German destroyer Z12 Erich Giese

	Her sister ship Z5 Paul Jakobi c. 1938
History
Nazi Germany
Name	Z12 Erich Giese
Namesake	Erich Giese
Ordered	9 January 1935
Builder	Germania, Kiel
Yard number	G538
Laid down	3 May 1935
Launched	12 March 1937
Completed	4 March 1939
Fate	Sunk, 13 April 1940
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Type 1934A-class destroyer
Displacement	2,171 long tons (2,206 t) (standard); 3,190 long tons (3,240 t) ( deep load);
Length	119 m (390 ft 5 in) o/a; 114 m (374 ft 0 in) w/l;
Beam	11.30 m (37 ft 1 in)
Draft	4.23 m (13 ft 11 in)
Installed power	70,000 kW; 69,000 shp); 6 × water-tube boilers;
Propulsion	2 shafts, 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range	1,530 nmi (2,830 km; 1,760 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Complement	325
Armament	5 × single 12.7 cm (5 in) guns; 2 × twin AA guns; 6 × single 2 cm (0.8 in) AA guns; 2 × quadruple 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes; 60 mines; 32–64 depth charges, 4 throwers and 6 individual racks;

Z12 Erich Giese was a

Norwegian Campaign, Erich Giese fought in both naval Battles of Narvik

in mid-April 1940 and was sunk by British destroyers during the Second Battle of Narvik.

Design and description

Erich Giese had an

ballast low in the ship.^[2] The effective range proved to be only 1,530 nmi (2,830 km; 1,760 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).^[3]

Erich Giese carried five

2 cm C/30 guns in single mounts. The ship carried eight above-water 53.3-centimeter (21.0 in) torpedo tubes in two power-operated mounts. A pair of reload torpedoes were provided for each mount.^[1]^[4] Four depth charge throwers were mounted on the sides of the rear deckhouse and they were supplemented by six racks for individual depth charges on the sides of the stern. Enough depth charges were carried for either two or four patterns of 16 charges each.^[5] Mine rails could be fitted on the rear deck that had a maximum capacity of 60 mines.^[1] 'GHG' (German: Gruppenhorchgerät) passive hydrophones were fitted to detect submarines.^[6]

Construction and career

The ship was ordered on 4 August 1934 and

minefield off the British coast on the night of 12/13 November, but had to turn back to escort her consorts, Theodor Riedel and Hermann Schoemann, back to Germany when they suffered machinery breakdowns.^[11] Eight days later, she was one of the destroyers escorting the battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst through the North Sea to break out into the North Atlantic.^[9]

Led by

Gross Register Tons were sunk by this minefield.^[14] Giese was refitted at the Germaniawerft shipyard after her return on 8 December.^[9]

The ship was allocated to Group 1 for the Norwegian portion of

armory at Elvegårdsmoen. Later in the day, Erich Giese moved to Narvik harbor, but was not able to refuel before she was ordered to return to the Herjangsfjord well before dawn together with her sisters Wolfgang Zenker and Erich Koellner.^[17]

Shortly before dawn on 10 April, the five destroyers of the British 2nd Destroyer Flotilla surprised the German ships in Narvik harbor. They torpedoed two destroyers and badly damaged the other three while suffering only minor damage themselves. As they were beginning to withdraw they encountered the three destroyers of the German 4th Flotilla which had been alerted when the British began their attack. The Germans opened fire first, but the gunnery for both sides was not effective due to the mist and the smoke screen laid by the British as they retreated down the Ofotfjord. The German ships had to turn away to avoid a salvo of three torpedoes fired by one of the destroyers in Narvik. Giese and Koellner were very low on fuel and all three were running low on ammunition, so Commander Bey decided not to continue the pursuit of the British ships since they were being engaged by the last two destroyers of Group 1.^[18]

Commander Bey was ordered during the afternoon of 10 April to return to Germany with all seaworthy ships that evening. Only Erich Giese and Wolfgang Zenker were ready for sea and they slipped out of the Ofotfjord and turned south. Visibility was good that night and they spotted the light cruiser HMS Penelope and her two escorting destroyers and Commander Bey decided to turn back even though his ships had not been spotted by the British. Three other destroyers refuelled and completed their repairs on 11 April, but Bey decided against another breakout attempt despite the fog and poor visibility that night. Bey made no attempt to break out during the night of 12/13 April, possibly because two of the destroyers had been damaged earlier in the day when they ran aground.^[19]

That night he received word to expect an attack the following day by British capital ships escorted by a large number of destroyers and supported by carrier aircraft. Erich Giese reported that she was only capable of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph), although her torpedoes had been replenished from the damaged destroyers. The battleship HMS Warspite and nine destroyers duly appeared on 13 April, although earlier than Commander Bey had expected, and caught the Germans out of position. The five operable destroyers, not including Giese, charged out of Narvik harbor and engaged the British ships. The ship did not have enough steam raised to participate and remained in the harbor. She attempted to leave the harbor after the British had driven off the other German ships, but her port engine seized up and left her almost dead in the water at the mouth of the harbor. While attempting to repair her engine, Giese was approached by the destroyers HMS Punjabi and HMS Bedouin which fired five torpedoes at her. All of them missed and Giese's torpedoes were equally unsuccessful. She did hit Punjabi with six or seven 12.7 cm shells which holed the ship several times just above the waterline, wrecked her fire-control system, severed her main steam line and started several fires. Casualties aboard Punjabi were seven killed and 14 wounded. In the meantime, Giese had managed to repair her engine after ten minutes of work and limped forward at her maximum speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) to engage the remaining British destroyers. Bedouin closed to point-blank range and had her forward gun turret knocked out by Giese, but the latter was hit at least 20 times and reduced to a blazing wreck that finally sank shortly before midnight. Eighty-three of her crew were killed outright during the battle, but the destroyer HMS Foxhound did rescue 11 men, two of whom subsequently died of their wounds. Surviving crew members later testified that they had been machine-gunned at close range while drifting in the water, an action which was considered especially shocking as the Geise had done so much only three days previously to rescue members of Hunter's ship's company.^[20]^[21] The ship's remaining crewmen managed to get ashore one way or another.^[22]^{[Note 1]}

In 2011, a 150 kilograms (330 lb) bronze Reichsadler was salvaged from the wreck of Giese, in order to be displayed at the War Museum in Narvik. The ship's bell from Giese was removed by looters in the 1960s, as were the Reichsadler from the nine other German destroyers sunk at Narvik.^[24]

Notes

^ Koop and Schmolke say 87 dead as do Hildebrand, Röhr and Steinmetz^[9]^[23]

Footnotes

^ ^a ^b ^c Gröner, p. 199
^ Whitley, p. 18
^ Koop and Schmolke, p. 26
^ Whitley, p. 68
^ Whitley, p. 215
^ Whitley, pp. 71–72
^ Whitley, p. 204
^ Hildebrand, Röhr and Steinmetz, p. 65
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Koop and Schmolke, p. 91
^ Rohwer, pp. 2–3, 5, 7
^ Whitley, p. 87
^ Whitley, pp. 89–90
^ ^a ^b Whitley, p. 90
^ Rohwer, p. 11
^ Whitley, p. 96
^ Koop and Schmolke, pp. 91–92
^ Haarr, pp. 331–32, 335
^ Haarr, pp. 339–43
^ Haarr, pp. 354–56
^ Av Kommandorkaptein Marcus Einarson Osen, The Naval Battles of Narvik, published by Norsk Tidsskrift for Sjovesen, 2003. ISBN 82-92217-05-3. p. 27.
^ Alfred M. de Zayas, Die Wehrmacht-Untersuchungsstelle, Munich 2001, pp. 377-380
^ Haarr, pp. 356–57, 362, 364
^ Hildebrand, Röhr and Steinmetz, p. 67
^ Susanne Lysvold (6 July 2011). "Nazi-ørn opp fra dypet etter 71 år". Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (in Norwegian). Retrieved 11 March 2013.

References

External links

Kriegsmarine destroyers

68°25′40″N 17°21′30″E / 68.42778°N 17.35833°E / 68.42778; 17.35833

[24] Koop and Schmolke say 87 dead as do Hildebrand, Röhr and Steinmetz^[9]^[23]

[g9-1] Gröner, p. 199

[2] Whitley, p. 18

[3] Koop and Schmolke, p. 26

[4] Whitley, p. 68

[5] Whitley, p. 215

[6] Whitley, pp. 71–72

[7] Whitley, p. 204

[8] Hildebrand, Röhr and Steinmetz, p. 65

[ks1-9] Koop and Schmolke, p. 91

[10] Rohwer, pp. 2–3, 5, 7

[11] Whitley, p. 87

[12] Whitley, pp. 89–90

[w90-13] Whitley, p. 90

[14] Rohwer, p. 11

[15] Whitley, p. 96

[16] Koop and Schmolke, pp. 91–92

[17] Haarr, pp. 331–32, 335

[18] Haarr, pp. 339–43

[19] Haarr, pp. 354–56

[20] Av Kommandorkaptein Marcus Einarson Osen, The Naval Battles of Narvik, published by Norsk Tidsskrift for Sjovesen, 2003. ISBN 82-92217-05-3. p. 27.

[21] Alfred M. de Zayas, Die Wehrmacht-Untersuchungsstelle, Munich 2001, pp. 377-380

[22] Haarr, pp. 356–57, 362, 364

[23] Hildebrand, Röhr and Steinmetz, p. 67

[25] Susanne Lysvold (6 July 2011). "Nazi-ørn opp fra dypet etter 71 år". Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (in Norwegian). Retrieved 11 March 2013.

[2]

[3]

[1]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[11]

[9]

[14]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[Note 1]

[24]

[23]

v t e Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in April 1940
Shipwrecks	6 Apr: U-1, U-50 8 Apr: HMS Glowworm, Rio de Janeiro 9 Apr: HNoMS Æger, Blücher, HNoMS Eidsvold, HMS Gurkha, German cruiser Karlsruhe, HNoMS Norge, Seattle, Sørland, HNoMS Tor 10 Apr: Albatros, Z22 Anton Schmitt, Friedenau, HMS Hardy, HMS Hunter, Königsberg, HMS Tarpon, HMS Thistle, Z21 Wilhelm Heidkamp 11 Apr: V 105 Cremon 13 Apr: Z11 Bernd von Arnim, Z17 Diether von Roeder, Z12 Erich Giese, Z13 Erich Koellner, HNoMS Frøya, Z2 Georg Thiele, Z18 Hans Lüdemann, Z19 Hermann Künne, HNoMS Storm, U-64, Z9 Wolfgang Zenker 14 Apr: Bärenfels, Brummer, Oldenburg 15 Apr: U-49 18 Apr: HNoMS Sæl, HMS Sterlet 20 Apr: Stegg 25 Apr: HMS Bradman, Trygg 26 Apr: HNoMS Garm 29 Apr: HMS Unity 30 Apr: HMS Bittern, HMS Dunoon, Maillé Brézé
Other incidents	8 Apr: HNoMS Pol III 10 Apr: Alster, HMS Hotspur 11 Apr: Alster, HNoMS Brand 12 Apr: HMS Eskimo, Schürbek, HNoMS Storm 13 Apr: Malangen 16 Apr: HNoMS Brand 18 Apr: Achille, Pasteur
1939 1940 1941 March 1940 May 1940