed that Germany would be responsible for naval escort , which included destroyers and smaller vessels . Rear Admiral Otto Feige was placed in command of the operation Feige then led an advisory commission assigned to assist the Soviet effort to complete the ship . At the time the ship arrived in Leningrad , only the two forward gun turrets had been installed and the bridge superstructure was incomplete . The only secondary guns installed were the 3 . 7 cm anti - aircraft guns . The Soviet Navy renamed the ship " Petropavlovsk " on 25 September 1940 , and designated the construction effort to complete the ship " Projekt 83 " . The vessel ' s design provided the basis for a planned heavy cruiser , designated " Projekt 82 " , although this ship was canceled before work began . Training for the Soviet crew of the ship proved to be contentious ; the Soviets wanted their personnel trained in Germany , while the Germans preferred sending instructors to the Soviet Union . Language barriers and inexperience with international training missions also hampered the training effort . Sea trials for " Petropavlovsk " were scheduled to begin sometime in late 1941 , and according to the training program , the Soviet crew would not begin training until a month before the trials . It was decided that Soviet officers would train at German naval schools in the Fall of 1941 , and that five officers would train aboard " Seydlitz " when the ship was commissioned for trials . German instructors would also be sent to Leningrad to train engine - room personnel . At the time of the commissioning of " Petropavlovsk " , the relevant German training and technical manuals would be sent to the Soviet Navy , albeit in German only . By the time Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 , " Petropavlovsk " was still incomplete . She was nevertheless used as a floating battery in the defense of Leningrad in August of that year . Several other ships , including the cruiser " Maxim Gorky " , joined " Petropavlovsk " in shelling the advancing Germans . On 7 September , the ship fired on German forces encircling the city ; she fired forty salvos from her forward main battery turrets — the only two operational — expending some 700 rounds of ammunition during the attack . On 17 September 1941 , the ship was disabled by German heavy artillery ; after being hit 53 times , the ship was forced to beach herself to avoid sinking . On 4 April 1942 , the " I Fliegerkorps " launched a major attack on the Soviet naval forces in Leningrad : 62 Ju 87 s , 33 Ju 88 s , and 37 He 111 s struck the ships in the harbor . " Petropavlovsk " was hit once , suffering serious damage . The Soviet Navy raised the ship on 17 September 1942 and towed her to the Neva where she was repaired . Renamed " Tallinn " in 1943 , the ship returned to service to support the Soviet counter - offensive to relieve the Siege of Leningrad in 1944 . The ship was never completed , and was used as a stationary training ship after the end of the war . She was later used as a floating barracks in the Neva , and renamed " Dniepr " in 1953 . The date of her disposal is uncertain ; Erich Gröner reports the ship survived until being broken up for scrap in 1960 , while " Conway ' s All the World ' s Fighting Ships " states that the vessel was scrapped in 1958 – 59 . Tobias Philbin reports that the ship was broken up in 1953 . Notes . Notes Citations