Type 1934A destroyers

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Z5 Paul Jacobi c. 1938
Class overview
NameType 1934A destroyer
Builders
Operators
Preceded by
Type 1934 destroyer
Succeeded by
Type 1936 destroyer
Built1935–1936
In commission1937–1958
Completed12
Lost7
Scrapped5
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typeDestroyer
Displacement2,171–2,270 long tons (2,206–2,306 t)
Length
  • 119 m (390 ft 5 in) o/a
  • 116.25 m (381.4 ft)
    w/l
Beam11.31 m (37 ft 1 in)
Draft4.23 m (13 ft 11 in)
Installed power
Propulsion2 shafts; 2 × steam turbines
Speed36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range1,825 nmi (3,380 km; 2,100 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Complement325
Armament

The Type 1934A destroyers, also known as the Z5 class, were a group of twelve destroyers built in the mid-1930s for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. Five survived the war.

Design and description

The Type 1934A destroyers were repeats of the Type 1934 class with a modified

amidships hull plates to prevent cracking. They still retained the over-complicated and troublesome boilers of the earlier ships[2]

The ships had an

double bottom that protected the middle 47% of the ships' length. Active stabilizers were fitted to reduce roll. They had a complement of 10 officers and 315 enlisted men, plus an additional 4 officers and 19 enlisted men if serving as a flotilla flagship.[4]

The Type 1934As were powered by two Wagner geared

turbogenerators, one in each engine room. The first four ships had three diesel generators, two of 60 kW (80 hp) and one of 30 kW (40 hp), while the later ships had three 50 kW (67 hp) generators,[5] all of which were located in a compartment between the two rear boiler rooms.[6]

The Type 1934A ships were armed with five

amidships.[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. Sufficient depth charges were carried for either two or four patterns of sixteen charges each.[7] Mine rails could be fitted on the rear deck that had a maximum capacity of sixty mines.[4] 'GHG' (Gruppenhorchgerät) passive hydrophones were fitted to detect submarines.[8]

The Type 34As were equipped with a C/34Z analog

abaft the rear funnel and the other just behind the director. It transmitted the bearing and elevation data to the gun crews and then fired the guns simultaneously. A 1.25-meter (4 ft 1 in) rangefinder provided data to the 3.7 cm AA guns while the 2 cm guns used a hand-held 0.7-meter (2 ft 4 in) rangefinder.[9]

Modifications

The staukeils were removed in 1940–1942 and the stabilizers proved to be ineffective and were replaced by

foremast that it could not fully revolve. The addition of 2.5 t (2.5 long tons) so high up in the ships caused stability problems. To compensate for these additions, the foremast searchlight and the aft rangefinder were removed and the forward rangefinder was replaced by a 3 m (9.8 ft) model, totaling 4.4 t (4.3 long tons). The addition of more depth charges and degaussing equipment more than offset the saving and meant that the motor boat, its derrick and the electric capstan also had to be removed, for a net addition of 3 t (3 long tons) lower in the ships. In mid- to late 1942, the surviving ships had their funnels cut down to reduce top weight.[10]

Beginning in late 1941, the survivors had their light anti-aircraft armament augmented by a single 2 cm quadruple Flakvierling mount that replaced the two guns on the aft superstructure. More 2 cm guns were added over the course of the war and all of the survivors except

abaft the rear funnel and FuMB 1[Note 3] Metox radar detectors were fitted on all five destroyers.[11]

Ships

List of Type 1934A destroyers
Ship Builder[12]
Laid down[12]
 Launched[12] Commissioned[12] Fate
Z5 Paul Jacobi
DeSchiMAG, Bremen
 15 July 1935 24 March 1936 29 June 1937 Transferred to France, scrapped 1954
Z6 Theodor Riedel 18 July 1935 22 April 1936 2 July 1937 Transferred to France, scrapped 1958
Z7 Hermann Schoemann 7 September 1935 16 July 1936 9 September 1937 Sunk while attacking Convoy QP 11, 2 May 1942
Z8 Bruno Heinemann 14 January 1936 15 September 1936 8 January 1938 Sunk by a mine, 25 January 1942
Z9 Wolfgang Zenker Germaniawerft, Kiel 23 March 1935 27 March 1936 2 July 1938 Scuttled during the Battles of Narvik, 13 April 1940
Z10 Hans Lody 1 April 1935 14 May 1936 13 September 1938 Transferred to the United Kingdom, scrapped 1949
Z11 Bernd von Arnim 26 April 1935 8 July 1936 6 December 1938 Scuttled during the Battles of Narvik, 13 April 1940
Z12 Erich Giese 3 May 1935 12 March 1937 4 March 1939 Sunk during the Battles of Narvik, 13 April 1940
Z13 Erich Koellner 12 October 1935 18 March 1937 28 March 1939
Z14 Friedrich Ihn
Blohm & Voss, Hamburg
 30 March 1935 5 November 1935 6 April 1938 Transferred to the Soviet Union, scrapped 1952
Z15 Erich Steinbrinck 30 March 1935 24 September 1936 31 May 1938 Transferred to the Soviet Union, scrapped 1958
Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt 14 November 1935 21 March 1937 28 July 1938 Sunk during the Battle of the Barents Sea, 31 December 1942

Service history

The Type 34s spent the prewar years training and

Fleet Review by Hitler and the Regent of Hungary, Admiral Miklós Horthy and the following fleet exercise. Three ships accompanied the heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee on her voyage to the Mediterranean in October. Three others were among the escorts for the heavy cruiser Deutschland with Hitler aboard as the Germans occupied Memel, Lithuania, in March 1939. Some of the ships participated in the fleet exercise in the western Mediterranean in April and May.[13]

Notes

  1. ^ In Kriegsmarine gun nomenclature, SK stands for Schiffskanone (ship's gun), C/32 stands for Constructionjahr (Construction year) 1932
  2. ^ Funkmess-Ortung (Radio-direction finder, active ranging)
  3. ^ Funkmess-Beobachtung (Passive radio-direction finder)

Citations

  1. ^ Gröner, p. 200
  2. ^ Whitley, pp. 20, 22–24
  3. ^ Koop & Schmolke, pp. 14, 26
  4. ^ a b c d e Gröner, p. 199
  5. ^ Koop & Schmolke, p. 44
  6. ^ Whitley, p. 18
  7. ^ Whitley, p. 215
  8. ^ Whitley, pp. 71–72
  9. ^ Koop & Schmolke, p. 40; Whitley, pp. 68, 71
  10. ^ Koop & Schmolke, pp. 32, 40, 44; Whitley, pp. 20, 72–73
  11. ^ Koop & Schmolke, pp. 32, 40; Whitley, pp. 73–75
  12. ^ a b c d Koop & Schmolke, p. 24
  13. ^ Whitley, pp. 79–82

References

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