After many delays, the ship was transferred to France in late 1943 where she escorted
Allied landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944, she was one of the few remaining destroyers in French waters and they were ordered to attack the invasion shipping off the beaches. During the Battle of Ushant
several days later, ZH1 was crippled and scuttled to prevent her capture, most of her crew being rescued by the Allies.
Design and description
The latest Japanese destroyers far outclassed the Royal Netherlands Navy's existing Admiralen-class destroyers when the Gerard Callenburgh-class destroyers were designed in the mid-1930s with assistance from the British company, Yarrow Shipbuilders. In response to the threat they were larger, faster and more heavily armed than the older ships. They did retain the floatplane carried by the Admiralen class for reconnaissance purposes.[1]
ZH1 had an
kW) using steam provided by three water-tube boilers for a designed speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph).[2]ZH1 reached 37.5 knots (69.5 km/h; 43.2 mph) from 53,000 shp (40,000 kW) during her sea trials.[3] The ship carried a maximum of 520 tonnes (512 long tons) of fuel oil which gave a range of 2,700 nautical miles (5,000 km; 3,100 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). Her crew consisted of 12 officers and 218 sailors.[2]
The ship carried five Bofors 12-centimetre (4.7 in)
2-centimetre (0.8 in) C/38 guns in single mounts.[Note 1] The ship carried eight above-water 53.3-centimetre (21 in) torpedo tubes in two power-operated mounts. She had four depth charge launchers and rails could be fitted on the rear deck that had a maximum capacity of 24 mines.[4]
Construction and career
The ship was
working up. The ship began a brief refit in Hamburg on 18 January 1943. She collided with the Danishcargo shipDouro on 11 April, but was only lightly damaged. While under repair in June, ZH1 was further damaged during air raids on the dockyard, delaying the completion of her repairs, and she was not deemed combat worthy until October.[5] During this time she was fitted with a FuMO 24/25 radar set above the bridge.[3]
On 31 October ZH1 and the destroyer
Cap d'Antifer, damaging several of their assailants. Now assigned to the 8. Zerstörerflotille (8th Destroyer Flotilla), the ship was one of the escorts for the 6,951-gross register ton (GRT) blockade runner MV Osorno through the Bay of Biscay, but salinity problems in her condensers forced her turbines to be shut down on 26 December and she had to be towed to port by the torpedo boatT25. Repairs were not finished until March 1944.[6] Early that month ZH1, the destroyer Z23, and the torpedo boats T27 and T29 escorted the Japanese submarine I-29 to Lorient. Later that month the ships escorted U-boats through the Bay of Biscay.[7]
After word of the Allied landings at Normandy on 6 June was received by
captain ordered her crew to abandon ship and rigged depth charges to scuttle the ship at 48°52′N4°28′W / 48.867°N 4.467°W / 48.867; -4.467. Three officers and thirty-six crewmen were killed during the battle. One boat with a single officer and twenty-seven men reached the French coast and the British rescued one hundred and forty men.[8]
Notes
^Whitley says that two quadruple 2 cm mounts were installed.[3]
Nazi Germany
