German destroyer Z30
Sister ship Z29, 1945
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History | |
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Nazi Germany | |
Name | Z30 |
Ordered | 23 April 1938 |
Builder | Deschimag), Bremen |
Yard number | W964 |
Laid down | 15 April 1940 |
Launched | 8 December 1940 |
Commissioned | 15 November 1941 |
Decommissioned | 14 May 1945 |
Captured | 6 May 1945 |
Fate | Sold for scrap, 9 September 1948 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Class and type | Type 1936A destroyer |
Displacement | |
Length | 127 m (416 ft 8 in) ( o/a ) |
Beam | 12 m (39 ft 4 in) |
Draft | 4.62 m (15 ft 2 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion | 2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbine sets |
Speed | 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph) |
Range | 2,950 nmi (5,460 km; 3,390 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
Complement | 332 |
Armament |
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Z30 was one of fifteen
Z30 was crippled when she struck a mine in late 1944 and spent the rest of the war under repair. The ship was allocated to Great Britain after the war who used her to test the effects of underwater explosions. Upon their completion in 1948, Z30 was broken up for scrap.
Design and description
The Type 1936A destroyers were slightly larger than the preceding Type 1936
The ship carried four
Modifications
During 1942–1943, Z30's anti-aircraft armament was increased to ten each 3.7 cm and 2 cm guns. A FuMO 63 Hohentwiel radar was installed in 1944–1945 in lieu of the aft searchlight. By the end of the war, her anti-aircraft suite consisted of seven 3.7 cm and fourteen 2 cm weapons.[3]
Service history
Z30 was ordered from
Beginning on 18 March, she escorted the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper from Brunsbüttel, Germany, to Trondheim, Norway, and then accompanied the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer from Trondheim to Narvik.[5] Z30 took part in the preliminaries of Operation Rösselsprung, an attempt to intercept Convoy PQ 17 in July. Admiral Scheer and her sister Lützow formed one group in Narvik with Z30 and four of her sisters while the battleship Tirpitz and Admiral Hipper composed another. While en route to the rendezvous at the Altafjord, Lützow and three destroyers of Tirpitz's escort ran aground, forcing the entire group to abandon the operation.[6] On 5–8 September Z30, her sister Z29, and the destroyer Z4 Richard Beitzen laid a minefield in the Kara Strait between the island of Novaya Zemlya and Vaygach Island. Later that month, she participated in Operation Zarin, a minelaying mission off the coast of Novaya Zemlya from 24 to 28 September, together with Admiral Hipper, and her sisters Z23, Z28, and Z29. On 13–15 October, Z30, her sister Z27, Z4 Richard Beitzen and the destroyer Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt laid a minefield off the Kanin Peninsula at the mouth of the White Sea that sank the Soviet icebreaker Mikoyan. Three weeks later, the same four destroyers escorted Admiral Hipper as she attempted to intercept Allied merchant ships proceeding independently to Soviet ports in early November. They intercepted and sank the westbound Soviet oil tanker Donbass and the submarine chaser BO-78 on the 7th.[7]
On 30 December, Lützow and Admiral Hipper, escorted by six destroyers, including Z30, left Narvik for Operation Regenbogen, an attack on Convoy JW 51B, which was reported by German intelligence to be lightly escorted. Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Oskar Kummetz's plan was to divide his force in half; he would take Admiral Hipper and three destroyers north of the convoy to attack it and draw away the escorts. Lützow, Z30 and the destroyers Z6 Theodor Riedel and Z31 would then attack the undefended convoy from the south. The Germans failed to press home their attack, only briefly engaging the convoy and damaging one merchantman.[8] Z30 was one of the escorts for the light cruiser Köln and the damaged Admiral Hipper on 24 January 1943 as they began their voyage to Kiel, Germany, where the destroyer began a refit.[9]
She returned to Norwegian waters after her refit and conducted several minelaying missions between 19 and 28 June together with Z27. The ship took part in
Z30 was turned over to the Royal Norwegian Navy for maintenance purposes on 15 July while the Allies decided how to divide the surviving ships of the Kriegsmarine amongst themselves as war reparations. The ship was allotted to the British in late 1945 and was towed to Rosyth, Scotland, on 6 February 1946. She was effectively unusable without extensive – and expensive – repairs so she was condemned to be used for evaluating the effects of underwater explosions on her hull. Z30 was towed to Loch Striven where the tests were conducted between May and September 1948. Three 500-kilogram (1,100 lb) charges of torpex were detonated below her hull at various depths. Despite some damage to her hull plating, her welded hull was not significantly damaged during the tests. The ship was sold for scrap on 9 September and towed to their facility at Dalmuir to be demolished.[12]
Notes
- ^ a b c Gröner, pp. 203–04
- ^ Whitley, pp. 68, 71–72
- ^ Gröner, p. 203; Koop & Schmolke, p. 34
- ^ Koop & Schmolke, pp. 24, 111
- ^ Koop & Schmolke, p. 111; Rohwer, p. 152
- ^ Whitley, p. 141
- ^ Rohwer, pp. 202, 207; Whitley, p. 142
- ^ Whitley, pp. 142–43
- ^ Koop & Schmolke, pp. 111–12
- ^ Whitley, pp. 167, 172
- ^ Koop & Schmolke, p. 112; Whitley, pp. 170–71
- ^ Whitley, pp. 191–93
References
- ISBN 0-87021-790-9.
- Koop, Gerhard & Schmolke, Klaus-Peter (2003). German Destroyers of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-307-1.
- ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
- ISBN 978-1-55750-302-2.