The Unlucky Devils, or Admiral Raeder's Mistake
Dedicated to all the fans of the "Military Review" naval theme, whose efforts made this series possible. Thanks again for your support, and from the warm seas of Japan, we move to the frigid Kiel of 1933.
In general, ours story It began on June 21, 1919, when German ships sank to the bottom of Scapa Flow with their flags raised, ending the history of the Kaisermarine. Germany was left with the pitiful remnants of its once powerful Fleet The open sea consisted of six old battleships, six light cruisers, 12 destroyers, and 12 torpedo boats. It was all quite dismal, considering the youngest of the torpedo boats was a V-1 built in 1913.
The service life of destroyers and torpedo boats was given to 15 years, and to replace them, ships with a displacement of no more than 800 tons were allowed to be built, which pushed Germany far away from potential enemies in Europe.
What can we say if the first series of post-war destroyers of the Möwe and Wolf classes had a displacement of 940 tons, a design speed of 34 knots, an oil reserve of 327 tons, and a cruising range of 1997 miles at 17 knots.
Armament: 3 x 105 mm guns, 2 x 20 mm machine guns, 2 twin-tube 350 mm torpedo tubes, 30 mines.
Destroyer Tiger
For comparison, British C/D-class destroyers of approximately the same years of production had a displacement of 1397 tons, a speed of 36 knots, and a cruising range at the same 17 knots of 6,500 nautical miles.
British C-class destroyer Tenedos
The British ships were armed with four 120-mm guns, one 76-mm anti-aircraft gun, two quadruple 12,7-mm anti-aircraft machine guns, two quadruple 533-mm torpedo tubes, and two mortar launchers with a capacity of 20 depth charges.
As the saying goes, no chance. The British did a very good job of leaving Germany "toothless," but such is the fate of all vanquished.
However, as the years passed, the curse of Versailles gradually weakened. The command of the Reichsmarine, which replaced the Kaisermarine, understood perfectly well that they needed not just new ships, but ones that could at least minimally counter the British.
Therefore, a landmark decision was made: to develop and build a new type of destroyer, superior in firepower and speed to the ships of other navies. Moreover, the main armament was considered to be artillery, to the detriment of torpedoes.
Naturally, the ships had to have a decent cruising range, good seaworthiness, a strong hull and a high, economical cruising speed.
The Stettiner Vulkan design received approval from Reichsmarine Commander-in-Chief Erich Raeder, and work began. Subsequently, such giants as Dechimag, Schichau, and Deutsche Werke joined the work on the German destroyer. Such a close-knit team was bound to produce a respectable result, and Deutsche Werke ultimately won, their design being designated Type 1934.
Of course, getting ahead of myself, I'll say that the Germans failed to meet the 1850-ton displacement limit set by the London and Washington Treaties. Their destroyers ballooned to 2100 tons and beyond. However, it's worth noting that Germany didn't sign any restrictive treaties, which, incidentally, didn't matter: the Versailles collar was tighter than London and Washington.
But in the end, the German destroyers turned out to be very large ships. Only the French destroyer leaders had larger displacement, but that's a whole other naval story, which we'll definitely get to a bit later.
All ships in official documents were referred to by the letter Z, from Zerstörer (destroyer in German), and a number, but the ships also had their own names.
So our heroes could be called "Type 1934 destroyers", also known as the "Z-1 class" or "Leberecht Maass type", based on the name of the lead ship.
The ships were a group of four destroyers built for the German navy, originally called the Reichsmarine, which was renamed the Kriegsmarine in 1935.
Apparently, the design was developed hastily and without careful thought: the short forecastle and lack of a superstructure on the bow reduced the ships' seaworthiness, and their stability was clearly insufficient even for operations in the Baltic. The only truly innovative part of the design were the high-pressure boilers, but they were overly complex and barely tested on ships before installation, resulting in frequent failures throughout the ships' service life and becoming a veritable byword among the technical staff.
Launching and raising the flag
Another interesting point: by the time the ships were completed, Germany had already signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, which effectively overrode the naval provisions of the Treaty of Versailles and made their construction legal. The British allowed Germany to have such ships, pragmatically believing that such destroyers would realistically not go beyond the Baltic.
General characteristics
Displacement:
- 2259 t standard load
- 3207 t full load
Length:
- 114 m (at the waterline)
- 119 m (total length)
Width: 11,31 m
Draft: 4,23 m (full load)
Power: 38,500 hp
6 water-tube boilers, 2 geared steam turbines, 2 shafts
,
Speed: 36 nodes
Range: 1530 nautical miles at 19 knots
Crew: 10 officers, 315 sailors
Additional equipment: 2 motorboats, one landing craft
Armament:
- 5 × 127 mm guns
- 4 × 37 mm anti-aircraft guns
- 6 × 20 mm anti-aircraft guns
- 2 × quadruple-tube 533-mm torpedo tubes
- 4 bomb release devices
- 60 min.
The numbers, frankly, are impressive. However, as practice has shown, it's not the numbers that make the difference, but their totality in the metal.
The hull of the Type 34 destroyers was divided into 15 watertight compartments, of which the seven middle ones housed the propulsion and auxiliary machinery. These compartments were protected by a double bottom running half the length of the ship. Active stabilizers were installed to reduce listing. The crew consisted of 10 officers and 315 sailors, but each destroyer could act as a flagship, and therefore had additional accommodations for four officers and 19 sailors of the flagship staff.
A few figures on the ships' interiors. The Type 1934 destroyers were equipped with two Wagner geared steam turbines, each driving a single three-bladed 3,25-meter propeller. Superheated steam was generated by six Wagner water-tube boilers, also from the same company, operating at a pressure of 70 atmospheres and a temperature of 450°C. The combined turbine output was 70,000 shaft horsepower (52,000 kW), allowing for a designed speed of 36 knots, but the actual maximum speed was 38,7 knots.
The Type 1934 ships carried up to 752 tons of fuel oil, which should have given them a range of 4400 nautical miles at 19 knots, but in service they were found to be too overloaded in the bow, and 30% of the fuel had to be stored as ballast in the lower part of the ship.
The effective range was only 1530 nautical miles at a speed of 19 knots. The ships were equipped with two 200-kilowatt (270 hp) steam turbogenerators, one in each engine room, and three diesel generators: two 60 kW (80 hp) and one 30 kW (40 hp), located in a compartment between the two aft boiler rooms.
The destroyers' main battery consisted of five 127mm guns in single mounts with gun shields, two mounted one above the other, one forward and one mounted aft. The fifth gun was located on the aft superstructure. The guns had a maximum firing range of 17,4 kilometers, an elevation of 30°, and a depression of -10°. The ships carried 600 rounds of ammunition for these guns.
The anti-aircraft armament consisted of four 37-mm automatic anti-aircraft guns in single mounts with a total ammunition supply of 8000 rounds and six 20-mm automatic anti-aircraft guns in single mounts with an ammunition supply of 12,000 rounds.
The torpedo armament consisted of eight 533 mm torpedo tubes in two quadruple mounts with electro-hydraulic drive on the centerline, with a pair of spare torpedoes for each mount.
Torpedo tubes and mines - a complete set
Four depth charge launchers were mounted on either side of the rear deckhouse, and six racks for individual depth charges, each holding 32 or 64 charges, were mounted on either side of the stern. Mine rails were installed on the stern, holding up to 60 mines. They were equipped with a Gruppenhorchgerät passive hydrophone system, which allowed for the detection of submarines.
Bomb launcher and depth charges
The Type 1934 destroyers were equipped with an analog fire control system, controlled by a C/34Z gunner on the bridge roof. He calculated firing data using range data from two 4-meter stereoscopic rangefinders, one located aft of the rear funnel and the other immediately behind the gunner. The stereoscopic rangefinder transmitted bearing and elevation data to the gun crews, who then fired the gun. The 1,25-meter rangefinder provided data for the 37-millimeter anti-aircraft guns, while the 20-millimeter guns used a 0,7-meter hand-held rangefinder.
Superstructure of the destroyer Z-4
Upgrades
Following testing, several modifications were made. A staukale—a short keel with a shallow wedge-shaped cross-section—was added under the transom to reduce the turning radius and raise the stern at high speed.
However, this caused the ship's bow to dart deeper into the water, which exacerbated the lack of slope in the bow, causing spray to fly onto the bridge. This, however, was only half the problem. In this situation, it was impossible to fire gun No. 1, and walking on the upper deck was downright dangerous.
A more serious problem was that this constantly placed a deflection force on the hull, necessitating reinforcement of the midship frames to prevent cracks. The staukeyles were removed between 1940 and 1942.
Around 1938–1939, the bows of four ships were rebuilt: they were sharpened and a retractable bow sill was installed, increasing their length to 114,4 meters between perpendiculars and 119,3 meters at the waterline. The stabilizers were replaced with keeled fins. Additionally, the upper bridge section, which had a rounded forward section, was redesigned to be more squared off to increase the available space.
An active sonar system was supposed to be installed on board the Richard Beitzen in June 1940, but it is unknown when exactly this was done.
During the war, the ship's light anti-aircraft armament was upgraded several times. In 1941, the 20 mm C/30 guns were replaced with improved C/38 guns, and three more guns were added.
S-30 anti-aircraft gun
The two guns on the aft deck were replaced by a single 2cm quadruple Flakvierling mount, probably during a refit in late 1941.
In the second half of 1941, the Richard Beitzen was equipped with a FuMO 24 search radar and later with a FuMO 63 K "Hohentwiel" radar.
Service history
Z-1 "Leberecht Maass"
Z-1 Leberecht Maass, named after Rear Admiral Leberecht Maass, who was killed while commanding German forces at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in August 1914, was the first destroyer built in Germany since World War I. She was ordered on July 7, 1934, and laid down at the Deutsche Werft und Kiel on October 10, 1934, under the yard number K232. The ship was launched on August 18, 1935, and completed on January 14, 1937.
Leberecht Maass became the flagship of the Torpedo Boat Division (der Torpedoboote) and spent much of its first year training in the eastern Baltic Sea. In early April 1938, the ship entered the port of Gothenburg, Sweden. Upon its return, the ship was handed over to shipbuilders for a refit of its bow to address leaks caused by the large volumes of water entering the hull during head seas.
The ship then took part in the August 1938 parade and subsequent fleet exercises. In December, Leberecht Maass, along with Z-2 Georg Thiele, Z-3 Max Schultz, and Z-4 Richard Beitzen, sailed to the Icelandic region to evaluate the ship's seaworthiness in North Atlantic winter conditions with its new stem.
On March 23–24, 1939, the ship, as part of the escort for the heavy cruiser Deutschland, participated in the capture of Memel. The ship then participated in fleet exercises in the western Mediterranean and visited Ceuta and the Ria de Arousa in Spain.
The Kriegsmarine's initial mission after Hitler declared war on Poland on September 1, 1939, was to blockade the Polish coast. Three light cruisers and ten destroyers, including the Leberecht Maass, were deployed to accomplish this task. The Leberecht Maass evaded an attack by the submarine ORP Wilk on the first day of the war. It soon became apparent that the Kriegsmarine had deployed too many ships off the Polish coast, and the cruisers were recalled. Two days later, the Leberecht Maass and Z-9 Wolfgang Zenker were ordered to survey ships at the naval base in Hel. They spotted the Polish destroyer Wicher and the minelayer Griff and engaged both ships at a range of approximately 12,700 meters.
The German fire was ineffective, while the Polish return fire was more targeted, forcing the German destroyers to take evasive action and lay smoke screens to confuse the Polish gunners. Leberecht Maass was hit by a 152-mm shell from the Heliodor Laskowski battery defending the base, which disrupted the destroyer's power supply. A second hit from a Polish shell disabled the ammunition hoists, killing four crew members and wounding four more. During the battle, the ship fired 77 rounds from its 127-mm guns.
The next day, the destroyer sailed to Swinemünde to repair the damage. Repairs took until September 10, as the boiler pipes had to be repaired. After Operation Leberecht Maass concluded, she helped lay defensive minefields in the North Sea.
In retaliation for the Altmark incident, when the Royal Navy rescued captured British sailors from the German tanker Altmark in neutral Norwegian waters on 16 February 1940, the Kriegsmarine launched Operation Nordmark to search for Allied merchant ships in the North Sea as far as the Shetland Islands.
Destroyers including Leberecht Maass escorted the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper on the initial part of their sortie on 18 February, but Leberecht Maass and Z-5 Paul Jacobi were sent out the following day on an unsuccessful search for enemy shipping in the Skagerrak.
A few days later, the Kriegsmarine, in conjunction with the Luftwaffe, planned Operation Vikinger, mistakenly believing that British fishing trawlers at Dogger Bank were collaborating with U-boats. They believed that sinking or capturing the trawlers would force the British to disperse their forces to protect the fishing fleet and, perhaps, allow them to capture a few auxiliary vessels for the Kriegsmarine. The Luftwaffe provided fighter cover for the ships participating in the operation, as well as bomber support.
On 22 February, the flotilla, which included the prize crews, Leberecht Maass and five other destroyers, Max Schultz, Richard Beitzen, Z-6 Theodor Riedel, Z-13 Erich Köllner and Z-16 Friedrich Eckoldt, set out to sea.
En route, the flotilla was mistakenly attacked by a Heinkel He.111 bomber from the 26th Fighter Squadron. The Leberecht Maass was hit by a bomb, lost control, and broke in half. The destroyer sank quickly, taking with it 280 crew members, including the ship's captain. Only 60 crew members were saved.
A major investigation followed, and a commission concluded that both ships (the gallant eagles of the Luftwaffe also sank the Max Schulz) were sunk by bombs from He 111s. The Kriegsmarine failed to notify its destroyers that the Luftwaffe was conducting anti-submarine patrols at the time, nor did it inform the Luftwaffe that its destroyers would be at sea. Postwar investigations revealed that one or both ships may have struck a British minefield laid by the destroyers Ivanhoe and Intrepid.
Z-2 "Georg Thiele"
Z-2 Georg Thiele was ordered on July 7, 1934, and laid down at the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel on October 25, 1934, under the yard number K243. She was launched on August 18, 1935, and completed and commissioned on February 27, 1937.
The destroyer was named after Georg Thiele, a corvette captain who commanded the Seventh Torpedo Boat Flotilla during World War I. On December 1, 1937, the ship was assigned to the First Destroyer Division and visited the port of Ulvik, Norway, in April 1938, along with her sisters Z-3 Max Schultz and Z-4 Richard Beitzen. She was then returned to her builders for repairs to her bow, which had been damaged by the large volume of water that had entered it during a storm. This resulted in the ship's length being increased by 0,30 meters.
The Georg Thiele then took part in the parade on August 22 for Adolf Hitler and Miklós Horthy, Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary, as well as in subsequent naval exercises. In December, the Georg Thiele, along with the Z-1 Leberecht Maass, Max Schultz, and Richard Beitzen, sailed to the Icelandic region to evaluate the seaworthiness of the destroyers with their new bows in the North Atlantic winter.
On March 23–24, 1939, she was among the destroyers escorting the heavy cruiser Deutschland, carrying Adolf Hitler, during the operation to occupy Memel. The Georg Thiele participated in spring fleet exercises in the western Mediterranean and made several port calls in Spain and Morocco in April and May. When World War II began, the Georg Thiele was initially sent to the Baltic Sea to combat the Polish fleet and enforce the blockade of Poland, but was soon transferred to the German Bight, where she and her sister ships helped lay defensive minefields. In late 1939, the ship underwent repairs, which were completed in early April 1940.
Norwegian Campaign
The Georg Thiele was assigned to Group 1 for the Norwegian portion of Operation Weserübung in April 1940. The group's mission was to transport the 139th Mountain Regiment and the headquarters of the 3rd Mountain Division to capture Narvik. Troops began loading onto the ships on April 6, and they set sail the following day.
The German destroyers reached Ofotfjord on the morning of April 9, and Commodore Friedrich Bonte led his flagship Wilhelm Heidkamp, Georg Thiele, and the Z-11 Bernd von Arnim down the fjord to Narvik. Under cover of heavy snowfall, Georg Thiele and Bernd von Arnim entered the harbor unopposed and moored at the pier. Troops immediately began disembarking, but a few minutes later the ships were spotted by the coastal defense ship Norge. The latter immediately opened fire and managed to fire approximately thirteen 210mm shells from a range of 600–800 meters before Bernd von Arnim sank the Norwegian ship with torpedoes. In the darkness and under the falling snow, neither of the Norwegian shells hit either destroyer, despite the short range.
The Georg Thiele and the Berndt von Arnim were the first ships to refuel from the only tanker that safely reached Narvik and later relocated to Ballangenfjord, the southern part of Ofotfjord, closer to the entrance to the strait. Shortly before dawn on April 10, five destroyers of the British 2nd Destroyer Flotilla—Hardy, Havoc, Hunter, Hotspur, and Hero—surprised five German destroyers in Narvik harbor. The British launched a bold attack, torpedoing two destroyers and seriously damaging three others, while sustaining only minor damage.
During their retreat, the British ships encountered three destroyers of the 4th Flotilla, which had been alerted in Herjangsfjord when the British launched their attack. The Germans opened fire first, but due to the fog and smoke screen the British had created during their retreat down Ofotfjord, both sides' fire was ineffective. The German ships were forced to turn away to avoid a three-torpedo salvo fired by one of the destroyers in Narvik, while the Georg Thiele and Berndt von Arnim also moved out to engage the British.
The Georg Thiele was photographed from a British ship after it washed ashore.
Two German destroyers crossed the British flotilla's T-shaped line and were able to fire a full broadside from a range of just 4000 meters. They first attacked the British flagship, the Hardy, causing serious damage. Both of her forward guns were disabled, and her forward superstructure caught fire. The Hardy was forced to hug the shore to avoid sinking, and the German ships shifted their fire to the Havoc, next in line. Their fire was relatively ineffective, and both sides launched torpedoes, but neither hit its target.
The Havoc fell behind and took up a rearguard position to fend off the ships of the 4th Flotilla. The Hunter pulled ahead, but the German ships quickly set it ablaze. It is believed that the Georg Thiele hit it with a torpedo, and the Hotspur rammed it from behind when it lost control.
The Hotspur managed to disengage, but the Hunter sank soon after. The three remaining British ships managed to escape the Germans under the cover of a smoke screen. The Georg Thiele was hit seven times and was heavily damaged. The British shells disabled the forward gun and fire control system, killing thirteen crew members.
On the night of 12-13 April, Commander Erich Bey, the senior surviving German officer, received a message that an attack by British capital ships, accompanied by a large number of destroyers and supported by deck aviation.
The Thiele, still undergoing repairs under its own power, by then had only four guns and six torpedoes operational. On April 13, earlier than Bey expected, the battleship Warspite appeared, escorted by nine destroyers, taking the Germans by surprise.
Five combat-ready destroyers, including the Georg Thiele, left Narvik harbor and engaged the British ships, but without much success. Low on ammunition, the German ships were forced to retreat to Rombaksfjord (the easternmost arm of the Ofotfjord) east of Narvik, where they could attempt to ambush the pursuing British destroyers. The Georg Thiele still had ammunition and torpedoes, and she took up position in the narrow Straumen Strait along with the Z-18 Hans Lüdemann to give the two remaining destroyers time to take up positions at the mouth of the fjord.
The pursuing British destroyers initially engaged the Lüdemann, but after expending all their ammunition, the ship retreated to the mouth of the fjord. The British destroyers then turned their attention to the Georg Thiele. The German ship struck first when one of its torpedoes pierced the Eskimo's bow, but the British ships' return fire started several fires and caused such severe damage that Korvettenkapitän Max-Eckart Wolff, the ship's captain, ordered it run aground so the crew could safely abandon ship. Fourteen men were killed and 28 wounded during the battle.
Z-3 "Max Schultz"
The ship was ordered on 7 July 1934 and laid down at the Deutsche Werke, Kiel, on 2 January 1935 under the yard number K244. She was launched on 30 November 1935 and completed on 8 April 1937. The ship was named after Max Schulz, who commanded the torpedo boat V-69 and was killed in action in January 1917.
Z-3 Max Schultz joined the 1st Destroyer Division on October 26, 1937, and in April 1938, along with her sister ships Z-2 Georg Thiele and Z-4 Richard Beitzen, she visited the port of Ulvik, Norway. Upon her return, the ship was handed over to Deutsche Werke for a bow refit to reduce the amount of water entering it in head seas. This resulted in the ship's length being increased by 0,3 meters.
The ship participated in the August naval parade and subsequent fleet exercises. In December, Max Schultz, along with her sister ships Z-1 Leberecht Maass, Z-2 Georg Thiele, and Z-4 Richard Beitzen, sailed to the Icelandic region to evaluate the seaworthiness of the ships with their new bows in North Atlantic winter conditions.
On March 23–24, 1939, the ship escorted Adolf Hitler aboard the pocket battleship Deutschland and occupied Memel. It participated in the fleet's spring exercises in the western Mediterranean as Rear Admiral Günther Lütjens' flagship and made several port calls in Spain and Morocco in April and May.
A few days before the outbreak of World War II, early in the morning of August 27, 1939, the destroyer accidentally collided with the torpedo boat Tiger and sank it near Bornholm. Two men on board the torpedo boat were killed and six were wounded, while no one on board the destroyer was injured. The destroyer's bow was severely damaged and had to be towed stern-first by the Z-2 Georg Thiele. Two tugs then arrived to transport the ship to Swinemünde. The Max Schulz was under repair until the end of September and did not participate in the Polish campaign.
In October, the destroyer patrolled the Skagerrak, checking neutral vessels for contraband. On October 28, while returning from one of these patrols, one of the turbines exploded, flooding boiler room No. 1 and cutting off power. Attempts to tow the ship were unsuccessful, but power was eventually restored, and the ship sailed to Kiel for repairs.
On 9–10 February 1940, Max Schultz, Beitzen and Z-16 Friedrich Eckoldt laid 110 magnetic mines in the Shipwash area off Harwich, sinking six ships with a total displacement of 28,496 gross register tons (GRT) and damaging another.
On 22 February, Z-3 Max Schultz and five other destroyers, Z-1 Leberecht Maass, Z-4 Richard Beitzen, Z-6 Theodor Riedel, Z-13 Erich Köllner and Z-16 Friedrich Eckoldt, headed for Dogger Bank to intercept British fishing vessels as part of Operation Vikinger.
En route, the flotilla was attacked by a Heinkel He.111 bomber from the 26th Bomber Squadron. The Leberecht Maass was hit by a bomb, lost control, and sank, breaking in half. 280 crew members perished.
During the rescue operation, the Z-3 Max Schultz, while separating from the main group of ships in search of survivors, struck a mine and sank. The entire crew of 308 perished.
A version of the Max Schultz's destruction by bombs was voiced, but an equally plausible one is that it struck British mines laid by the destroyers Ivanhoe and Intrepid. The destruction of a destroyer-class ship by a single Heinkel bomb, along with its entire crew, seems unlikely, but a mine certainly is.
Z-4 "Richard Beitzen"
Z-4 "Richard Beitzen" was named after Kapitänleutnant Richard Beitzen, an officer of the Imperial German Navy who commanded the 14th Torpedo Boat Flotilla during World War I and was killed in action in March 1918.
The ship was ordered on 7 July 1934 and laid down at the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel on 7 January 1935 under the yard number K245. She was launched on 30 November and completed on 13 May 1937. Following completion, Z-4 Richard Beitzen, along with her sister ships Z-2 Georg Thiele and Z-3 Max Schulz, visited Ulvik, Norway, in April 1938.
Upon returning to the shipyard, Deutsche Werke rebuilt its bow to reduce the amount of water entering it during head seas. This increased its length by 0,3 meters.
The ship participated in the August parade and subsequent fleet exercises. On October 26, it was assigned to the 1st Destroyer Flotilla, and in December, Z-4 Richard Beitzen, along with her sister ships Z-1 Leberecht Maass, Z-2 Georg Thiele, and Z-3 Max Schultz, sailed to the coast of Iceland to evaluate the seaworthiness of the new bows in North Atlantic winter conditions.
The icy Richard Beitzen somewhere in the North Atlantic
From March 23 to 24, 1939, the ship, as part of Adolf Hitler's escort aboard the heavy cruiser Deutschland, participated in the capture of Memel. The following month, it participated in fleet exercises in the western Mediterranean, and in April and May, it made several port calls in Spain and Morocco. Upon its return, the Z-4 "Richard Beitzen" was accidentally rammed in the stern by an escort ship and underwent repairs.
When World War II began on 1 September 1939, Z-4 Richard Beitzen was initially sent to the western Baltic to enforce the blockade of Poland, but was soon transferred to the Kattegat, where she began inspecting neutral ships for contraband from mid-September, as one of her turbines had failed.
On the night of December 12–13, German destroyers put to sea to lay minefields off the British coast. Under the command of Commodore Friedrich Bonte on his flagship Z-19 Hermann Künne, the destroyers Z-4 Richard Beitzen, Z-8 Bruno Heinemann, Z-14 Friedrich Ihn, and Z-15 Erich Steinbrink laid 240 mines near the mouth of the River Tyne.
The British were unaware of the minefield and lost eleven ships, totaling 18,979 gross register tons. En route home, the destroyers were ordered to escort the damaged light cruisers Leipzig and Nürnberg, which were torpedoed by the submarine HMS Salmon while covering the destroyers' retreat. Despite the escort, the submarine HMS Ursula managed to slip through the anti-submarine screen and fire six torpedoes at Leipzig. Two torpedoes hit the patrol craft F9, which sank three minutes later, taking many lives, but the remaining torpedoes missed their target.
On the night of January 10-11, another minelaying raid occurred in the Newcastle area involving Z-14 Friedrich Ihn, Z-21 Wilhelm Heidkamp, Z-16 Friedrich Eckoldt, Z-22 Anton Schmitt, Z-4 Richard Beitzen, and Z-20 Karl Galster. Friedrich Ihn developed boiler problems, reducing her maximum speed to 27 knots, and had to be escorted back to Germany by Z-4 Richard Beitzen. Only one fishing trawler, a 251-ton vessel, was destroyed in this minefield.
Z-3 Max Schultz, Z-4 Richard Beitzen and Z-16 Friedrich Eckoldt laid 110 magnetic mines in the Shipwash area off Harwich on 9–10 February 1940, sinking six ships with a total displacement of 28,496 GRT and damaging one.
On February 22, 1940, Z-4 Richard Beitzen and the destroyers Z-3 Max Schultz, Z-1 Leberecht Maass, Z-6 Theodor Riedel, Z-13 Erich Köllner, and Z-16 Friedrich Eckoldt headed for Dogger Bank to intercept British fishing vessels as part of Operation Vikinger. En route, the flotilla was mistakenly attacked by a Heinkel He 111 bomber from the 26th Bomber Squadron. The Leberecht Maass was sunk by a bomb, and the Max Schultz struck a mine during the rescue operation and sank.
Germany's invasion of Norway
The Z-4 "Richard Beitzen" was in reserve for Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of Norway on April 9. Two days later, it escorted the light cruiser "Köln" to Wilhelmshaven. From April 28 to May 20, the ship participated in laying mines in the Kattegat Strait, after which it underwent repairs that lasted until September.
In October, he was transferred to Brest, France. On the night of November 24–25, the Richard Beitzen, Hans Lodi, and Karl Galster departed Brest for Land's End. En route, they encountered several fishing vessels southwest of Wolf Rock and opened fire on them, but without much success. The German ships then spotted a small convoy and sank one of the three merchant ships, damaging another.
"Richard Beitzen" and the destroyer 23/24 enter Brest harbor
The gun flashes attracted the attention of five destroyers of the British 5th Destroyer Flotilla, but they were unable to intercept the German destroyers before dawn. Three nights later, the German ships returned to the same area. They discovered two tugboats and a barge, but sank only one of the tugboats and the barge, with a total displacement of 424 GRT. This time, the 5th Destroyer Flotilla intercepted the ships around 06:30 AM on November 29. The Germans opened fire first: each destroyer launched four torpedoes, of which only two, from Z-10 Hans Lodi, hit their target, hitting the bow and stern of the destroyer Javelin. The British managed to save the ship and tow it home.
In January 1941, the Richard Beitzen laid a minefield off the southeast coast of England. The following month, she escorted the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper on her departure from Brest and return to port. The Richard Beitzen itself briefly sailed to Kiel for repairs. Then, in July 1941, she was sent to Kirkenes, Norway.
As part of the 6th Destroyer Flotilla, she participated in a combat operation on July 12–13, during which two small Soviet ships were sunk, expending 80% of the flotilla's ammunition. During another sortie on July 22, the Richard Beitzen sank a Soviet flying boat while floating. During another sortie on August 9, during which the Germans sank a converted fishing trawler (Tuman), the destroyer was damaged by nearby coastal artillery shell bursts and returned to Germany for repairs five days later.
In mid-January 1942, the Richard Beitzen spent several days escorting the battleship Tirpitz as it sailed from the Baltic Sea to Trondheim, Norway. Along with the other ships of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla, the Richard Beitzen departed Kiel for France on January 24 in preparation for the "Canal Dash."
On the evening of January 25, the Z-8 Bruno Heinemann struck two mines laid by HMS Plover off the coast of Belgium and sank. The Richard Beitzen rescued 200 survivors and headed to Le Havre to put them ashore, arriving in Brest on the 26th.
On February 11, the German ships sailed from Brest, catching the British by surprise. The Richard Beitzen helped repel an attack by five British destroyers and was damaged by a nearby bomb from a British Blenheim aircraft, which the crew shot down with a newly installed 20mm anti-aircraft gun. Shortly thereafter, the ship, along with four other destroyers, escorted the Prinz Eugen and the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer to Trondheim. Due to bad weather, the Richard Beitzen and two other destroyers were forced to return to port before reaching Trondheim, and the Prinz Eugen was seriously damaged by a British submarine attack.
Upon returning, the ship required major mechanical repairs, and on March 14, it entered Bremen for repairs. After completing repairs, it joined the escort of the heavy cruiser Lützow in Bogenfjord, Norway, and en route laid a minefield in the Skagerrak.
The Richard Beitzen participated in preparations for Operation Rosselsprung, an attempt to intercept Arctic Convoy PQ-17. Admiral Scheer and Lützow formed one group, while Tirpitz and Admiral Hipper formed another. En route to the rendezvous point in Altafjord, Lützow and three destroyers ran aground, forcing the entire group to abandon the operation. Meanwhile, on July 2–3, the Richard Beitzen escorted two oil tankers to Altafjord.
During Operation Wunderland in August, Z-4 Richard Beitzen, Z-16 Friedrich Eckoldt, and Z-15 Erich Steinbrink escorted Admiral Scheer at the beginning and end of its mission to attack Soviet shipping in the Kara Sea. The ships also escorted the minelayer Ulm when she set out to lay a minefield off Mys Zhelaniya in mid-August.
From October 13-15, 1942, Z-4 Richard Beitzen, Z-16 Friedrich Eckoldt, and destroyers Z-27 and Z-30 laid a minefield near the Kanin Peninsula at the mouth of the White Sea, where the Soviet icebreaker Mikoyan was blown up and sank. Three weeks later, the same four destroyers escorted Admiral Hipper when, in early November, it attempted to intercept Allied merchant ships independently heading to Soviet ports.
During Operation Regenbogen, an attempt to intercept Convoy JW-51B en route from Great Britain to the Soviet Union in late December, Z-4 Richard Beitzen, Z-16 Friedrich Eckoldt, and the destroyer Z-29 escorted Admiral Hipper, which attempted to distract the convoy's escorts while Lützow and three other destroyers attacked the convoy. The three destroyers detached from Admiral Hipper to search for the convoy and located it on the morning of December 31.
The destroyer HMS Obdureit spotted them and approached to investigate when the German ships opened fire from a range of 8000 meters. Obdureit turned back to the convoy without sustaining any damage, and the German ships did not pursue, having received orders to join Hipper.
The Germans discovered the minesweeper HMS Bramble, which had previously been detached from the convoy to search for stragglers. Destroyers were ordered to sink it, while Hipper engaged the convoy's escorts. Due to poor visibility, this took some time, and Hipper was caught by surprise by British escorts—the light cruisers HMS Sheffield and HMS Jamaica. After sinking Bramble, the German destroyers attempted to rejoin Hipper, but were unaware that British cruisers were in the area.
The Germans mistook the Sheffield for the Hipper when they spotted each other at a range of 4000 meters, and were extremely surprised when the Sheffield opened fire on the Z-16 Friedrich Eckoldt with all its guns and sank it. The entire crew perished along with the destroyer.
In January 1943, the Richard Beitzen escorted the damaged Admiral Hipper and Köln to Kristiansend. The destroyer then began escorting convoys between that port and Aarhus, Denmark, and in early March, she escorted the battleship Scharnhorst to Altafjord.
"Richard Beitzen" is escorting "Scharnhorst"
The following month, Richard Beitzen escorted Nürnberg on its return to the Baltic and entered Swinemünde for repairs that lasted until October.
Returning to the Arctic, the Richard Beitzen ran aground in Karmsund on October 27, suffering serious damage. The ship was refloated on November 5 and towed to Haugesund for emergency repairs. On November 26, she arrived in Bergen for temporary repairs, which lasted until December 18. Five days later, the Richard Beitzen arrived in Stettin, but repairs, which included the installation of a new bow, did not begin until January 17, as the drydock was occupied. Repairs were completed in June, but due to equipment problems, the destroyer did not return to service until August 5.
The Richard Beitzen resumed escorting convoys and laying mines in the Skagerrak Strait until she ran aground again in November. Repairs proceeded slowly, and the ship was not fully operational until February 15, 1945. On the morning of April 24, the ship was severely damaged by bombers while escorting a convoy and was sent to Oslo, Norway, for repairs, which were not completed before the end of the war.
Z-4 Richard Beitzen was captured by the British on May 14 and temporarily transferred to the Royal Norwegian Navy on July 15 while the Allies decided the fate of the captured German ships. The destroyer was handed over to Britain in late 1945 and was towed to Rosyth in February 1946. Richard Beitzen was designated as a target ship in September 1946, but three months later, a serious leak forced her to be towed ashore to prevent her from sinking. Repairs were made, but in January 1947 she was sent for scrapping. The following year, Richard Beitzen was handed over to C.W. Dorkin for scrapping and was towed to the Gateshead shipyard on January 10, 1949.
The fate of the first German pre-war destroyers is somewhat similar to that of their Japanese counterparts. It's not exactly a case of the first pancake being a flop, but it turned out that three-quarters of the Third Reich's first destroyers were quickly rendered useless. However, it's fair to say that their performance characteristics weren't to blame.
German destroyers of World War II are not unique: like many pre-war cruiser and destroyer families, they were victims of compromise. And they vividly demonstrated the principle that any ship design is a compromise between various characteristics, and that improving one always comes at the cost of deteriorating another.
Having embarked on the development of full-fledged destroyers after the lifting of the Versailles restrictions, the Kriegsmarine/Reichsmarine leadership set the goal of creating ships with the most powerful armament and the highest speed. However, this came at a high price: upon entering service, the German destroyers suffered from poor seaworthiness, maneuverability, and controllability.
A case in point is the Battle of North Cape, which cost Germany its best battleship, the Scharnhorst. The Kriegsmarine's initially powerful strike force of one battleship and five destroyers was reduced to a single battleship attacking a convoy alone due to the poor seaworthiness of the German destroyers. Ultimately, one battleship, one heavy cruiser, and three light cruisers left the Scharnhorst no chance and sank her. Had the Scharnhorst had destroyers, she could have relied on torpedoes. As it was, alone and with a host of tactical errors, the battleship sank ingloriously with almost her entire crew.
The Type 1934 destroyers' greatest weakness was their propulsion systems, which were poorly fuel-efficient and prone to failure. This contributed to the Kriegsmarine's relatively low combat effectiveness and prevented them from fully realizing their offensive potential.
Was Admiral Raeder so wrong in choosing ships for his fleet? There's no definitive answer. German shipbuilders followed their own path, quite different from the rest of the world. That's why their destroyers turned out to be almost like leaders, their cruisers were called "pocket battleships," and their torpedo boats (it's hard to call them boats) easily sank cruisers in open combat.
Many analysts believe the main mistake was the pursuit of versatility, which resulted in a mismatch between the ship and its intended missions. In the Norwegian fjords, the German destroyers floundered like cows, and when required to operate at sea, stability issues arose.
But it's impossible to say that these ships were useless. Some corrections were made, and this was reflected in the next series of Type 1934A destroyers. Much effort was truly made to improve the destroyers' performance. Whether this was successful remains to be seen. A sequel is sure to follow, especially since the history of the Type 1934A destroyers is replete with moments every bit as intense as those of the Japanese destroyers.
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