German destroyer Z39

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Z39 underway under American control, 1945
History
Nazi Germany
NameZ39
Ordered26 June 1939
Builder
Germaniawerft, Kiel
Yard numberG629
Laid down15 August 1940
Launched2 December 1941
Completed7 January 1944
Commissioned21 August 1943
FateTransferred to the United States Navy in 1945
History
United States
NameDD-939
Commissioned14 September 1945
FateTransferred to the French Navy
History
France
NameQ-128
FateBroken up in 1964.
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type
Type 1936A (Mob) destroyer
Displacement
Length
  • 121.9 m (399 ft 11 in) at Waterline
  • 127 m (416 ft 8 in)
    o/a
Beam12 m (39 ft 4 in)
Draught4 m (13 ft 1 in)
Installed power
Propulsion2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbine sets
Speed38.5 knots (71.3 km/h; 44.3 mph)
Range2,239 nmi (4,147 km; 2,577 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Complement332
Armament

The Z39 was a

US Navy
as DD-939, and from 1948 to 1964 with the French Navy as Q-128.

Throughout her German service, the ship laid numerous barrages (explosives concentrated over a wide area) of mines in the Baltic Sea and bombarded Soviet forces several times. In the last months of the war, Z39 helped escort steamships that were evacuating German soldiers and civilians from Eastern Europe to Denmark. Z39 was damaged twice, once by Soviet planes while in

minesweepers
.

Background

Interbellum

Following the end of

Hitler,[1] the Führer (dictator) of Nazi Germany, publicly denounced it in March 1935.[1][2] The displacements of all German ships at the time were purposefully understated to have their official sizes comply with the treaty. At first, these changes were made with the goal of being able to match or exceed French and Polish destroyers, but later it was necessary that these destroyers be able to match British destroyers, a much more difficult goal.[1]

Due to the comparatively small number of German shipyards, compared to the British or French, Germany adopted a policy of over-arming her destroyers to compensate for their low numbers, so that they bore similar armament to French and Polish light cruisers.[1] Several negative consequences resulted from this, such as making them slower and overweight.[3] Although German heavy destroyers matched British light cruisers in armament, they were much less seaworthy and had far worse facilities for control and use of their guns.[4]

Plan Z

convoys.[5] Erich Raeder, the Grand Admiral of the Kriegsmarine, was assured by Hitler that war would not start until at least 1945. Raeder had wanted the deadline for the completion of Plan Z to be extended to 1948, but Hitler insisted on 1945,[6] although Hitler privately wanted to be at war with the Anglo-French alliance by 1942.[7] World War II began in 1939, meaning that very few of Germany's heavy ships would be finished at that point.[6] Germany's main naval opponents were France and England. Compared to the number of ships Germany had upon entry into the war (in parentheses) they had: 22 battleships (two), seven carriers (none), 22 heavy cruisers (four), 61 light cruisers (six), 255 destroyers (34), 135 submarines (57, of which less than half could actually serve in the Atlantic or the North Sea). Due to the clear advantage her enemies had, Raeder remarked that the Kriegsmarine could not hope to win, and thus the only course for them was to "die valiantly".[8]

Destroyer function

The function of the destroyer was defined by its evolution: around the 1870s, nations that could not directly threaten Great Britain's navy began to invest in torpedo boats, small and agile ships which used their torpedoes to deliver enough damage to pose a tactical issue to enemy fleets. Near the turn of the 20th century, British and German torpedo boats grew in size to the point of creating a separate line of sea-going torpedo craft, "torpedo boat destroyers", or simply destroyers, designed in part to counter torpedo boats themselves. Experience in World War I showed that destroyers very rarely engaged capital ships, but more often fought other destroyers and submarines; because of this, destroyers were partially re-focused towards escort and anti-submarine services. During the war, they were used as "maids of all work", fulfilling virtually every role to some degree, and, unlike capital ships, which rarely left port during the war, served in numerous operations. By the end of the war, destroyers were perceived as one of the most useful classes of ships.[9]

During World War II, destroyers served essentially the three basic functions they had in World War I: to act as screening ships to defend their fleets from those of an enemy, to attack an enemy's screening ships, and to defend their fleet from submarines. However, there was an increased desire to introduce anti-aircraft measures to the destroyers, although many nations struggled to do so effectively.

torpedo boats. The role of the destroyer began to vary more widely as World War II progressed, with five parallel evolutions: the all-purpose destroyer (all countries), the anti-submarine destroyer (United States and United Kingdom), the anti-aircraft destroyer (Japan and the United Kingdom), the small destroyer (Germany and Italy), and the super-large destroyer (France).[11]

Design and armament

Z39 was of the

full load. Her crew complement was 332.[12][13]

Before

2 cm (0.8 in) anti-aircraft (AA) guns, two twin 3.7 cm SK C/303.7 cm (1.5 in) anti-aircraft guns,[a] a twin 15-centimetre (5.9 in) L/48 gun on a forward turret,[b] two single 15-centimetre (5.9 in) L/48 guns in a gunhouse aft, two quadruple 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes, and 60 mines. Z39 had the Greek coat of arms on either side of her 15-centimetre (6 in) twin turret.[14] After the modifications, the destroyer carried eighteen 2 cm (0.8 in) and fourteen twin 3.7 cm (1.5 in) guns; the rest of her armament remained unchanged.[15][12][16][17]

Her propulsion system consisted of six Wagner

kW), and a top speed of 38.5 knots (71.3 km/h; 44.3 mph). She had a range of 2,239 nautical miles (4,147 km; 2,577 mi), at her cruising speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).[20][12]

Z39's sensor suite housing included a FuMO 21 radar that was placed on the ship's bridge and four FuMB4 Sumatra aerials on the foremast searchlights.[c] The ship also had several other radars and radar detectors, including a FuMB 3 Bali and FuMO 81 Berlin-S on her masthead and a FuMO 63 Hohentweil K.[22] She also had a degaussing cable that wrapped around the entire ship, but was covered by her spray deflector.[23]

Service history

Z39 was ordered on 26 June 1939,

Reval off the Gulf of Finland.[28]

German service

a map of Europe showing the locations of Z39's service with dots
A map of Z39's service history

After the move to Reval, she served in the 6th Destroyer Flotilla, alongside the German destroyers Z25, Z28, and Z35.[29] Between 12 and 13 February Z39 laid mines in the "Dorothea A" barrage, along with two other destroyers and three minelayers.

minelaying operations along with two other destroyers.[31] Between 11 and 12 March, she bombarded Soviet forces near Narva-Jõesuu.[28][32] From 13 March to 22 April, the destroyer took part in six different minelaying operations.[28] One such operation lasted from 13 to 14 April, in which Z39, two other destroyers, and six minelayers laid the "Seeigel 6b" mine barrage south of Suur Tytärsaari. From 16 to 17 April, Z39, two other destroyers, and six minelayers laid the "Seeigel 3b" barrage off of Vigrund Island in Narva Bay. A smokescreen was laid during the operation to prevent the ships from being shelled by Soviet coastal artillery. An operation from 21 to 22 April, involving Z39, two other destroyers, and six minelayers was canceled midway after one of the minelayers hit a mine and sank. From 23 to 24 April, Z39, two other destroyers and eight minelayers laid the "Seeigel 7b/3" barrage in Narva Bay. From 25 to 26 April Z39, two other destroyers and nine minelayers laid the "Seeigel 8b" barrage southwest of Suur Tyärsaari. During the operations between 13 and 26 April, a total of 2,831 mines and 1,174 sweep detonators were laid.[33]

On 23 June of the same year, Z39 was damaged by Soviet bombers while moored off of

German army.[37] On 10 April she and T33 (a torpedo boat) escorted the German destroyer Z43, which had sustained damage from both mines and bombs,[38] to Warnemünde and Swinemünde.[39]

From 1944, German surface ships were called upon to provide support for

Pretoria and Askari to Copenhagen with 20,000 refugees.[38] On 2 May, she shelled Soviet Army forces from the Oder estuary. On 3 May, she and the battleship Schlesien moved to protect the bridge across the Peene river at Wolgast. After Schlesien hit a mine near Greifswalder Oie on the same day, Z39 towed her to Swinemünde, where Schlesien was deliberately grounded. The ship was placed so that her guns could fire on and defend roads leading into the city. A day later, Z39, three other destroyers, one torpedo boat, one ship's tender, one auxiliary cruiser, one anti-aircraft ship, and five steamer ships, sailed for Copenhagen, taking 35,000 wounded soldiers and refugees with them.[42][39] Germany surrendered on 8 May, however some units still continued to evacuate.[43] On 8 May, Z39, six other destroyers and five torpedo boats set sail with 20,000 soldiers and civilians from Hela to Glücksburg, and they arrived on 9 May.[39][44] Following the German surrender, she was decommissioned at Kiel from the Kriegsmarine on 10 May 1945.[39]

American and French service

Z39 at sea.
Z39 underway off Boston on 22 August 1945

At some unknown point after the war ended, Z39 sailed with a mixed German and British crew to

pontoon for minesweepers near Brest until the ship was broken up in 1964.[48]

Notes

  1. ^ SK – Schnelladekanone (quick loading cannon); C – Construktionsjahr (year of gun's design).
  2. ^ L – Länge in Kaliber (length in caliber).
  3. ^ FuMO (Funkmessortung) means radar device, FuMB (Funkmessbeobachter) means radar detector.[21]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d Whitley 1988, p. 56.
  2. ^ Mawdsley 2019, p. 8.
  3. ^ Whitley 1988, pp. 56–57.
  4. ^ Whitley 1988, p. 57.
  5. ^ Miller 1997, p. 33.
  6. ^ a b Tucker 2011, p. xxvii.
  7. ^ Tooze 2008, p. 289.
  8. ^ Miller 1997, p. 34.
  9. ^ Whitley 1988, pp. 1–12.
  10. ^ Whitley 1988, p. 12.
  11. ^ Whitley 1988, p. 13.
  12. ^ a b c Showell 2009, p. 165.
  13. ^ Koop & Schmolke 2003, p. 26.
  14. ^ Koop & Schmolke 2003, p. 75.
  15. ^ a b Whitley 1991, p. 75.
  16. ^ Koop & Schmolke 2003, p. 34.
  17. ^ Gröner 1990, p. 203.
  18. ^ Koop & Schmolke 2003, pp. 42–44.
  19. ^ Lenton 1975, p. 75.
  20. ^ Koop & Schmolke 2003, pp. 27 & 75.
  21. ^ Stern 2015, p. xix.
  22. ^ Koop & Schmolke 2003, p. 40.
  23. ^ Koop & Schmolke 2003, p. 33.
  24. ^ Whitley 1983, p. 278.
  25. ^ Whitley 1991, p. 38.
  26. ^ Sieche 1980, p. 234.
  27. ^ Zabecki 2015, p. 1245.
  28. ^ a b c Both 1999, pp. 135–136.
  29. ^ Jackson 2001, p. 150.
  30. ^ Rohwer 2005, p. 306.
  31. ^ a b c d e Koop & Schmolke 2003, p. 118.
  32. ^ Rohwer 2005, p. 311.
  33. ^ Rohwer 2005, p. 318.
  34. ^ Rohwer 2005, p. 337.
  35. ^ Rohwer 2005, p. 344.
  36. ^ Whitley 1991, p. 37.
  37. ^ Koop & Schmolke 2003, pp. 118–119.
  38. ^ a b Rohwer 2005, p. 398.
  39. ^ a b c d e f g h Koop & Schmolke 2003, p. 119.
  40. ^ Vego 2013, p. 271.
  41. ^ Thomas 1990, p. 250.
  42. ^ Rohwer 2005, p. 410.
  43. ^ Koop & Schmolke 2003, p. 76.
  44. ^ Rohwer 2005, p. 414.
  45. ^ Silverstone 2012, p. 89.
  46. ^ Bauer & Roberts 1991, p. 207.
  47. ^ Dodson & Cant 2020, p. 218.
  48. ^ Jourdan & Moulin 2015, p. 284.

Bibliography

Further reading

External links
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