Description
You are bidding on a SUPERB example of a WW2 German Kriegsmarine Presentation Shield! Featuring the emblem of the Admiral Hipper, this would have been presented to an officer who served aboard the ship.
The Admiral Hipper was the lead ship of the Admiral Hipper class of heavy cruisers which served with Nazi Germany’s Kriegsmarine during World War II. The ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1935 and launched in February 1937; Admiral Hipper entered service shortly before the outbreak of war, in April 1939. The ship was named after Admiral Franz von Hipper, commander of the German battlecruiser squadron during the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and later commander-in-chief of the German High Seas Fleet. She was armed with a main battery of eight 20.3 cm (8 in) guns and, although nominally under the 10,000-long-ton (10,160 t) limit set by the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, actually displaced over 16,000 long tons (16,260 t).
Disappointed by the failure to sink merchant ships in that battle, Adolf Hitler ordered the majority of the surface warships scrapped, though Admiral Karl Dönitz was able to persuade Hitler to retain the surface fleet. As a result, Admiral Hipper was returned to Germany and decommissioned for repairs. The ship was never restored to operational status, however, and on 3 May 1945, Royal Air Force bombers severely damaged her while she was in Kiel, Germany. Her crew scuttled the ship at her moorings, and in July 1945, she was raised and towed to Heikendorfer Bay. She was ultimately broken up for scrap in 1948–1952; her bell is currently on display at the Laboe Naval Memorial near Kiel.
Made of painted wood, this is an AMAZING one-of-a-kind item! This is the emblem of Admiral Hipper, and would have been presented to an Officer on the ship. It has some minor marks, scratches, wear, but is in otherwise EXCELLENT condition for it’s age. Colors are VERY vibrant! “Hipper” is hand-written in pencil (as well as on a paper label) on the reverse. No manufacture stamps present, but these were usually made by Gustav Becker, Wilhelmshaven. Approx. 6″ x 7″ in size, it would make a PERFECT item for any collection or display
