Günther Lütjens (1889–1941) was a Kriegsmarine admiral who organized a series of raiding operations for the German Navy during World War II.
He commanded a task force consisting of battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen during Operation Rheinübung, and went down with Bismarck in her final battle.
Admiral Lütjens lived a vibrant life, full of both victories and defeats. This article presents several major highlights of his biography.
Beginning of his career
- Günther Lütjens was born on May 25, 1889, in Wiesbaden, to the family of a merchant. On April 3, 1907, at the rank of Seekadett, he enrolled in the German Imperial Naval Academy, which he went on to finish in 1909.
- On September 28, 1910, Lütjens was promoted to the rank of Leutnant zur See.
- In April 1911, Lütjens was transferred to cruiser Hansa, on which he served for 2 years.
- On September 27, 1913, Lütjens received the rank of Oberleutnant zur See.
- During World War I, he served on various torpedo boats. On March 23, 1917, he took part in a raid on Dunkirk. On May 2, 1917, he fought against four British destroyers, and on May 19, his five torpedo boats faced off against four French destroyers.
Inter-war period
- From 1925 to 1929, Lütjens was the 1st Adjutant (chief of staff) of the Marinestation der Nordsee (a naval station at Wilhelmshaven).
- In 1929, he took command of the 1st Torpedo-Boat-Flotilla.
- Between 1932 and 1934, he was chief of the Fleet- and Naval Officer Personnel Department at the Ministry of the Reichswehr.
- In 1934, Lütjens became commander of light cruiser Karlsruhe.
- On March 16, 1936, he was appointed as chief of personnel of the Kriegsmarine.
- From October 8, 1937, to October 20, 1939, Lütjens was chief of the Kriegsmarine torpedo boat forces.
World War II
- At the beginning of World War II, as rear admiral, he led an operation to place mines in the coastal waters of the U.K.
- On December 17, 1939, Lütjens was promoted to the rank of vice admiral.
- From March 11 to April 1940, acted as interim fleet commander.
- On April 7, Lütjens led Scharnhorst and Gneisenau to distract British ships from the Norwegian coast. During an encounter with battlecruiser Renown, Gneisenau was seriously damaged.
- On July 8, 1940, Lütjens took over as fleet commander.
- On June 20, 1940, a squadron commanded by Günther Lütjens, consisting of heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, light cruiser Nürnberg, battleship Gneisenau, and one destroyer, made its way to the North Sea to divert the enemy’s attention from the route being taken by the damaged Scharnhorst from Norway to Germany. The operation was a success, but Gneisenau was torpedoed by submarine Clyde.
- On August 26, 1940, Lütjens was awarded the rank of admiral.
- In December 1940, Günther Lütjens headed to the North Atlantic again with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, but the ships were damaged after getting caught in a severe storm and were forced to return to base.
- In January 1941, Lütjens made his way to the North Atlantic once more. The raider missions of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau during Operation Berlin went on for two months. During this time, they sank or captured 22 vessels.
- On May 18, 1941, during Operation Rheinübung, Lütjens led battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen to the Atlantic Ocean through the Denmark Strait. On May 21, the ships were detected by British aircraft.
- On May 24, the Denmark Strait witnessed a naval battle in which Bismarck sank battlecruiser HMS Hood just 9 minutes after the action began.
- On May 26, British torpedo bombers damaged Bismarck while Günther Lütjens was onboard. On the morning of May 27, the German raider ship was sunk by British battleships. The last sighting of Günther Lütjens was of him making his way to the commander’s bridge with his staff.
Günther Lütjens in World of Warships
You can obtain unique Commander Günther Lütjens from the Armory in exchange for 175,000 Coal.
Commander Günther Lütjens has the following unique talents in our game:
- Secondary Battery Loader: upon hitting enemies 100 times with secondary armament, the secondary battery reload time speeds up by 15%. This talent can be activated once per battle.
- Main Battery Loader: upon hitting enemies 140 times with main guns, the main battery reload time speeds up by 7.5%. This talent can be activated once per battle.
- Aerial Equipment Expert: upon hitting enemies 30 times with any type of aircraft armament, aircraft restoration time speeds up by 10%. This talent can be activated once per battle.
- Resilient: upon spotting three enemy ships, your ship's HP is partially restored. The talent restores 300 HP per second and its action time in seconds is equal to the ship's tier (e.g. 5 seconds for a Tier V ship; 7 seconds for a Tier VII ship; etc.). This talent can be activated multiple times.
The German Commander also possesses three enhanced skills:
- Preventive Maintenance: –45% to the risk of modules such as the main battery, torpedo launchers, steering gears, and engine becoming incapacitated on destroyers and battleships (by default: –30%).
- Grease the Gears: main turret traverse speed is increased by 20% (by default 15%) for destroyers and cruisers, and by 25% (by default 20%) for battleships.
- Improved Engine Boost: applies +7.5% to the engine boost action time for aircraft carrier squadrons (by default: +5%).
Like the other unique historical Commanders, Günther Lütjens has some special customizations: a broad pennant, colored shell tracers, and a signal flare that’s fired over the ship when a Commander's talent is activated.
Günther Lütjens comes with 10 skill points and specialization for I Hermelin.