True Aryans of Nordic stock

We'll continue with Germany's destroyers, especially since the first attempt is a bit of a flop. Things turned out a bit differently with the project designated Type 1934A. These ships, also known as Z-5s, were a group of twelve destroyers built in the mid-1930s for the Kriegsmarine. Five of them survived the war, which is generally a testament to their superior performance compared to the previous class.

The Type 1934A destroyers were a modification of the Type 1934 destroyers with a redesigned bow to improve seakeeping. To be honest, this was only partially successful. A staukale—a short keel with a shallow wedge cross-section—was installed under their beams to reduce the turning radius and raise the stern at high speed.

However, things didn't work out as planned: this caused the ship's bow to sink even deeper into the water, which worsened the problem of the lack of list in the bow; spray flew onto the bridge, making it impossible to fire gun No. 1, and making it dangerous to walk on the upper deck.

A more serious problem was that this led to constant hull deflection, necessitating reinforcement of the hull's mid-section plating to prevent cracking. Furthermore, the 1943 series carried over the complex and finicky boilers.

However, the seaworthiness of the 1934A was still improved, and the comments made during the operation of the 1934 destroyers were taken into account, which had a positive effect on the ships as a whole.

The Type 1934A destroyers had an overall length of 119 meters and a waterline length of 116,25 meters. Their beam was 11,31 meters, and their maximum draft was 4,23 meters.

The displacement was 2171–2270 long tons at standard load and 3110–3190 long tons (3160–3240 normal tons) at full load.

The ship's hull was divided into 15 watertight compartments, the seven middle ones housing the propulsion and auxiliary machinery. These compartments were protected by a double bottom, which extended amidships for almost half its length. Active stabilizers were installed to reduce listing. The crew consisted of 10 officers and 315 sailors, with an additional four officers and 19 sailors if the ship served as a flotilla flagship.

Living conditions on the 1934A destroyers were more than adequate. Officers lived in double cabins (except the captain, of course) and had a mess hall. Sailors lived in quarters for six or eight people.

The Type 1934A ships were powered by two Wagner geared steam turbines, each driving a single three-bladed 3,25-metre propeller with steam generated by six Wagner or Benson high-pressure water-tube boilers with superheaters.

The Wagner boilers had a pressure of 70 kg/cm2 (6865 kPa) and an operating temperature of 460 °C, while the Benson boilers had a pressure of 110 kg/cm2 (10787 kPa) at a temperature of 510 °C.

The 70,000-horsepower turbines were intended to power the ships at a speed of 36 knots. The Type 1934A ships carried up to 752 tons of fuel oil, which was intended to provide a range of 4400 nautical miles at 19 knots. However, during operation, it was discovered that the ships had excessively large upper sections, requiring 30% of the fuel to be stored as ballast in the lower sections. Consequently, the effective range was only 1825 nautical miles at 19 knots.

The ships were equipped with two 200-kilowatt (270 hp) steam-driven turbogenerators, one in each engine room. The first four ships had three diesel generators, two 60 kW (80 hp) and one 30 kW (40 hp), while later ships had three 50 kW (67 hp) generators, all located in a compartment between the two aft boiler rooms.

weaponry

The Type 1934A destroyers were armed with five 127mm SK C/34 guns in single mounts with shields providing splinter protection. One pair of guns was located forward and aft of the superstructure, and the fifth mount was located aft of the superstructure.

These guns carried 600 rounds of ammunition, and had a maximum firing range of 17,4 kilometers. The guns could elevate to 30° and depress to -10°.

The anti-aircraft armament consisted of four 37 mm semi-automatic anti-aircraft guns SK C/30 in single mounts with 8000 rounds of ammunition and six 20 mm automatic anti-aircraft guns C/30 in single mounts with 12,000 rounds of ammunition.

The ships were equipped with eight 533 mm torpedo tubes in two mounts with electro-hydraulic drive.

Torpedo launch from the Kölner

Four depth charge launchers were mounted on each side of the aft conning tower, and six depth charge racks were mounted along the sides of the stern. The ship carried enough depth charges for two or four sets of sixteen bombs each.

Mine rails with a maximum capacity of sixty mines were installed on the aft deck. Enemy submarines were detected using passive hydrophones called "GHG" (Gruppenhorchgerät).

The Type 1934A destroyers were equipped with an analog fire control system with a C/34Z conductor on the bridge roof, which 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 conductor, which transmitted bearing and elevation data to the gun crews, who then fired the salvo. The 1,25-meter rangefinder provided data for the 37-mm anti-aircraft guns, while a hand-held 0,7-meter rangefinder was used for the 20-mm guns.

General characteristics of the Type 1934A destroyers

Displacement: 2206–2306 tons
Length: 119 m
Width: 11,31 m
Draft: 4,23 m.

Power plant: 2 shafts; 2 steam turbines, 6 boilers, capacity 70,000 hp.

Speed: 36 nodes.
Range: 1825 miles at 19 knots.

Armament:
5 × single 127 mm guns
2 × twin 37 mm anti-aircraft guns
6 × single 20mm anti-aircraft guns
2 × quadruple-tube 533-mm torpedo tubes
4 × depth charge launchers, 48 ​​bombs.
60 minutes.

Upgrades

The staucai stabilizers were removed in 1940-1942 as they proved ineffective and were replaced by keel fins during the ships' conversion.

By the end of 1939, two destroyers had been fitted with the S-Gerät active sonar system, and the remainder had been fitted by the end of 1940.

In 1941, Type 1934A destroyers began installing FuMO.21 search radars and various radar detector models. They were housed in the conning tower at the rear of the bridge roof, behind the rangefinder, and the radar antenna was located on the conning tower roof so close to the foremast that it could not rotate 360 ​​degrees.

The installation of 2,5 tons of equipment at such a height on the ships created stability issues. To compensate for these additional equipment, the foremast with its searchlight and the aft rangefinder were removed, and the forward rangefinder was replaced with a 3-meter-long model, resulting in a total weight savings of 4,4 tons.

The installation of additional depth charges and degaussing equipment more than offset the savings and resulted in the removal of the motorboat, its overhead crane, and electric winch, which increased the ships' displacement by three tons. In mid- and late 1942, the smokestacks of the surviving ships were cut off to reduce the weight of the upper sections.

Beginning in late 1941, the surviving ships received additional light anti-aircraft armament in the form of a single 20mm Flakvierling quadruple mount, replacing the two guns on the aft superstructure. As the war progressed, more 20mm guns were added to the ships, and all surviving ships except Z6 Theodor Riedel had their single 127mm gun amidships replaced with 20mm and 37mm guns in late 1944, during the so-called "Barbara" modernization.

By the end of the war, these destroyers typically carried fourteen 37mm and ten 20mm guns, but the number varied greatly.

Around 1944, the ships were fitted with a FuMO.24 search radar, and three of the five surviving ships had their foremasts converted to a gate shape to allow the 6 by 2 metre antenna to rotate freely.

This is what the "gate" at Steinbrinck looked like

A FuMO.63K Hohentwiel radar replaced the searchlight on the platform aft of the rear funnel, and all five destroyers were fitted with FuMB 1 Metox radar detectors.

Service history

Gneisenau, Admiral Hipper and destroyers

In the pre-war years, the Type 34 destroyers underwent training and flew the flag. Z-5 "Paul Jacobi" and Z-8 "Bruno Heinemann" conducted exercises off the coast of Norway, where the latter tested 150mm guns planned for installation on the Type 1936 destroyers in April 1938. Three months later, Z-7 "Hermann Schömann" hosted Adolf Hitler for a short visit. The following month, all completed destroyers took part in the August naval review attended by Hitler and the Regent of Hungary, Admiral Miklós Horthy, as well as in subsequent exercises. fleetThree ships escorted the heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee during its voyage to the Mediterranean in October. Another three ships escorted the heavy cruiser Deutschland, carrying Hitler, when the Germans occupied Memel in March 1939. Some of these ships participated in fleet exercises in the western Mediterranean in April and May.

Z-5 "Paul Jacobi"

Z-5 "Paul Jacobi" was ordered on January 9, 1935 and laid down at the DeSchiMAG shipyard in Bremen on July 15, 1935, under the yard number W899. She was launched on March 24, 1936, and completed on June 29, 1937.

From February 1939 to September 29, the destroyer underwent lengthy repairs in Wilhelmshaven, and was only returned to active service after repairs. On October 11, the Paul Jacobi was assigned to inspect neutral shipping for contraband in the Skagerrak until February 1940.

The ship was assigned to Group 2 to participate in the Norwegian portion of Operation Weserübung. The group's mission was to transport the 138th Mountain Regiment of the 3rd Mountain Division to capture Trondheim, along with the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. The ships began loading troops on April 6 and set sail the following day. The Paul Jacobi and her sister ships, Bruno Heinemann and Theodor Riedel, each carried a company of mountain riflemen tasked with capturing the forts defending the entrance to Trondheimsfjord.

En route, the weather deteriorated so much that the Paul Jacobi listed so heavily to port that water flooded the port boiler intakes, temporarily stopping the port engine and washing five men overboard. After passing the forts, which were caught unawares, the ships were able to land troops and capture them without much difficulty. All the destroyers had been damaged in the storm and were short of fuel, as none of the oil tankers had yet arrived.

The Admiral Hipper was ordered home on April 10. Fuel was transferred from the Paul Jacobi and Bruno Heinemann to the Friedrich Eckoldt, enough to escort the cruiser home. The Paul Jacobi remained in Trondheim until early May due to engine problems.

During this time, the crew engaged in some rather unusual tasks. For example, they removed the torpedo tubes and installed them on a pair of moored small boats to strengthen the local defenses.

After returning to Germany in 1941, the ship was fitted with a FuMO 21 search radar, which was installed above the bridge.

On May 10, she arrived in Wilhelmshaven and underwent repairs for the next month. The Paul Jacobi returned to Trondheim on June 30 and helped cover the damaged battleship Gneisenau as it returned to Kiel on July 25.

"Paul Jacobi" in Trondheim

The ship laid a minefield in the North Sea, after which, in mid-September, it was transferred to the Atlantic coast of France. Based in Brest, the ship helped lay a minefield in Falmouth Sound on the night of September 28–29. This minefield sank five ships with a total tonnage of 2,026 GRT.

The Paul Jacobi returned to Wilhelmshaven for extensive repairs, which lasted until October 1941. While leaving Aarhus, Denmark, bound for Norway, the ship struck a buoy, damaged its port propeller, and was forced to return to Kiel for repairs, which lasted until November 24. After loading mines in Aarhus, the ship's boiler failed, forcing it to return to Germany.

In mid-January 1942, the destroyer escorted the battleship Tirpitz for several days as it sailed from the Baltic Sea to Trondheim.

Jacobi and Tirpitz

The Paul Jacobi, along with the other ships of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla, left Kiel for France on January 24 in preparation for the "Jump Across the English Channel." 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 Paul Jacobi rescued 34 survivors and headed to Le Havre to put them ashore, arriving in Brest on December 26.

On February 11, the German ships sailed from Brest, catching the British by surprise. The Jacobi helped repel an attack by five British destroyers and evaded a series of air attacks without damage. Shortly thereafter, the ship, along with four other destroyers, escorted the heavy cruisers Prinz Eugen and Admiral Scheer to Trondheim. Due to bad weather, the Paul Jacobi and two other destroyers were forced to return to port before reaching Trondheim, and the Prinz Eugen was seriously damaged by a British submarine.

On March 6, the battleship Tirpitz, accompanied by Jacobi and three other destroyers, put to sea to attack the returning convoy QP-8 and PQ-12, heading to Russia, as part of Operation Sports Palace, but the ship was ordered to return to port that evening.

Two months later, during Operation Magic Flute, the Paul Jacobi, the destroyer Z-25, and two torpedo boats escorted the heavily damaged heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen from Trondheim to Kiel from May 16 to 18. Two days after arriving, the destroyer underwent lengthy repairs that lasted until December.

On January 9, 1943, along with two other destroyers, she escorted the Scharnhorst and Prinz Eugen as they attempted to return to Norway from Gotenhafen. Two days later, the ships were spotted by a Royal Air Force aircraft, and the attempt was thwarted, as the element of surprise had been lost.

The following month, the Paul Jacobi reached Bogen Bay in Norway independently. In mid-March, it escorted the battleships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst, as well as the heavy cruiser Lützow, to Altafjord, located closer to the Allied convoy routes to Russia.

Two weeks later, the ship, her sister ship Z-6 Theodor Riedel, and the destroyer Z-20 Karl Galster departed for Jan Mayen Island on March 31 to rendezvous with the blockade runner MV Regensburg. They searched for it for several days until, due to an intensifying storm, they were forced to return to port with damage sustained during the storm. Unbeknownst to the Germans, the Regensburg had been intercepted and sunk by a British cruiser on March 30. The Paul Jacobi escorted the Lützow back to Kiel in September and began another lengthy overhaul on September 30.

The ship suffered serious damage during an air raid on Kiel on December 13. One bomb hit the forecastle and caused a massive fire, while four more landed in the drydock itself, piercing the hull with shrapnel and sinking the ship. The Paul Jacobi was not raised until April, and the repairs were completed in November. The ship had to be fitted with a new bow, its radar replaced with a FuMO 24 search radar, and its foremast rebuilt in a gate shape to allow the 6 by 2 meter antenna to rotate 360 ​​degrees.

A FuMO 63 K Hohentwiel radar replaced the searchlight on the platform aft of the rear funnel. After the destroyer was damaged again by bomb fragments on July 18, it was towed to Swinemünde for repairs. The Paul Jacobi was commissioned on November 13 and escorted the hospital ship SS General von Steuben from Gotenhafen to Swinemünde.

On December 20, new 37-mm guns were installed on the destroyer. On January 14, 1945, during torpedo exercises off the Swedish island of Gotland, one of the torpedoes veered and hit the Paul Jacobi, causing only minor damage. By the 19th, she was back in service and escorting ships in the eastern Baltic Sea. During one of these patrols, the ship was accidentally rammed in the stern by the cargo ship SS Helga Schröder. Repairs took until February 27, and repair crews took advantage of the opportunity to install additional anti-aircraft guns.

The Paul Jacobi bombarded Soviet forces advancing on East Prussia from March 6 to 9, and for the remainder of the war, alternated between bombing and escort missions as the Germans evacuated East Prussia under pressure from the advancing Soviet armies. On May 2, some of the crew disabled the gyrocompass to prevent the ship from escorting the last refugee convoys. Three sailors were court-martialed and sentenced to death by Rear Admiral Bernhard Rogge.

The Paul Jacobi was decommissioned in Flensburg on May 21 and, under British control, sailed to Wilhelmshaven, where its fate would be decided. Initially, France received none of the captured ships, but eventually received the Paul Jacobi and three other destroyers. It arrived in Cherbourg on January 15, 1946, and was handed over to the French on February 4.

On the same day, the ship was renamed "Désaix" in honor of General Louis Désaix and assigned to the 1st Destroyer Division. In September, she underwent trials. From March to June 1947, "Désaix"/"Jacobi" served as part of the escort for the battleship "Richelieu" when French President Vincent Auriol visited West and North Africa.

"Deze", formerly "Jacobi"

The Dezay sailed solo to North Africa later that year. In 1948, she took part in the spring naval maneuvers and the naval review at Auriol off Brest on May 30. The ship was present in Saint-Malo for the centenary of François-René de Chateaubriand's death and visited Bordeaux before returning to Cherbourg on November 4. The Dezay was decommissioned by the end of the year and placed in reserve in January 1949. She served as a spare parts yard until her decommissioning on February 17, 1954, and was sold for scrap in June. She was towed to Rouen for recycling.

Z-6 "Theodor Riedel"

Theodor Riedel was laid down on 9 January 1935 and launched at the DeSchiMAG shipyard in Bremen on 18 July 1935 under the yard number W900. She was launched on 22 April 1936 and completed on 2 July 1937. The ship participated in naval maneuvers in late 1937 and, during exercises with the 2nd Destroyer Division (2. Zerstörer-Division), ran aground on 8 June 1938 near Helgoland. The impact severely damaged the bottom, both propellers, and disabled the port turbine. The ship was towed to Wilhelmshaven for repairs, but the shipyard was unable to fully restore the turbine foundations and she developed problems with thrust bearings until a new turbine was installed in 1943.

Theodor Riedel participated in the August 1938 naval review as part of the 2nd Destroyer Division and in subsequent fleet exercises. In October, the division escorted the heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee on a voyage to the Mediterranean, where they visited Vigo, Tangier, and Ceuta before returning home. From February to August 1939, the destroyer underwent lengthy repairs in Wilhelmshaven.

With the outbreak of World War II, the destroyer, along with other ships, began laying defensive minefields. In October, she also patrolled the Skagerrak, inspecting neutral vessels for contraband. On the night of November 12–13, the ship, along with two sister ships, attempted to lay a minefield off the British coast, but was forced to turn back due to equipment failure on her and the Z-7 Hermann Schömann.

Theodor Riedel provided cover for another similar operation on the night of 10–11 February 1940. On 22 February 1940, Theodor Riedel and five other destroyers, Z-3 Max Schultz, Z-1 Leberecht Maass, Z-4 Richard Beitzen, Z-13 Erich Köllner, and Z-16 Friedrich Eckoldt, steamed to Dogger Bank to intercept British fishing vessels as part of Operation Vikinger.

The operation ended in failure, and the surviving ships returned to base.

The Theodor Riedel was then assigned to Group 2 to participate in the Norwegian portion of Operation Weserübung. The group's mission was to transport the 138th Mountain Rifle Regiment (Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 138 of the 3rd Mountain Division) to capture Trondheim, along with the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. The ships began loading troops on April 6 and set sail the following day. The Theodor Riedel and her sister ships, Z-8 Bruno Heinemann and Z-5 Paul Jacobi, each carried a company of mountain riflemen tasked with capturing the forts defending the entrance to Trondheimsfjord.

After passing the forts, which were caught unawares, the ships landed troops and captured them without much difficulty. All the destroyers had been damaged in the storm and were short of fuel, as none of the oil tankers had yet arrived. To protect the port after the departure of the Admiral Hipper, the Theodor Riedel ran aground on April 10 and began to serve as a stationary artillery and torpedo battery with its armament.

The following day, the battery was attacked by nine Swordfish torpedo bombers from 816 Squadron from the aircraft carrier HMS Furious. They were greatly surprised when their torpedoes exploded before reaching the ship, hitting sandy rocks. Ten days later, the destroyer was refloated and towed to Trondheim for repairs. There, she became the first German destroyer to receive a FuMO 21 search radar, and one torpedo tube was removed and installed on land near Agnes to strengthen local defenses. On June 7, the work was completed, and Theodor Riedel departed for Wilhelmshaven for overhaul.

The destroyer was then transferred to France, where it departed on September 9. Based in Brest, the ship laid a minefield in Falmouth Bay on the night of September 28–29, resulting in the sinking of five ships with a total displacement of 2026 gross tons.

The Theodor Riedel experienced problems with her port engine and departed for Wilhelmshaven for repairs on November 5, 1940. The ship was damaged by a practice torpedo hit and a boiler fire and remained under repair until August 9. Three days later, the Riedel departed for Norway but struck an unidentified reef, resulting in seven holes in the hull and the seizure of both propeller shafts. The destroyer was towed to Bergen for temporary repairs and then to Kiel, where repairs continued until May 10, 1942.

Theodor Riedel departed for Norway on June 11 and was one of four destroyers assigned to escort the battleship Tirpitz during Operation Knight's Move, the attack on Convoy PQ-17 bound for Russia. The ships departed Trondheim on July 2 to participate in the first phase of the operation, but three destroyers, including the Theodor Riedel, assigned to escort the Tirpitz, ran aground in darkness and dense fog and were forced to return to port for repairs. Due to damage sustained by the heavy cruiser Lützow during a grounding later that day, the operation was soon cancelled. The Theodor Riedel underwent temporary repairs in Trondheim and was towed back to Germany on July 25 for overhaul.

Battle of the Barents Sea

Z-6 "Theodor Riedel" in 1943

In December, the ship was again ready for combat and returned to Norway together with the cruiser Lützow to take part in Operation Regenbogen, an attempt to intercept Convoy JW-51B, which was en route from Great Britain to the Soviet Union in late December.

The convoy was spotted on the morning of December 31. The Theodor Riedel, Lützow, and two other destroyers were tasked with attacking the convoy, while Admiral Hipper and three other destroyers were to distract the convoy's escort. The Germans failed to exploit this success, sinking only one destroyer, a minesweeper, and damaging one merchant ship, while losing one of their own destroyers.

In early February 1943, the Theodor Riedel escorted the minelayer Brummer as it laid a minefield near Kildin Island in the Barents Sea. The Theodor Riedel then sailed to Trondheim for repairs, but on April 6, it nearly foundered when fuel mixed with water, causing it to lose propulsion. Only thanks to the timely arrival of a tugboat did it escape beaching.

In September, the ship took part in Operation Zitronella, delivering troops of the 349th Grenadier Regiment to destroy Norwegian targets on Spitsbergen Island, along with Tirpitz and the battleship Scharnhorst, accompanied by eight other destroyers.

After completing a major overhaul in June 1944, the destroyer returned to her previous duties in the Skagerrak, although another boiler room fire in August required lengthy repairs in Oslo. On November 18, the ship collided with a mole in Frederikshavn, Denmark, and was damaged.

On January 7, 1945, the ship recommissioned. The Theodor Riedel remained in southern Norway and Denmark until May 5, when the ships were ordered to the Baltic Sea to assist with the evacuation of the Hel Peninsula. After disembarking refugees in Copenhagen, she made another voyage to Hel and returned to Copenhagen on May 7. Three days later, the crew surrendered in Kiel.

Post-war service

In June 1945, the ship, under British control with a German crew on board, was repaired in Wilhelmshaven while its fate was being decided. In late 1945, it was handed over to Britain and sailed to Rosyth in mid-January. Meanwhile, France protested and was given the Théodore Riedel and three other destroyers. The ships were officially handed over in Cherbourg on February 4, 1946, and the Théodore Riedel was renamed the Kléber in honor of General Jean-Baptiste Kléber.

The Kléber underwent a brief refit from August 31 to September 10, then conducted a training cruise to Bordeaux from October 28 to December 21. During this cruise, on October 31, she rescued the crew of the coal steamer France-Hélène. In 1947, the ship was assigned to the 1st Large Destroyer Division (anti-destroyer) and received the hull number T03. At the end of that year, she escorted the submarine Doris to Londonderry, from where she was returned to the British in November.

The Kléber was reconstructed between 1948 and 1951: the bridge was widened, the light anti-aircraft armament was replaced with six single 40-millimeter Bofors guns, the fifth 127-millimeter gun was removed, and American radars were installed. On December 20, she departed Cherbourg for her new base in Toulon. As part of the 3rd Destroyer Division of the Mediterranean Fleet, the ship made numerous port calls in French North Africa over the next two years. The Kléber returned to Cherbourg in October 1953 and was placed in reserve on December 20. In 1957, the ship was inspected and found to be in very poor condition. On April 10, she was declared unserviceable and laid up as Q85 that same day. The following year, Q85 was scrapped.

Z-7 "Hermann Schoemann"

Z-7 "Hermann Schömann" was ordered on January 9, 1935 and laid down at the DeSchiMAG shipyard in Bremen on September 7, 1935, under the yard number W901. She was launched on July 16, 1936, and completed on September 9, 1937.

In late 1937, the ship participated in naval maneuvers as part of the 2nd Destroyer Division. In July 1938, Hermann Schomann hosted Adolf Hitler and his entourage on a short cruise from Kiel to Eckernförde, and also participated in the August naval review and subsequent fleet exercises. The division escorted the heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee on its voyage to the Mediterranean in October, where they visited Vigo, Tangier, and Ceuta before returning home. From February to October 1939, the destroyer underwent lengthy repairs in Wilhelmshaven.

In October, the Hermann Schömann patrolled the Skagerrak, inspecting neutral vessels for contraband. On the night of November 12–13, the ship, along with two sister ships, attempted to lay a minefield off the British coast, but was forced to turn back after its machinery and that of the Z-6 Theodor Riedel malfunctioned.

On the night of December 18, she made another attempt to mine the Humber estuary along with two other destroyers, but the German ships were forced to abort the sortie because they could not determine their position. On December 23, while patrolling the mouth of the Jade River, she collided with her sister ship Z-15 Erich Steinbrink in dense fog. Hermann Schömann participated in minelaying operations in January and February 1940, but spent most of March under repair due to equipment problems.

The ship was assigned to the 2nd Group to participate in the Norwegian portion of Operation Weserübung. The group's mission was to transport the 138th Mountain Regiment to capture Trondheim alongside the Admiral Hipper, but before loading the troops, the ship's engine broke down again and was replaced by the Friedrich Eckoldt.

As part of the Kriegsmarine's reorganization after Narvik, the ship was assigned to the 6th Destroyer Flotilla. In June, the flotilla was tasked with escorting the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, as well as the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, in Operation Juno, a planned attack on Harstad, Norway, to relieve pressure on the German garrison in Narvik. The ships sank a troop transport, a tanker, and a minesweeper. Due to bad weather, German commander Admiral Wilhelm Marschall then ordered Admiral Hipper and all four destroyers to proceed to Trondheim, where they arrived on the morning of June 9. The two battleships continued their sortie and sank the aircraft carrier Glóriès and two escorting destroyers, although the Scharnhorst was seriously damaged by a torpedo from the destroyer Acasta during the battle. The battleship was escorted home by the destroyers Steinbrink, Hans Lodi, and Hermann Schömann.

In July 1940, after completing repairs, the Schaumann was transferred to Kirkenes, Norway. However, continuing equipment problems forced her to return to Germany in August for repairs, which lasted until January 1941.

On January 24, the destroyer sailed from Kiel to France in preparation for the Channel crossing. 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. Survivors were put ashore in The Hague. The German ships set out on the evening of February 11, and the night and morning portions of the Channel crossing passed without incident. However, in the afternoon, the Hermann Schaumann twice repelled British motor torpedo boats, along with her sister ship, the Z-14 Friedrich Hein. The British aviation began actively attacking German ships. The Hermann Schömann was repeatedly hit in the stern by 20-mm shells fired by German Spitfires.

Shortly thereafter, Hermann Schomann, along with four other destroyers, escorted the heavy cruisers Prinz Eugen and Admiral Scheer to Trondheim. Due to bad weather, three of the destroyers were forced to return to port before reaching Trondheim, and Prinz Eugen was torpedoed and seriously damaged by the submarine HMS Trident on February 23 after the ships separated.

On March 6, the battleship Tirpitz, escorted by the Hermann Schömann and three other destroyers, departed Trondheim to attack the returning convoy QP-8 and PQ-12, bound for Russia, as part of Operation Sports Palace. The following morning, Ciliax ordered the destroyers to independently search for Allied ships, and later that day they encountered the Soviet freighter Izhora, which had fallen behind QP-8, and sank it. The Tirpitz soon joined the destroyers, and they continued their fruitless search for Allied ships until they sailed for Vestfjorden on the 9th.

Two days later, Hermann Schömann, along with the destroyers Z-24 and Z-25, sortied to intercept Convoy QP-14, but due to heavy snowfall and poor visibility, they were unable to locate the Allied ships. On April 30, the trio sortied again to intercept westbound Convoy QP-11 and the damaged light cruiser HMS Edinburgh, previously torpedoed by the German submarine U-456. The following day, they located the convoy but were only able to sink a Soviet freighter of 2847 GRT, as the four escorting destroyers repeatedly thwarted their attempts to approach the convoy.

Despite having considerable firepower, the Germans inflicted only minor damage on HMS Amazon during the day's fighting.

However, on the morning of May 2, the Germans spotted the Edinburgh and her escorts and closed in for a torpedo attack. The cruiser opened fire first and disabled the Hermann Schomann with her second salvo, hitting both engine rooms. The destroyer turned away and dropped smoke bombs to create a smoke screen behind which she could take cover. The damage was too severe to return to base, and as the crew prepared to abandon ship, the Hermann Schomann was attacked by British destroyers, which scored at least three hits. Z-24 and Z-25 rescued approximately 223 survivors, after which the ship was scuttled. Another 56 people were rescued by the submarine U-88 after the German destroyers broke off the engagement. During the battle, eight people were killed and another 45 were wounded.

Z-8 "Bruno Heinemann"

The ship was ordered on January 9, 1935, and laid down at the DeSchiMAG shipyard in Bremen on January 14, 1936, under the yard number W902. She was launched on September 15, 1936, and completed on January 8, 1937.

In April 1938, Bruno Heinemann sailed to Norway with her sister ship Z-5 Paul Jacobi to test the new 150mm TbtsK C/36 gun intended for later destroyer classes.

Bruno Heinemann was equipped with four new guns, but trials were unsuccessful, as they seriously impacted the destroyer's stability. The guns were removed after gunnery trials, and the issue was never revisited. The ship participated in the August 1938 naval review as part of the 6th Destroyer Division and in subsequent fleet exercises. In early 1939, she spent several months in the Baltic Sea to test whether reducing steam pressure would resolve some issues with her high-pressure steam plant.

When World War II began, the Bruno Heinemann was initially sent to the Baltic Sea to combat the Polish Navy and enforce the blockade of Poland. However, she was soon transferred to the German Bight, where she and her sister ships laid defensive minefields. The destroyer then patrolled the Skagerrak, inspecting neutral shipping for contraband. After completing a minor refit, the Bruno Heinemann and the Paul Jacobi headed for the Baltic via the Kiel Canal.

Although other Kriegsmarine destroyers were busy escorting German heavy ships and laying minefields off the British coast in October and November, Bruno Heinemann did not participate in any of these operations until the night of 12/13 December.

Under the command of Commodore Friedrich Bonte, his flagship, the Hermann Künne, the Bruno Heinemann, the Richard Beitzen, the Friedrich Ihn, and the Erich Steinbrink, laid 240 mines in the mouth of the River Tyne. The British were unaware of the minefield's existence and lost eleven ships, totaling 18,979 gross register tons. While retreating at high speed, the Bruno Heinemann caught fire in one of its engine rooms, forcing the ship to drift until the fire was extinguished.

Later, the destroyers were ordered to escort the damaged light cruisers Leipzig and Nürnberg, which had been 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 at the mouth of the Elbe. Two torpedoes hit the destroyer escort F9, which sank three minutes later, taking many lives, but the remaining torpedoes missed their target.

On the night of January 10–11, 1940, the ship, along with other ships, laid a minefield near Cromer. Three ships with a total displacement of 11,155 GRT were sunk in this minefield. The same ships made another sortie in the same area on the night of February 9–10 and laid another 157 mines, which sank three ships with a total displacement of 11,855 GRT.

The Bruno Heinemann was assigned to Group 2 to participate in the Norwegian portion of Operation Weserübung. The group's mission was to transport the 138th Mountain Regiment to capture Trondheim, along with the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper.

The ships began loading troops on April 6 and set out to sea the following day. The Bruno Heinemann and its sister ships, the Paul Jacobi and Theodor Riedel, each took on a company of mountain riflemen, tasked with capturing the forts defending the entrance to Trondheimsfjord. After passing the forts, which were caught by surprise, the ships disembarked the troops and captured them without difficulty. All the destroyers had been damaged in a storm and were short of fuel, as none of the oil tankers had yet arrived.

The Admiral Hipper received orders to return home on April 10. Fuel was transferred from the Bruno Heinemann and Paul Jacobi to the Friedrich Eckoldt, supposedly enough to provide the heavy cruiser with anti-submarine protection. However, even this amount proved insufficient, so the Friedrich Eckoldt was ordered to return to port that same night.

Two days later, enough fuel was found in Trondheim for the Friedrich Eckoldt and Bruno Heinemann to set sail on April 14, and they reached Germany without incident the following day. Sometime between 1939 and 1941, the ship was fitted with a FuMO 21 or FuMO 24 radar, mounted above the bridge.

On the nights of April 29–30 and May 9–10, 1940, the ship escorted a group of minelayers near the Great Fisherman's Bank, but during her second sortie, she was detected by British destroyers and turned back. The Bruno Heinemann then underwent lengthy repairs that same month, and by November she was still not ready for combat.

On April 5, 1941, the Bruno Heinemann departed Germany for occupied France. The Heinemann and other destroyers escorted merchant ships, blockade runners, and large warships until they were recalled on September 6 for further repairs.

It appears that it was at this time that the Bruno Heinemann was fitted with a four-barrel 20mm anti-aircraft gun on the aft superstructure, replacing the pair of 20mm guns originally mounted there.

In mid-January 1942, the Bruno Heinemann escorted the battleship Tirpitz as it sailed from the Baltic Sea to Trondheim. Along with the rest of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla, the Bruno Heinemann departed Kiel on January 24, bound for France in preparation for Operation Challenge Dash.

On the evening of January 25, the Bruno Heinemann struck two mines laid by HMS Plover off the coast of Belgium. The first mine exploded under the ship, destroying boiler rooms No. 2 and No. 3, and the second, shortly thereafter, tore off the ship's bow. Ninety-eight crew members were killed: 93 drowned, and another five, who were among the 234 initially rescued, died of their wounds.

Z-9 Wolfgang Zenker

The ship was ordered on 9 January 1935 and laid down at the Germania shipyard in Kiel on 22 March 1935 under the yard number G535. She was launched on 27 March 1936 and completed on 2 July 1938.

The Wolfgang Zenker participated in the August 1938 parade as part of the 6th Destroyer Division and in subsequent naval exercises. On the morning of September 3, 1939, after the outbreak of World War II, the destroyers Leberecht Maass and Wolfgang Zenker, under the command of Rear Admiral Günther Lütjens, attacked the Polish destroyer Wicher and the minelayer Griff, anchored at the naval base on the Hel Peninsula. The German ships opened fire from a range of 12,700 meters. The Polish ships, as well as a coastal battery with 150 mm guns, returned fire, forcing the German destroyers to take evasive action and lay a smoke screen to confuse the Polish gunners. A 150mm shell struck the Leberecht Maass, killing four men and disabling one gun. Forty minutes later, Admiral Lütjens ordered a ceasefire, as the German fire was ineffective.

The Wolfgang Zenker did not participate in any further operations until the night of January 10–11, 1940, when she laid a minefield off Cromer with the Bruno Heinemann and Erich Kellner. This minefield sank three ships with a total displacement of 11,155 gross register tons (GRT). The same three destroyers made another sortie in the same area on the night of February 9–10 and laid 157 mines, which sank three more ships with a total displacement of 11,855 GRT.

The Wolfgang Zenker was assigned to the 1st Group to participate in the Norwegian portion of Operation Weserübung. The group's mission was to transport the 139th Mountain Regiment and the headquarters of the 3rd Mountain Division to capture Narvik. The ships began loading troops on April 6 and set sail the following day. Early on the morning of April 9, when three ships of the 4th Flotilla, under the command of Captain Erich Bey, arrived in Ofotfjord west of Narvik, they were ordered to land troops in Herjangsfjord (the northern branch of the Ofotfjord) to seize the Norwegian army arsenal at Elvegardsmoen. The troops encountered virtually no resistance, but the landing was slow due to the single wooden pier.

Shortly before dawn on April 10, five destroyers of the British 2nd Flotilla surprised German ships in Narvik harbor. They torpedoed two destroyers and seriously damaged three others, while sustaining only minor damage. As they retreated, they encountered three destroyers of the 4th Flotilla, which had been alerted when the British launched their attack. The Germans opened fire first, but due to fog and the smoke screen created by the British as they retreated down Ofotfjord, both sides' gunfire was ineffective. The German ships were forced to turn away to avoid a salvo of three torpedoes fired by one of the destroyers in Narvik. Commander Bey's two other ships were nearly out of fuel and all three were running low on ammunition, so he decided not to continue pursuing the British ships as they were attacked by the last two destroyers of the first group.

On the afternoon of April 10, Commander Bey was ordered to return to Germany with all combat-ready ships. Only the Wolfgang Zenker and her sister ship, the Erich Giese, were ready to sail. They left Ofotfjord and turned south. Visibility was good that evening, and they spotted the light cruiser HMS Penelope and two escorting destroyers. Commander Bey decided to turn back, although the British had not spotted his ships. The three other destroyers refueled and completed repairs on April 11, but Bey decided not to make another breakout attempt, despite the fog and poor visibility that night. The destroyer had damaged its port propeller, reducing its speed to 20 knots.

That night, he received a message that an attack by British capital ships, escorted by a large number of destroyers and supported by carrier-based aircraft, was expected the following day. The Wolfgang Zenker was still undergoing repairs, although its torpedo and shell reserves had been replenished from the damaged destroyers. On April 13, as expected, the battleship HMS Warspite and nine destroyers appeared, but they arrived earlier than Commander Bey had expected, again catching the Germans off guard.

Zenker in Norway

Five combat-ready destroyers, including the Wolfgang Zenker, left Narvik harbor and engaged the British ships. No hits were scored, but several destroyers sustained shrapnel damage. The Wolfgang Zenker managed to launch a torpedo attack on the Warspite before it was driven off, but all torpedoes missed their target. 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 Wolfgang Zenker expended all its ammunition and was driven aground at the mouth of the fjord. The crew planted explosives and abandoned ship. By the time the British reached the ship, it had already capsized and was sinking, gradually filling with water.

Z-10 "Hans Lodi"

Z-10 "Hans Lodi" was ordered on August 4, 1934, and laid down at the Germaniawerft shipyard in Kiel on April 1, 1935, under the yard number G536. She was launched on May 14, 1936, and completed on September 13, 1938.

When World War II began in September 1939, Hans Lodi was initially sent to the Baltic Sea to fight the Polish Navy and blockade Polish ports, but was soon transferred to the Heligoland Bight, where she and her sister ships participated in laying defensive minefields.

On September 4, while loading mines, one exploded on board the Hans Lodi, killing two crew members, injuring six more, and slightly damaging the ship's stern. The ship later patrolled the Skagerrak, inspecting neutral vessels for contraband.

On the night of 18–19 November 1939, the Erich Steinbrink, Friedrich Eckoldt and Hans Lodi laid a minefield off the Humber Estuary, resulting in the loss of seven more ships with a total displacement of 38,710 gross register tons, including the Polish ocean liner MS Piłsudski of 14,294 tons.

On the morning of December 6, Hans Lodi, along with Erich Giese and Berndt von Arnim, left port to lay a minefield near Cromer. The latter ship experienced serious boiler problems and was ordered to return to port, while the other two destroyers continued their mission. As they approached their destination, the Germans spotted several ships in blackout mode. It was a detachment of British destroyers, including the destroyers Juno and Jersey.

The two German destroyers, having laid their mines, began to withdraw, but at that moment the British ships reappeared. When the range closed to 4600 meters, Lodi launched three torpedoes at Juno, the lead British ship, and Giza launched four at Jersey. None of Lodi's torpedoes hit their target, but one of Giza's torpedoes struck Jersey near the aft torpedo launcher. The torpedo exploded in the fuel compartment, causing a massive fire.

Neither British ship spotted the German destroyers, and they continued on their way while Juno turned to assist her sister ship. The minefield laid by the destroyers sank two British ships, with a combined displacement of 5286 GRT. Hans Lodi entered Wesermünde for repairs on December 9, and her construction was not completed until May 22, 1940.

In June, Hans Lodi was assigned to escort the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, as well as the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, during Operation Juno, an attack on Harstad in Norway to relieve pressure on the German garrison in Narvik. On June 8, the ships put to sea and sank the transport ship Orama, the oil tanker Oil Pioneer, and the minesweeper Juniper, with Hans Lodi responsible for the transport and tanker.

The Hans Lodi rescues survivors from the transport SS Orama, June 8, 1940. The bow of the sinking ship is visible above the water behind the destroyer.

Due to bad weather, German commander Admiral Wilhelm Marschall then ordered Admiral Hipper and all four destroyers to proceed to Trondheim, where they arrived on the morning of June 9. The two battleships continued their sortie and sank the aircraft carrier Glóriès and two escorting destroyers, although Scharnhorst was damaged by a torpedo from the destroyer Acasta. Hans Lodi, among others, escorted the battleship home. The destroyer was then lightly damaged during an air raid on June 13, but returned to service within a week. She managed to return to Norway to cover the damaged Gneisenau and escort the battleship to Kiel on July 25.

"Lodi" removed from the Gneisenau boat

Then, in September, the Hans Lodi transferred to France in preparation for Operation Sea Lion, the planned invasion of Great Britain. The ship, based in Brest, helped lay a minefield in Falmouth Sound on the night of September 28–29. Five ships with a total tonnage of 2,026 GRT were sunk in this minefield.

During a Royal Air Force air raid on Brest on October 10, the Hans Lodi suffered minor damage from bomb fragments and ground attack aircraft shells. Two crew members were killed and seven were wounded.

On October 17, Hans Lodi and four other destroyers intercepted a British force of two light cruisers and five destroyers during a sortie to the Southwest Approaches. The British opened fire at extreme range and were forced to retreat under a barrage of torpedoes, cannon fire, and timely arrival of Luftwaffe bombers, without scoring any hits on the German ships.

On the night of November 24–25, the Hans Lodi and the destroyers Richard Beitzen 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 with little success. The German ships then spotted a small convoy and sank one of the three merchant ships, damaging another. The muzzle 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 enemy around 06:30 AM on November 29. The Germans opened fire first, each destroyer launching four torpedoes, two of which from the Hans Lodi hit their target, the British destroyer HMS Javelin. The torpedoes struck the ship in the bow and stern, but the British managed to tow it home. The Hans Lodi was hit twice by 40mm shells, but there were no casualties. On December 5, the ship returned home for repairs in Wesermünde, which lasted until April 1941.

From May 19–22, 1941, Hans Lodi escorted the battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen from Cape Arkona to Trondheim as they entered the North Atlantic. The following month, Hans Lodi escorted the heavy cruiser Lützow from Kiel to Norway as it attempted to break the British blockade. Several Beaufort aircraft spotted the Lützow and its escorting ships, and one managed to torpedo the cruiser early on the morning of June 13, forcing it to return to Germany for repairs.

In July, the Hans Lodi was sent to Kirkenes, Norway. As part of the 6th Destroyer Flotilla, it participated in a patrol on July 12–13, during which two small Soviet ships were sunk, expending 80% of its ammunition. The ship's participation in another patrol on July 22 had to be cancelled due to problems with a condenser. When the British aircraft carriers Victorious and Furious attacked Petsamo and Kirkenes on July 29, the destroyers were far to the east and were unable to catch the British ships before they left the area. On August 9, German destroyers entered Kola Bay and sank one small Soviet patrol vessel, the patrol ship Tuman.

The German flotilla was then assigned to escort convoys between Tromsø and Kirkenes. During one such mission, the submarine Trident sank two troop-laden transports, Bahia Laura and Donau II, despite the presence of destroyers. The Hans Lodi dropped several depth charges on the Trident, but to no avail, and rescued 38 survivors from the two ships.

After completing repairs, the Lodi escorted the Lützow on its voyage to Trondheim from 15 to 20 May 1942, and laid a minefield in the Skagerrak along the way.

Lodi was one of four destroyers assigned to escort the battleship Tirpitz during Operation Knight's Move, the attack on Convoy PQ-17 bound for Russia. The ships departed Trondheim on July 2 to participate in the first phase of the operation. However, three destroyers, including Hans Lodi, assigned to the Tirpitz escort, ran aground in darkness and dense fog and were forced to return to port for repairs. After temporary repairs, Lodi was towed back to Kiel on July 25 for overhaul.

By 1943, the ship received a FuMO 21 search radar. During sea trials on February 15, 1943, a fire broke out in the engine room. Repairs were not completed until April 22, after which the ship returned to Norway. In September, the ship participated in Operation Zitronella, transporting troops of the 349th Grenadier Regiment of the 230th Infantry Division to destroy Norwegian targets on Spitsbergen Island, along with the Tirpitz and the battleship Scharnhorst, accompanied by eight other destroyers.

Hans Lodi and other ships spent the next six months in southern Norway, laying minefields at the entrance to the Skagerrak Strait and escorting convoys to and from Norway. In late April 1944, the ship was ordered to Kiel for lengthy repairs, which lasted until February 1945. Sometime in 1944, the ship's radar was replaced with a FuMO 24 search radar, and its foremast was rebuilt into a goalpost shape to provide a 6-by-2-meter (20 x 6 ft) 36-degree antenna rotation.

A FuMO 63 K Hohentwiel radar replaced the searchlight on the platform aft of the rear funnel. Following the modifications, the ship was assigned to escort convoys in the Skagerrak Strait on April 5. A month later, the Hans Lodi departed Copenhagen to pick up refugees on the Hela Peninsula in East Prussia. There were approximately 1500 people on board when the ship returned to port on May 7. The following day, the ship departed for Kiel and was decommissioned on May 9.

The following day, the Royal Navy took control of the ship and transported it to Wilhelmshaven, where it remained until the Allies decided on the fate of the captured ships. In late 1945, the ship was handed over to the United Kingdom and arrived in Portsmouth on January 7, 1946, where it was assigned the hull number R38, later H40. Until October 1949, the ship was used to familiarize the British with high-pressure boilers, and then became a floating barracks in Southampton. Hans Lodi arrived in Sunderland by tug on July 17, 1949, for scrapping.

Z-11 "Bernd von Arnim"

The ship was ordered on 4 August 1934 and laid down at the Germania shipyard in Kiel on 26 March 1935 under the yard number G537. She was launched on 8 July 1936 and completed on 6 July 1938.

When World War II began in September 1939, the Bernd von Arnim was initially sent to the Baltic Sea to combat the Polish Navy and enforce the blockade of Poland. However, it was soon transferred to the Heligoland Bight, where it and its sister ships helped lay defensive minefields. The ship also patrolled the Skagerrak, inspecting neutral shipping for contraband.

Bernd von Arnim, along with other destroyers, took part in the minelaying operation off the British coast in November, when Bernd von Arnim, Hermann Künne and Wilhelm Heidkamp laid some 180 magnetic mines in the centre of the Thames Estuary on the night of 17–18 November.

The destroyer HMS Gipsy, one trawler, and seven other vessels with a total displacement of 27,565 gross register tons were sunk in this minefield. Four days later, the Bernd von Arnim was among the destroyers escorting the battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst through the North Sea to the North Atlantic.

Along with her sister ships Hans Lodi and Erich Giese, Bernd von Arnim was scheduled to lay a minefield off Cromer on the night of December 6–7, but developed problems with two boilers and had to be shut down. The ship was ordered to return to port, while the other two destroyers continued their mission.

Norwegian Campaign

Bernd von Arnim was assigned to Group 1 to participate in 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.

The loading of troops onto the ships began on April 6, and they set out to sea the following day. The Bernd von Arnim was spotted by the British destroyer HMS Glowworm during a storm on the morning of April 8, and after laying a smoke screen, the Bernd von Arnim turned northwest at full speed. The German ship suffered damage while maneuvering in heavy seas at 35 knots and was forced to reduce speed to 27 knots after two crew members fell overboard.

The British destroyer was better suited to these conditions and began to approach the Bernd von Arnim. The Bernd von Arnim's commander turned his ship northeast, closer to the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. The ships exchanged fire ineffectively for an hour, until the Hipper closed within firing range and soon sank the Glowworm.

On the morning of April 9, German destroyers reached Ofotfjord, and Commodore Friedrich Bonte led his flagship, the Wilhelm Heidkamp, ​​along with the Bernd von Arnim and the Georg Thiele, down the fjord to Narvik. Heavy snowfall allowed the von Arnim and Thiele to enter the harbor unhindered and moor at the pier. Mountain troops immediately began landing, but a few minutes later the ship was spotted by the coastal defense ship Norge. The latter immediately opened fire, firing approximately 13 shells from a range of 600–800 meters (660–870 yards) before the von Arnim launched seven torpedoes. Only two torpedoes hit the Norwegian ship, but they detonated her ammunition, causing the ship to capsize and sink. Despite the short range, none of the Norwegian shells hit the German destroyers due to the darkness and falling snow. The Von Arnim launched lifeboats to rescue the surviving Norwegian sailors and managed to lift 96 of them on board.

The Von Arnim and the Thiele were the first to replenish their fuel supplies from the only tanker that safely reached Narvik. Shortly before dawn on April 10, five destroyers of the British 2nd Flotilla surprised the German ships in Narvik harbor. They torpedoed two destroyers and seriously damaged three more, while suffering only minor damage. As they retreated, they encountered three destroyers of the 4th Flotilla, which had been alerted in Herjansfjord when the British launched their attack. The Germans opened fire first, but due to fog and the smoke screen the British had laid while retreating down Ofotfjord, both sides were ineffective. The German ships were forced to turn away to avoid a salvo of three torpedoes fired by one of the destroyers in Narvik. "Von Arnim" and "Thile" also went into battle with the British.

Two German destroyers crossed the British flotilla's T-shaped formation and were able to fire a full broadside from a range of just 4000 meters. They first attacked the British flagship, HMS Hardy, causing serious damage. Both of her forward guns were disabled, and her forward superstructure caught fire. The HMS Hardy was forced to beach itself to avoid sinking, and the German ships switched fire to the HMS Havoc, the next ship in line. Their fire was relatively ineffective, and both sides launched torpedoes without scoring a single hit.

The Havoc withdrew. This brought the destroyer Hunter forward, and she was quickly set ablaze by the German ships. The Thiele likely hit her with a torpedo, but the main damage to the Hunter occurred when the destroyer Hotspur rammed into her. Hotspur managed to disengage, but the Hunter soon sank. The three remaining British ships managed to escape the Germans under cover of a smoke screen. The Von Arnim was hit five times by British shells, which disabled one boiler. By the morning of April 13, the damage had been repaired, and the ship had received six torpedoes from the badly damaged destroyers.

Berndt von Arnim in Rombaksfjord

On the night of April 12, Erich Bey, the senior surviving German officer, received a message that an attack by British capital ships, escorted by a large number of destroyers and supported by carrier-based aircraft, was expected the following day. On April 13, as expected, the battleship Warspite and nine destroyers appeared, but they arrived earlier than Commander Bey had expected, catching the Germans by surprise.

Five combat-ready destroyers, including the Bernd von Arnim, left Narvik harbor and engaged the British ships. Although no hits were scored, several destroyers sustained shrapnel damage. The ship managed to launch a torpedo attack on the British destroyers before being driven off, but all the torpedoes missed their targets. 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 Von Arnim expended all its ammunition and ran aground at the head of the fjord. The crew planted explosives and abandoned ship. By the time the British reached the ship, it had already rolled onto its side in the shallow water. The ship's crew joined the German troops on shore and participated in the campaign.

Z-12 "Erich Giese"

The ship was ordered on 4 August 1934 and laid down at the Germania shipyard in Kiel on 3 May 1935 under the yard number G538. She was launched on 12 March 1937 and completed on 4 March 1939.

When World War II began, Erich Giese was deployed to Heligoland Bight, where she and her sister ships helped lay defensive minefields. The ship also patrolled the Skagerrak, inspecting neutral shipping for contraband. On the night of November 12–13, the ship attempted to lay a minefield off the British coast, but was forced to turn back to escort her destroyers, Theodor Riedel and Hermann Schömann, back to Germany when their machinery failed. Eight days later, she was among the destroyers escorting the battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst through the North Sea to the North Atlantic.

Under the command of Fregattenkapitän Erich Bey and his flagship, the Hans Lodi, the Erich Giese, and the Bernd von Arnim left port on the morning of December 6 to lay a minefield near Cromer. The latter ship experienced serious boiler problems and was ordered to return to port late in the evening, while the other two ships continued their mission.

As they approached their destination, the Germans spotted several ships in blackout mode. It was a detachment of British destroyers, including the destroyers Juno and Jersey.

The two German destroyers, having laid their mines, began to withdraw, but at that moment the British ships reappeared. When the range closed to 4600 meters, Lodi launched three torpedoes at Juno, the lead British ship, and Giza launched four at Jersey. None of Lodi's torpedoes hit their target, but one of Giza's torpedoes struck Jersey near the aft torpedo launcher. The torpedo exploded in the fuel compartment, causing a massive fire.

Neither British ship spotted the German destroyers, and they continued on their way. Juno turned to assist her sister ship. Two British ships, with a combined displacement of 5286 GRT, were sunk in the minefield laid by the destroyers.

The Erich Giese was then assigned to the 1st Group to participate in the Norwegian portion of Operation Weserübung. The group's mission was to transport the 139th Mountain Regiment and the headquarters of the 3rd Mountain Division to capture Narvik. The ships began loading troops on April 6 and set sail the following day. The Erich Giese lagged behind the ships of the 1st Group due to oil leaks, equipment failures, and the use of contaminated fuel oil.

He fell further behind when Korvettenkapitän Karl Schmidt turned the ship around to rescue a soldier who had been washed overboard. The destroyer had nearly exhausted its usable fuel by then and was forced to slow down to conserve it. Arriving at its destination on April 9, the ship landed troops in Herjangsfjord (the northern branch of Ofotfjord) to reinforce those already there and seize the Norwegian army arsenal at Elvegardsmoen. Later that day, the Erich Giese headed for Narvik harbor but did not have time to refuel before being ordered to return to Herjangsfjord well before dawn, along with its sister ships, the Wolfgang Zenker and the Erich Köllner.

Shortly before dawn on April 10, five destroyers of the British 2nd Destroyer Flotilla surprised German ships in Narvik harbor. They torpedoed two destroyers and seriously damaged three more, suffering only minor damage. As they retreated, they encountered three destroyers of the German 4th Destroyer Flotilla, which had been alerted when the British launched their attack. The Germans opened fire first, but due to the fog and smoke created by the British retreating down Ofotfjord, both sides' gunfire was ineffective. The Giese and Kellner were nearly out of fuel and ammunition, so Commander Bey decided not to continue pursuing the British ships.

On the afternoon of April 10, Commander Bey was ordered to return to Germany with all combat-ready ships. Only the Erich Giese and the Wolfgang Zenker were ready to sail. They left Ofotfjord and turned south. Visibility was good that night, and they spotted the British light cruiser Penelope and two escorting destroyers. Commander Bey decided to turn back, although the British had not spotted his ships.

Three other destroyers refueled and completed repairs on April 11, but despite fog and poor visibility that night, Bey decided against another breakout attempt. On the night of April 12–13, Bey made no breakout attempt, possibly because two destroyers had been damaged earlier that day when they ran aground.

That night he received a message that an attack by British capital ships, accompanied by a large number of destroyers and supported by carrier-based aircraft, was expected the following day.

The Erich Giese reported that she could only reach 28 knots, but had a full complement of torpedoes transferred from damaged ships. On April 13, the battleship Warspite and nine destroyers, as expected, approached Narvik, albeit earlier than Commander Bey had expected, and caught the Germans by surprise.

Five combat-ready destroyers left Narvik harbor and engaged the British ships. The Giese, unable to reach sufficient speed to participate in the battle, remained in the harbor.

The Erich Giese attempted to leave the harbor after the British drove off the German ships, but its port engine seized and it became stuck at the harbor entrance. Meanwhile, the destroyers Punjab and Bedouin approached the Giese and launched five torpedoes at the Giese. All of them missed, though the Giese's torpedoes were equally inaccurate.

The Giza's gunners hit the Punjab six or seven times with their guns. The Germans' 127mm shells repeatedly penetrated the ship's hull just above the waterline, disabling the fire control system, severing the main steam line, and starting several fires. Casualties aboard the Punjab amounted to seven killed and 14 wounded.

Meanwhile, the Giza's engine was repaired and it moved forward at 12 knots to engage the remaining British destroyers. The Bedouin closed to point-blank range and received a German shell to its forward gun turret, disabling the gun mount. The Giza itself was hit at least 20 times and was reduced to a blazing hulk, sinking shortly before midnight.

The Erich Giese burns under fire from British destroyers.

Eighty-three crew members were killed in the battle, while the destroyer Foxhound rescued 11, two of whom later died of their wounds. The surviving crew members later testified that they were machine-gunned at close range while adrift. This was particularly outrageous, as just three days earlier, the Giese had done everything possible to rescue the Hunter's crew. The remaining crew members somehow managed to reach shore.

Z-13 "Erich Kölner"

The ship was ordered on 10 November 1934 and laid down at the Germania shipyard in Kiel on 12 October 1935 under the yard number G539. She was launched on 18 March 1937 and completed on 28 August 1939. Erich Köllner was still undergoing sea trials when World War II began and did not enter service until early January 1940, when she was assigned to the 8th Destroyer Division.

Commissioning of the Kriegsmarine

On the night of January 11–12, the Erich Köllner and her sister ships, the Bruno Heinemann and Wolfgang Zenker, laid a minefield off Cromer, resulting in the sinking of three ships with a combined tonnage of 11,153 GRT. The same three ships laid 157 mines off Hayesborough Sands near Cromer on the night of February 9–10. This minefield sank three ships with a combined tonnage of 11,885 GRT.

The ship was then assigned to the 1st Group to participate in the Norwegian portion of Operation Weserübung. The group's mission was to transport the 139th Mountain Regiment and the headquarters of the 3rd Mountain Division to capture Narvik.

The ships began loading troops on April 6 and set sail the following day. En route, the Erich Köllner encountered a storm and lost two men who were washed overboard. Early in the morning of April 9, when the destroyers arrived in Ofotfjord west of Narvik, three ships of the 4th Flotilla, under the command of Captain Second Rank Erich Bey, were ordered to land troops in Herjangsfjord (the northern branch of the Ofotfjord) to seize the Norwegian army depot at Elvegårdsmoen. Later that day, the Köllner departed for Narvik harbor but did not have time to refuel before being ordered to return to Herjangsfjord well before dawn, along with the ships Wolfgang Zenker and Erich Giese.

On April 10, five destroyers of the British 2nd Destroyer Flotilla attacked German ships in Narvik harbor. They torpedoed two destroyers and seriously damaged three more, while sustaining only minor damage. As they retreated, they encountered three destroyers of the German 4th Destroyer Flotilla, which had been alerted when the British launched their attack. The Germans opened fire first, but due to fog and the smoke screen created by the British as they retreated down Ofotfjord, both sides' gunfire was ineffective.

With Giese and Kölner running low on fuel and ammunition, Commander Bey decided not to continue pursuing the British ships as they were attacked by the last two destroyers of the first group.

On the afternoon of April 10, Commander Bey was ordered to return to Germany with all combat-ready ships, but the Kölner required more time for refueling and repairs. These were completed the following day, and that evening the ship was ordered to patrol the mouth of Ofotfjord. Shortly before midnight, the Kölner ran aground and began taking on water through the damaged hull. On the morning of April 12, she returned to Narvik.

The Köllner was beyond repair with the Germans' available resources, so it was sent to Torstad, in the Ramnes Strait at the mouth of Ofotfjord, to serve as a floating battery in case of a British attack. Torstad was too shallow to use torpedoes, so they were removed and transferred to its sister ships, the Bernd von Arnim and the Theodor Riedel. Most of the fuel was also transferred, and 90 unneeded personnel were disembarked.

On April 13, the battleship Warspite and nine destroyers did indeed appear, though earlier than Commander Bey expected. The Kölner had been unable to reach Thorstad, and the ship's captain decided to anchor near Djupvik on the southern side of the fjord. As the British ships approached, the Kölner was spotted by lookouts from the Warspite, and the British destroyers rounded the cape behind which the Kölner was hiding. The distance was about 2500 meters, so the three British ships were able to even use automatic guidance. weaponTo silence the German ship's guns, the British set the Kölner on fire and torpedoed off its bow. Thirty-one crew members were killed, 34 wounded, and none of the British ships suffered any damage.

The Erich Köllner was sunk by an explosion in the engine room. After the battle, 155 of the ship's crew were captured by Norwegian forces.

Z-14 "Friedrich Ihn"

Friedrich Ihn, arguably one of the most successful German destroyers, named after the commander of the torpedo boat S35, who died in the Battle of Jutland in 1916, was ordered from Blohm & Voss on January 19, 1935. She was laid down at their shipyard in Hamburg on May 30, 1935, under the yard number B503, launched on November 5, 1935, and completed on April 6, 1938.

It's worth noting that the ship underwent several modernizations during the war, with particular attention paid to its light anti-aircraft armament. In April 1941, the original C/30 guns were replaced with improved 20mm C/38 cannons, and three additional guns were added. At some point in 1942, the two guns on the aft deck were replaced with a single 20mm Flakvierling quadruple mount. In 1944–1945, Friedrich Ihn underwent a partial modernization to install the Barbara anti-aircraft armament, during which the single 20mm cannons were replaced with twin mounts, bringing the total number of 20mm cannons to eighteen, which was generally above average by world standards.

The ship participated in the fleet review in August 1938 as part of the 3rd Destroyer Division. On March 23–24, 1939, Friedrich Ihn was one of the destroyers that escorted Adolf Hitler aboard the heavy cruiser Deutschland when the Germans occupied Memel. She participated in the fleet's spring exercises in the western Mediterranean and made several port calls in Spain and Morocco in April and May.

When World War II began, Friedrich Ihn was initially sent to the Baltic Sea to combat the Polish Navy, but was soon transferred from the Baltic to help lay defensive minefields. In October, she also patrolled the Skagerrak, inspecting neutral shipping. In early November, the ship was scheduled to participate in a minelaying operation off the coast of Great Britain, but it was cancelled due to equipment problems on one of the other destroyers involved.

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, the Hermann Künne, Friedrich Ihn, Bruno Heinemann, Richard Beitzen, and Erich Steinbrink laid 240 mines in the mouth of the River Tyne. The British, unaware of the minefield's existence, lost eleven ships with a total displacement of 18,979 gross register tons (GRT).

A torpedo launch from the Ina. The cruiser Emden is in the background.

The destroyers were then ordered to escort the damaged light cruisers Leipzig and Nürnberg, which were torpedoed by the submarine HMS Salmon while covering the destroyers' retreat. The Inn and Steinbrink experienced equipment problems en route and were forced to return to port before reaching the cruisers.

The Inn and her sister ships Eckoldt and Steinbrink then set out to lay mines, but bad weather and the British navigation lights at Orfordness being switched off forced the Germans to abandon their attempt to lay the minefield in the right place, as they could not pinpoint their position.

Another minefield of 170 magnetic mines was laid by the Inn, Eckoldt, and Steinbrink on the night of January 6–7, 1940, near the Thames Estuary. The destroyer HMS Grenville and six merchant ships with a total displacement of 21,617 GRT were destroyed in this minefield, and another ship was damaged.

On the night of January 10–11, a destroyer sortie was launched to lay mines near Newcastle, consisting of the In, Heidkamp, ​​Eckoldt, Schmitt, Beitzen, and Galster. The In developed boiler problems, reducing its maximum speed to 27 knots, and the Beitzen was sent to escort the In back. Only one fishing trawler, a 251-ton vessel, was destroyed in the minefield.

The In was under repair during Operation Weserübung in April and only left the shipyard in May, when operations in Norway ended, and was transferred to the Atlantic coast of France in early September.

On the night of September 28–29, a flotilla based in Brest laid a minefield in Falmouth Bay. Five ships with a total tonnage of 2,026 GRT were sunk in this minefield.

On October 17, In and four other destroyers put to sea to attack ships in the Southwest Approaches and were intercepted by a British force of two light cruisers and five destroyers, which had similar intentions. The forces exchanged cannon and torpedo fire, but neither achieved any success.

The In was then primarily engaged in escorting raiders, warships, and supply vessels returning through the Bay of Biscay to bases in France. Among them were the raider Thor, the supply ship Nordland, and the refueller Ermland, which became history World War II. The heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen was also escorted to Brest in early June after being separated from the battleship Bismarck during Operation Rheinübung. Prinz Eugen proved to be the luckier ship. The Inch departed for repairs in Germany in mid-1941.

After completing repairs, the ship remained in German waters until the end of the year. In February 1942, she was sent to Brest to escort the battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, as well as the Prinz Eugen, across the English Channel back to Germany (Operation Cerberus). During the voyage, the Inch twice engaged British torpedo bombers and shot down two Fairey Swordfish.

"In" and "Gneisenau"

Shortly thereafter, the ship, along with four other destroyers, escorted the Prinz Eugen and the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer to Trondheim, Norway. Due to bad weather, the In and the other two destroyers were forced to return to port before reaching Trondheim, and the Prinz Eugen was seriously damaged by a British submarine after becoming separated from the convoy.

This campaign, perhaps, became a good illustration of the Kriegsmarine’s capabilities in terms of dependence on bad weather.

On March 6, the battleship Tirpitz, accompanied by Ina and three other destroyers, put to sea to attack the returning convoy QP-8 and PQ-12, heading to the USSR, as part of Operation Sportpalast (Sports Palace).

That night, the weather worsened, and the In sustained damage to her bridge and forward gun mount due to high waves. The next morning, Admiral Otto Ciliax, commanding the operation, ordered the destroyers to independently search for Allied ships, and they encountered the Soviet freighter Izhora and sank it.

Izhora under fire from German destroyers

Soon after, the Tirpitz joined them, and Ciliax ordered the In to Harstad to refuel. In the morning, the destroyer returned to the battleship and managed to shoot down one of the five Albacore torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier Victorious, which had unsuccessfully attacked the German ships.

In May, the Inn was assigned to escort the Tirpitz during Operation Knight's Move, the attack on Convoy PQ-17 bound for the Soviet Union. The ships departed Trondheim on July 2 to participate in the first phase of the operation, although all three other destroyers assigned to the Tirpitz escort ran aground in darkness and dense fog and were forced to return to port for repairs.
The liquor Tirpitz, the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, and the In arrived in Altafjord on July 4, but were recalled shortly after setting out on July 5 and never engaged the Allied ships. On July 12, the In escorted the Galster, one of the grounded destroyers, back to Germany.

The Inn also underwent repairs and remained in the Baltic Sea until the end of 1942. On January 9, 1943, along with two other destroyers, she escorted the Scharnhorst and Prinz Eugen as they attempted to return to Norway from Gotenhafen. Two days later, the ships were spotted by a Royal Air Force aircraft, and the attempt was thwarted, as the element of surprise had been lost.

"In" in the fjord

Another attempt was made in March, but only with the Scharnhorst, and on March 7, the In joined its escort off Kristiansen, Norway. Due to bad weather, the destroyer was forced to call at Bergen, although the battleship reached Trondheim. The In was transferred to Narvik at the end of April, but a lack of fuel severely limited its capabilities in the Arctic. In November, it was ordered to return to port for lengthy repairs, which lasted until June 1944. For the rest of the year, it was based in Horten, Norway, where it escorted convoys and laid mines, primarily in the Skagerrak Strait.

In November, the ship underwent a brief refit in Swinemünde, during which its anti-aircraft armament was upgraded, before returning to Horten, where it remained until May 1945. On May 5, the Ihn sailed from Denmark to Hela, where it took on refugees, delivering them to Copenhagen the following day. It immediately turned around and returned to Hela for more cargo, which it delivered to Glücksburg, Germany, on the 8th. It surrendered in Flensburg the following day.

The post-war period

In the summer, the ship was transferred to Wilhelmshaven under British control while the victorious Allies decided who would take possession of the surviving warships. While the debate raged, the ships were moderately repaired by small repair crews to preserve their value.

The Allied Tripartite Commission handed the In over to the Soviet Union in late 1945. By then, it was experiencing problems with its boilers, and the British offered to exchange the destroyer for the Theodore Reidel, so as not to keep the Soviets waiting for the ship to be repaired. Our side refused, and the In was repaired more quickly than expected, with additional boiler spare parts loaded on board as a bonus.

The ship was accepted into the Soviet Navy under the name "Prytkiy" and served in the Baltic Fleet until March 22, 1952, when it was removed from the fleet lists and sold for scrap.

Z-15 "Erich Steinbrink"

The Erich Steinbrink was ordered from Blohm & Voss on January 19, 1935. She was laid down at their Hamburg shipyard on May 30, 1935, under the yard number B504, launched on September 24, 1936, and completed on May 31, 1938.

The ship participated in the fleet review in August 1938 as part of the 3rd Destroyer Division. In April and May 1939, she participated in the fleet's spring exercises in the western Mediterranean and made several port calls in Spain and Morocco.

When World War II began, Erich Steinbrink was initially sent to the Baltic Sea to combat the Polish fleet and enforce the blockade of Poland, but was soon transferred to Germany, where she and her sister ships helped lay defensive minefields. In October, the destroyer patrolled the Skagerrak, inspecting neutral shipping for contraband.

On the night of 18-19 November, the Steinbrink, along with her sister ships, the Friedrich Eckoldt and Hans Lodi, went to the mouth of the Humber to lay mines, as a result of which seven ships with a total displacement of 38,710 gross register tons were lost, including the Polish ocean liner Pilsudski.

On the night of December 12–13, German destroyers put to sea to lay minefields off the British coast. The Hermann Künne, Erich Steinbrink, Bruno Heinemann, Richard Beitzen, and Friedrich Ihn laid 240 mines near the mouth of the River Tyne. The British were unaware of the minefield's existence and lost eleven ships with a total tonnage of 18,979 GRT.

The destroyers were later ordered to escort the damaged light cruisers Leipzig and Nürnberg, which had been torpedoed by the submarine HMS Salmon. During the operation to cover their withdrawal, the Inne and Steinbrink encountered technical problems and were forced to return to port before reaching the cruisers. The Steinbrink and her sister ships, Eckoldt and Inne, put to sea again on the night of December 18, but the British turned off the navigation lights at Orfordness, forcing the Germans to abandon their attempt to lay a minefield in the correct location, as they were unable to pinpoint their position.

Another minefield of 170 magnetic mines was laid by the Steinbrink, In, and Eckoldt on the night of January 6–7, 1940, in the Thames Estuary. The destroyer HMS Grenville and six merchant ships with a total tonnage of 21,617 GRT were sunk in this minefield, and another ship was damaged.

The Erich Steinbrink was undergoing repairs during Operation Weserübung in April and did not leave the shipyard until May. Work was interrupted to escort the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, as well as the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, which were participating in Operation Juno, the planned attack on Harstad, Norway, to relieve pressure on the German garrison in Narvik.

The group's ships sank the troop transport Orama, the oil tanker Pioneer, and the minesweeper Juniper. The German commander then ordered the Admiral Hipper and four destroyers to head for Trondheim due to heavy weather, arriving on the morning of June 9. The two battleships continued their sortie and sank the aircraft carrier Glóriès and two escorting destroyers. However, the Scharnhorst was seriously damaged by a torpedo hit from the destroyer Akata, and the destroyers Steinbrink, Lodi, and Schoeman escorted the battleship for repairs. Steinbrink and Lodi then returned to Trondheim to escort the Gneisenau home after it was torpedoed by a British submarine.

In August and early September, the flotilla laid defensive minefields in the North Sea, and in mid-September it was transferred to the Atlantic coast of France. Now based in Brest, the flotilla laid a minefield in Falmouth Bay on the night of September 28–29. Five ships with a total tonnage of 2,026 GRT were sunk in this minefield.

On October 17, Steinbrink and four other destroyers set out to sea in the Southwest Approaches and were intercepted by a British force of two light cruisers and five destroyers. The British opened fire from extreme range but, without hitting any of the German ships, were driven off by Luftwaffe aircraft. Steinbrink returned home on November 7 for repairs in Stettin.

Repairs were completed in late January 1941, but the ship was unable to reach Gotenhafen until mid-February due to ice conditions. Steinbrink returned to France in April and was based at La Pallice. There, she primarily escorted merchant ships, warships, and supply vessels returning through the Bay of Biscay to bases in France.

By late summer, the Steinbrink was in dire need of repairs, suffering from boiler problems, but the repairs were postponed so she could escort the raider Orion on August 21. The departure was delayed when the Erich Steinbrink ran aground early the following month, and she only departed for Germany on September 6. In 1941, the destroyer received a FuMO 21 search radar installed above the bridge.

The Erich Steinbrink briefly operated in northern Norway, and in August, she participated in Operation Wunderland, during which she and her sister ships, Ekoldt and Beitzen, escorted the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer at the beginning and end of her mission to attack Soviet shipping in the Kara Sea. They also escorted the minelayer Ulm when she set out to lay a minefield off Mys Zhelaniya in mid-August.

The Steinbrink ran aground in early September and was sent home after temporary repairs in Trondheim. In January 1943, the ship returned to Norway, where it sustained minor damage from a practice torpedo fired by the submarine U-703. In early March, it escorted the Scharnhorst through the Skagerrak to Trondheim amid a severe storm, which resulted in two men being washed overboard.

In September, the ship participated in Operation Zitronella, transporting troops of the 349th Grenadier Regiment to destroy Norwegian targets on Spitsbergen Island, along with the battleships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst, escorted by eight destroyers. After the landing, the Erich Steinbrink bombarded targets on the island until its fire main ruptured from the shock wave, flooding one of its compartments.

Steinbrink and two other destroyers escorted the pocket battleship Lützow back to Germany in September and returned to Narvik. On November 25, the destroyer was ordered to return to Germany for major repairs, but that same night, she accidentally collided with a small Norwegian steamship. The collision severely damaged the ship's bow, forcing her to slowly make her way to Trondheim for emergency repairs. The destroyer then underwent temporary repairs in Oslo and departed for Germany on December 18.

Following the completion of repairs on January 18, 1944, Steinbrink and her sister ship Theodor Riedel spent the first half of the year laying minefields at the entrance to the Skagerrak Strait and escorting convoys to and from Norway. In March 1944, the ship was upgraded with a FuMO 24 search radar in place of the FuMO 21, and her foremast was reconfigured to a "gate" shape, allowing the 6-by-2-meter antenna to rotate 360 ​​degrees. A FuMO 63 K Hohentwiel radar replaced the searchlight on the platform aft of the after funnel.

On May 3, the ship passed through the Kiel Canal to Hamburg for lengthy repairs. On June 18, while the ship was at the shipyard, a bomb hit the diesel generator room. Despite the damage, the shipyard reported that repairs would be completed on schedule on November 20.

On November 4, another bomb exploded near the Steinbrink, causing severe flooding. The destroyer was patched and towed to Wesermünde for more extensive repairs, but completion was significantly delayed. By April 1, 1945, only one engine remained operational, and the Kriegsmarine command decided to transfer the crew ashore for combat missions after the ship was transferred to Cuxhaven. She was still there when the Germans surrendered in May.

The post-war period

That summer, the ship was transported to Wilhelmshaven under British supervision while the victorious Allies decided who would receive the surviving warships. While the debate raged, the ships were repaired by a small repair crew to preserve their value. The Allied Tripartite Commission handed Steinbrink over to the Soviet Union in late 1945, and on January 2, 1946, the ship departed for Libau. She was commissioned into the Soviet Navy under the name Pylkiy and remained in service with the Soviet Navy until 1948. Renamed PKZ-2, she served as a floating barracks until February 19, 1958, when she was decommissioned. On April 18, 1958, Pylkiy/Erich Steinbrink was sold for scrap and subsequently broken up.

Z-16 "Friedrich Eckoldt"

The ship was ordered on 19 January 1935 and laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg on 4 November 1935 under the yard number B505. She was launched on 21 March 1937 and completed on 28 July 1938.

Friedrich Eckoldt participated in the August 1938 parade as part of the 3rd Destroyer Division. On March 23–24, 1939, Z-16 Friedrich Eckoldt was one of the destroyers that escorted Adolf Hitler aboard the heavy cruiser Deutschland during the occupation of Memel. In April and May, she participated in the fleet's spring exercises in the western Mediterranean and made several port visits to Spain and Morocco.

When World War II began, the Friedrich Eckoldt was initially sent to the Baltic Sea to combat the Polish Navy, but was soon transferred to Germany, where she and her sister ships laid defensive minefields. The Friedrich Eckoldt also patrolled the Skagerrak, inspecting neutral shipping for contraband.

On the night of October 17–18, Rear Admiral Günther Lütjens, aboard his flagship Z-21 Wilhelm Heidkamp, ​​commanded the destroyers Eckoldt, Künne, von Roeder, Lüdemann, and Galster, which were laying a minefield in the mouth of the Humber River. The British, unaware of the minefield's existence, lost seven ships with a total tonnage of 25,825 GRT. On the night of November 18–19, Eckoldt and Lodi, led by Commander Bey on the flagship Erich Steinbrink, laid another minefield near the mouth of the Humber, resulting in the loss of seven more ships with a total tonnage of 38,710 GRT, including a Polish ocean liner of 14,294 GRT.

Another minefield of 170 magnetic mines was laid by the Eckoldt, In, and Steinbrink on the night of January 6–7, 1940, in the Thames Estuary. The destroyer HMS Grenville and six merchant ships with a total tonnage of 21,617 GRT were sunk in this minefield, and another ship was damaged.

Commodore Friedrich Bonte led the minelaying operation off Newcastle, using the ships Heidkamp, ​​Eckoldt, Schmitt, Beitzen, Galster, and Inn. The latter ship suffered a boiler failure, reducing its maximum speed to 27 knots, and had to be escorted back to Germany under the protection of Beitzen. Overall, however, the operation was unsuccessful: only one fishing trawler, a 251-ton vessel, was destroyed in the minefield.

On 9–10 February, the Eckoldt, Beitzen and Schultz laid 110 magnetic mines in the Shipwash area off Harwich, sinking six ships with a total tonnage of 28,496 GRT and damaging one.

Eckoldt was the flagship during Operation Vikinger, the attempt to capture British fishing trawlers operating off Dogger Bank on February 22. Two German destroyers sank, taking many lives: one struck newly laid British mines in a supposedly unmined channel, and the other was mistakenly attacked by the Luftwaffe.

Friedrich Eckoldt was assigned to Group 2 to participate in the Norwegian portion of Operation Weserübung. The group's mission was to transport the 138th Mountain Regiment to capture Trondheim in conjunction with the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. The ships began loading troops on April 6 and set sail the following day. Shortly after Eckoldt passed the mouth of the Elbe River, her port propeller shaft began to overheat, forcing her to reduce speed. The crew repaired the malfunction, and later that day, the destroyer rejoined the main fleet.

The Friedrich Eckoldt escorted the Admiral Hipper as it entered Trondheimsfjord, and both ships landed troops in Trondheim harbor. After the crossing, all the German ships were nearly out of fuel, and fuel oil was transferred to the Eckoldt from the Theodor Riedel and Heinemann.

The Admiral Hipper and the Eckoldt attempted to set sail on the night of April 10, but the smaller ship was unable to match the Admiral Hipper's speed in heavy seas and was forced to turn back. After some fuel was discovered in Trondheim on April 12, the Eckoldt and Heinemann departed for Germany two days later.

After completing repairs in early September (at which time the ship was fitted with a FuMO 21 or FuMO 24 radar above the bridge), Ekoldt was transferred to France on September 9 along with the four destroyers that survived Narvik. On the night of September 28–29, the ship provided cover for five other destroyers laying mines in Falmouth Sound. Five ships with a total displacement of 2,026 GRT were sunk in this minefield.

On November 5, the Friedrich Eckoldt returned to Hamburg, where she underwent repairs until the end of December. From May 19 to 22, the Friedrich Eckoldt escorted the battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen from Cape Arkona to Trondheim on their voyage into the North Atlantic. The following month, she escorted the heavy cruiser Lützow from Kiel to Norway as it attempted to break the British blockade. Several Bristol Beaufort aircraft spotted the Lützow and its escorts and managed to surprise the German crews, hitting the Lützow with two torpedoes early on the morning of June 13. The Eckoldt took the Lützow in tow until she was able to restart her starboard engine and proceed under her own power.

On June 20, Ekoldt, along with Galster and Schönemann, departed for Bergen, Norway, where they remained until July 4, when Beitzen and Lodi arrived. All five destroyers arrived in Kirkenes on July 10. On July 12, they set out on their first anti-submarine patrol but made no discoveries until the following night. A small Soviet convoy was spotted, and two of its ships were sunk after the Germans expended four-fifths of their ammunition. As the German ships returned to port, they were attacked by several aircraft, one of which, according to Ekoldt, was shot down.

The second patrol took place on July 22, but only one Soviet ship was sunk, while the German ships escaped several air attacks. When the British aircraft carriers Victorious and Furious attacked Petsamo and Kirkenes on July 29, the destroyers were far to the east and were unable to catch the British ships before they left the area.

The German destroyers made their final sortie into the Kola Bay, where they sank one small Soviet patrol vessel, the patrol ship Tuman. The Ekoldt was damaged by a single aerial bomb, which struck the ship and disabled its steering gear and starboard engine. The damage was temporarily repaired, but the Ekoldt was ordered to Narvik for more extensive repairs.

After its completion, the ship remained in the Arctic escorting convoys. On October 12, it was accidentally rammed by a Norwegian cargo ship in Tromsø. On October 22, the Ekoldt underwent temporary repairs in a floating dock in Trondheim, after which it was sent to Kiel for more extensive repairs, arriving on November 9.

The Ekoldt completed repairs and maintenance on April 15, 1942, and underwent training until it departed for Norway on June 11. En route, it experienced further engine problems and was forced to return for repairs. On July 9, the ship arrived in Trondheim, escorting the light cruiser Köln. En route, both ships laid mines at the entrance to the Skagerrak Strait. The Ekoldt continued on its way, arriving in Narvik on July 18.

During Operation Wunderland in August, Ekoldt, Beitzen, and Steinbrink escorted the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer at the beginning and end of its mission to attack Soviet shipping in the Kara Sea. They also escorted the minelayer Ulm when it set out to lay a minefield off Mys Zhelaniya in mid-August. From October 13-15, Ekoldt, Beitzen, and the destroyers Z-27 and Z-30 laid a minefield off the Kanin Peninsula at the mouth of the White Sea, which sank the Soviet icebreaker Mikoyan. Three weeks later, the same four destroyers escorted Admiral Hipper when it attempted to intercept Allied merchant ships heading independently for Soviet ports in early November.

Battle of the Barents Sea

During Operation Regenbogen, the attempt to intercept Convoy JW-51B en route from Britain to the Soviet Union in late December, Eckoldt, Beitzen, and Z-29 escorted Admiral Hipper while she distracted the convoy's escorts while Lützow and three other destroyers attacked the convoy.

Three destroyers separated from the Hipper to locate the convoy, and succeeded 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. The Obdureit turned back to the convoy without sustaining any damage, and the German ships did not pursue, having been ordered to join the Hipper.

The Germans discovered the minesweeper HMS Bramble, which had been detached from the convoy to search for stragglers. Destroyers were ordered to sink it while the Hipper engaged the convoy's escorting destroyers. Due to poor visibility, this took some time, and in the meantime, the Hipper was caught off guard by the British light cruisers Sheffield and Jamaica, which were covering the convoy.

After the sinking of the Bramble, the German destroyers Eckoldt and Beitzen attempted to catch up with the Hipper, unaware that British cruisers were in the area. They mistook the Sheffield for the Hipper and closed to within 4000 meters. The Germans were unpleasantly surprised when the Sheffield opened fire on the nearest destroyer, which turned out to be the Eckoldt, with all guns. The Eckoldt split in two and sank with all hands in less than two minutes. The Beitzen was able to escape.

Conclusion

If you look at German destroyers and compare their combat history with Japanese ones, you'll immediately notice that, although they fought just as hard as their Japanese counterparts, the intensity of the battles was a couple of levels lower.

Specifically, these Project 1934A destroyers fought until the end of the war, and five of the 12 survived. Many Japanese destroyer classes failed to achieve this.

The issue, of course, is not the level of training of Japanese sailors, which was no worse than the Germans, but how the war was conducted in the northern seas, where Kriegsmarine destroyers primarily operated, and in the Pacific Ocean, where Japan fought the United States.

Essentially, the destroyers of both countries performed roughly the same functions: patrol duty, escorting convoys, escorting large-class warships, and landing operations.

Of the 7 sunken German destroyers, 1 was blown up by a mine, the rest perished from artillery Fire and torpedoes from surface ships. Their Japanese counterparts, as they say, "have a wide range of options": from mines, submarine torpedoes, surface ships, and air strikes. Especially from aircraft, despite the fact that Japanese Kagero-class destroyers by 1944 were armed with up to 28 25mm anti-aircraft guns, while German destroyers had fewer than 20 20mm guns.

Of course, this primarily indicates that the intensity of the war in the North was not the same as in the South, and the Germans were less active, despite their fleet facing the British. Furthermore, the German fleet had a relative ally in the Luftwaffe, and although German pilots were adept at hitting their own, the British suffered more often.

Overall, Germany's war against Britain in the north was more like a local get-together than the grand battles in the Pacific and Indian Oceans between Japan and the United States.

However, this doesn't make the Project 1934A destroyers weak ships. Yes, they were inferior in many ways to Japanese ships, which were faster and had more powerful armament, and their range significantly exceeded that of German destroyers. The destroyers that began to be developed in the Third Reich were essentially, so to speak, medium-class ships at first. However, operations without them somehow proved unwinnable for the heavy German ships.

The Bismarck and Scharnhorst, acting alone, sank, and the Admiral Scheer's success was more than questionable. But the lack of experience among the German admirals likely played a role here. This has nothing to do with the technical aspects of the destroyers, especially since the Project 1934A destroyers generally performed quite well.

These were versatile ships, capable of laying mines, landing troops, protecting other ships, and engaging in combat with their peers. Their downsides were their short range and the need for frequent refueling, necessitated by the need to use some of their fuel oil as ballast. Their anti-submarine warfare was also not very high-quality. The only saving grace was that British submarines were reluctant to sail through the Norwegian skerries, and elsewhere, encountering German destroyers was a major challenge.

But these ships became a kind of stepping stone on the way to the more advanced ships of the 1936 series, which were truly very modern and technologically advanced ships.

I express my deepest gratitude to Eugen Renck/Fachmann for trawling the Bundesarchiv for photos of German ships. Without his help, such a magnificent collection of photographs simply would not have been possible.

Comments

[Grossvater]

A staukale, a short keel with a shallow wedge-shaped cross-section, was installed under their beams,

1. Probably still under the transom, i.e. under the stern;
2. The German word "staukiel" is pronounced as "shtaukil".

[knn54]

-and fight with classmates.
Project 1936A destroyers could also fight light cruisers.
- the intensity of the war in the North was not the same as in the South,
However, half of the destroyers have been lost in the Arctic since 1940.

[Civil]

It's worth noting that Wagner, Benson, and Telefunken (radar) companies are still around. Excellent text! The photos are fantastic!

[Luminman]

Quote: Civil

Telefunken

Telefunken has long since given up the ghost. This brand is simply applied by the Chinese to their products, as well as Grundig and many others...

[Civil]

Quote: Luminman

Quote: Civil

Telefunken

Telefunken has long since given up the ghost. This brand is simply applied by the Chinese to their products, as well as Grundig and many others...

1. Today, Telefunken exists as a licensed brand. The rights to it belong to TELEFUNKEN Licenses GmbH, which is registered in Frankfurt am Main.

[Grossvater]

but during operation it became clear that the ships had too large an upper part,

What do you mean? Maybe not "upper part," but "upper weight"? Especially since we're talking about stability.

[Grossvater]

Z-9 Wolfgang Zenker

Zenker, in German the letter "Z" is pronounced like a very hard "Ts." "Wolfgang Zenker"

[Grossvater]

And not a word about the adventures with boiler systems. Unreliable, capricious, and incredibly sensitive to water quality.

[Non-fighter]

The article has not been proofread.
Bloopers:

Plus, the 1943 series included complex and capricious boilers.

maybe from the 1934 series?

Mine railings were installed on the rear deck.

not handrails but rails!

The Type 1934A destroyers were equipped with an analog fire control system with a C/34Z conductor on the bridge roof.

Maybe the director?

The Hermann Schoemann was repeatedly hit in the stern by 20mm shells fired by German Spitfires.

A question for boiler specialists: TWO types of boilers were installed, one with a steam output 1,5 times weaker than the other. How did this work, and were there any problems due to this?

[Macsen_wledig]

Quote: Not the fighter

A question for boiler specialists: TWO types of boilers were installed, one with a steam output 1,5 times weaker than the other. How did this work, and were there any problems due to this?

Everything went well there...
Eight destroyers (Z 1-Z 8) were equipped with Wagner boilers, and eight (Z 9 - Z 16) with Benson boilers.
Six boilers: two "small" and four "large".
The total steam capacity of the "Wangners" is 314 tons of steam, and of the "Bensons" - 310 tons of steam, so we are not talking about 1,5 times.

[Macsen_wledig]

Quote: Not the fighter

What about the turbines? What steam characteristics were they optimized for?

The turbine characteristics were optimized for their boiler type.
Nominally, the 1934 and 34A types used turbo units of the Wagner active-reactive system, but the destroyers with Wagner boilers had turbine units developed by Deshimag, and those with Bensons had turbine units developed by Blohm und Voss.
It is necessary to look separately at the exact differences in the design of the TZA of different companies.

[Grancer81]

Very interesting bloopers.
The conductor controls the fire control system...
There's a whole orchestra there!!!
Anchor mines roll along the railings....

[Skamar]

Thank you! The series about German destroyers is no less captivating than the one about Japanese ones.

[Grossvater]

Quote: Not the fighter

A question for boiler specialists: TWO types of boilers were installed, one with a steam output 1,5 times weaker than the other. How did this work, and were there any problems due to this?

There were problems with boilers in general. For those interested in the topic, I recommend reading: Patyanin and Morozov: "German Destroyers of World War II. Demons of Naval Battles," Moscow, "Yauza," "Collection," "Eksmo," 2007. Also, for those interested in boiler-related topics: Gavrilov, "Ship Power Plants," Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Kamchatka State Technical University, 2003.

[Grancer81]

And in 1995, a publication entitled "German Destroyers in Battle" was released. E. Granovsky, M. Morozov. From the "Anthology of War at Sea" series.
There were also publications in the almanac "Breeze".

[dragon772]

Long article, but interesting!

[Macsen_wledig]

The destroyers that began to be developed in the Third Reich were essentially, so to speak, medium-class ships at first. However, operations without their participation somehow proved unwinnable for the heavy German ships.
The Bismarck and Scharnhorst, acting alone, sank, and the Admiral Scheer's success was more than dubious. But the lack of experience among the German admirals likely played a role here.

The author, in his usual manner, confuses warm with soft. :)
How would the destroyers have helped the Bismarck if, under the most ideal conditions, they could only escort it and the Prinz Eugen as far as the northern tip of Iceland?
As for the Scharnhorst, we will never get answers to the question "Why did Führer der Zerstörer flee from his destroyers?"
According to the Scheer raid (I think we are talking about the Wundnrland), the destroyers' operational range would have been sufficient to reach approximately the northern tip of Novaya Zemlya: then either home or one end...

[Grossvater]

Quote: Macsen_Wledig

As for the Scharnhorst, we will never get answers to the question "Why did Führer der Zerstörer flee from his destroyers?"

Wasn't there a storm there too? The speed of light vessels (especially German ones) dropped sharply in such conditions. So he escaped.

[Macsen_wledig]

Quote: Grossvater

So there was a storm there too, wasn't there?

According to the report of the commander of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla, Rolf Johannesson, the storm was a nuisance, but nothing more.

Quote: Grossvater

The speed of light ships (especially German ones) dropped sharply in such conditions.

The destroyers maintained squadron speed without any problems.

Quote: Grossvater

Here he ran away.

Everything is more interesting there.
The German destroyers were sailing in a frontal formation to the southwest, followed by the Scharnhorst. At approximately 08:00, from Z-31 they saw how the battleship, without any warning, turned to the east and almost immediately disappeared in a snowstorm.