Training cruiser Deutschland (A59)

Deutschland (A59) was a naval ship of the Bundesmarine, the West German Navy. She was constructed and used as a training cruiser («Schulschiff») in peacetime and planned for multi-role missions in the event of war: troop ship, hospital ship, minelayer, and escort. In order to prepare cadets in the best possible way for their duties in the active fleet, the ship was carrying the type of armament and machinery that was reflecting the equipment fitted to the German Navy ships of that period. Therefore, the machinery was rather diverse (two pairs of different diesel engines and a steam turbine), and performance-wise the emphasis had rather been laid on range than speed. Under deck, comparably large teaching rooms underlined the primary role and, unlike other ships in the fleet, Deutschland had some civilians (captain's steward, shoemaker, tailor) serving alongside military personnel.

In her time Deutschland was the largest vessel in the navy of the Federal Republic of Germany. Permission to build the ship was granted despite being larger than allowed by tonnage restrictions imposed by the WEU on West Germany. (The later Berlin class replenishment ships of the reunited Germany are much larger.) Like most German post-war naval ships she was completely NBC protected. Deutschland was the smallest German cruiser since the 4,385-ton SMS Brummer and Bremse of 1915.

Ordered in late 1958, the training ship Deutschland was laid down at Nobiskrug shipyard in Rendsburg on 11 September 1959. Launched on 5 November 1960, it was originally intended to name the Federal German Navy's training ship Berlin. For obvious political reasons however (Germany and Berlin being divided and the latter existing under the four power status, and the allies objecting the name chosen), the plan was abandoned and the ship eventually named after the German nation — «Deutschland» for Germany.

Delivered 10 April 1963, Deutschland was commissioned on 25 May 1966 and, like the sail training ship Gorch Fock, attached to the Naval Academy Mürwik in Flensburg-Mürwik. During her active service, thousands of cadets of the post-war West German navy completed the three-month practical part of their officer's training on board cruiser Deutschland. The ship remained in active service until she was decommissioned on 28 June 1990. Notwithstanding the prominent role that the ship had played in the naval officer training of the Bundesmarine from the mid-1960s for nearly 25 years, all attempts to preserve the ship, e.g. as a museum, failed. Deutschland was finally sold for scrap in October 1993, and in January 1994 she was towed to Alang, India to meet her fate.