Type 1936 destroyers
Z21 Wilhelm Heidkamp underway, about 1939
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Class overview | |
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Name | Type 1936 destroyer |
Builders | DeSchiMAG, Bremen |
Operators | |
Preceded by | Type 1934A destroyer |
Succeeded by | Type 1936A destroyer |
Built | 1936–1939 |
In service | 1938–1958 |
In commission | 1938–1954 |
Planned | 6 |
Completed | 6 |
Lost | 5 |
Scrapped | 1 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Destroyer |
Displacement |
|
Length | 123.4 or 125.1 m (404 ft 10 in or 410 ft 5 in) o/a |
Beam | 11.75 m (38 ft 7 in) |
Draft | 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph) |
Range | 2,050 nmi (3,800 km; 2,360 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
Complement | 323 |
Armament |
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The Type 1936 destroyers, also known as the Z17 class, were a group of six destroyers built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during the late 1930s, shortly before the beginning of World War II. All six sister ships were named after German sailors who had been killed in World War I.[1] They were engaged in training for most of the period between their completion and the outbreak of war, although several did participate in the occupation of Memel in Lithuania, in early 1939.
When the war began in September 1939, the sisters helped to lay
Plagued by engine problems, the ship was under repair from November to August 1944 and then spent the next six months on convoy escort duties in southern Norway and laying minefields. Z20 Karl Galster was transferred to the Baltic Sea in early 1945 where she escorted refugee convoys and also evacuated refugees herself from the advancing Soviet forces before the German surrender in May. The ship was allotted to the Soviets after the war and she was converted into a training ship in 1950 before she was scrapped in 1958.
Design and description
These six ships were improved and enlarged versions of the
The first three ships built had an
The Type 1936s were powered by two Wagner geared
The Type 1936 ships were armed with five
Z20 Karl Galster had a
Ships
Ship | Builder[11] | Laid down[11]
|
Launched[11] | Commissioned[11] | Fate[12] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Z17 Diether von Roeder | DeSchiMAG, Bremen | 9 September 1936 | 19 August 1937 | 29 August 1938 | Beached and destroyed during the Battles of Narvik, 13 April 1940 |
Z18 Hans Lüdemann | 1 December 1937 | 8 October 1938 | |||
Z19 Hermann Künne | 5 October 1936 | 22 December 1937 | 12 January 1939 | ||
Z20 Karl Galster | 14 September 1937 | 15 June 1938 | 21 March 1939 | Transferred to the USSR, 1946; scrapped, 1958 | |
Z21 Wilhelm Heidkamp | 14 December 1937 | 28 August 1938 | 20 June 1939 | Sunk by torpedo during the Battles of Narvik, 10 April 1940 | |
Z22 Anton Schmitt | 3 January 1938 | 20 September 1938 | 24 September 1939 |
Service history
Z17 Diether von Roeder and Z19 Hermann Künne were two of the destroyers that escorted Adolf Hitler when Germany occupied Memel in March 1939. When the war began in September, Z21 Wilhelm Heidkamp and Z22 Anton Schmitt were still
Beginning in mid-October and continuing through February 1940, the Kriegsmarine began using its destroyers to lay offensive minefields off the British coast on dark nights with little to no moonlight. The sisters (Z22 Anton Schmitt became operational in January) participated in five of the eleven sorties and their mines helped to sink a British destroyer and 121,348 gross register tons (GRT) of merchant shipping.[13]
Norwegian Campaign
Z21 Wilhelm Heidkamp was the
On 9 April, Z22 Anton Schmitt and Z18 Hans Lüdemann landed troops at the entrance to the
On the night of 12/13 April, the Germans received word to expect an attack the following day by British
Z18 Hans Lüdemann still had some ammunition and torpedoes left and took up position at the Straumen narrows with Z2 Georg Thiele to give the two other remaining destroyers time to scuttle themselves at the head of the fjord. The pursuing British destroyers initially engaged Z18 Hans Lüdemann, which had opened fire at a range of about 3 miles (4,800 m) to little effect. Her four remaining torpedoes were fired blindly, one of which was observed to pass under a destroyer and all missed. Shortly afterwards the British ships hit the German destroyer twice, destroying No. 4 and No. 5 guns and damaging No. 3 gun, the only ones that could bear on the British ships. Z18 Hans Lüdemann's captain decided to withdraw as she could no longer fight the British ships and beached the ship at the head of the fjord. He ordered her rigged for demolition and abandoned ship while Z2 Georg Thiele continued to fight. Several hours later, after the latter ship was destroyed, British destroyers approached and found Z18 Hans Lüdemann still intact, the demolition charges having failed. Following their orders to destroy all of the German destroyers, they torpedoed her wreck.[17]
When the British appeared at the harbor mouth they initially thought that they were being fired upon by coastal artillery in the smoke and confusion, but a
The sole survivor
After a refit that prevented Z20 Karl Galster from participating in Operation Weserübung, the ship was sent to Norway for escort duties. Later that year she was transferred to France later as the flagship of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla (5. Zerstörerflotille), where she conducted anti-shipping patrols and laid a minefield in the English Channel with little success.[19]
The ship returned to Germany at the end of the year for a refit and was transferred to Norway in June as part of the preparations for
Around March 1945, Z20 Karl Galster was transferred to the Baltic Sea where she helped to escort convoys of refugee ships and also rescued evacuees herself in May, around the time that Germany surrendered.[21] When the surviving German warships were divided between the Allies after the war, the ship was eventually allocated to the Soviet Union. Z20 Karl Galster was handed over in 1946 and renamed Prochnyy. The ship was converted into a
Notes
- ^ Funkmess-Ortung (Radio-direction finder, active ranging)
Citations
- ^ a b Koop & Schmolke, pp. 98–102
- ^ a b c d e f Gröner, p. 202
- ^ Koop & Schmolke, p. 33; Whitley, p. 25
- ^ Koop & Schmolke, p. 26
- ^ Koop & Schmolke, pp. 26, 33
- ^ Koop & Schmolke, pp. 98–100
- ^ Whitley, p. 201
- ^ Whitley, p. 215
- ^ Whitley, pp. 71–72
- ^ Koop & Schmolke, p. 33; Whitley, p. 26
- ^ a b c d Koop & Schmolke, p. 24
- ^ Whitley, pp. 205–206
- ^ Hervieux, pp. 110, 112–114; Koop & Schmolke, p. 102
- ^ Whitley, p. 96
- ^ Haarr, pp. 324–326; 328–329, 334–335, 339–342, 349; Rohwer, pp. 18–20; Whitley, pp. 97–100
- ^ Haarr, pp. 357, 360–364
- ^ Haar, pp. 366–369
- ^ Haarr, pp. 364–365
- ^ Koop & Schmolke, p. 100; Whitley, pp. 106–114
- ^ Koop & Schmolke, pp. 100–101; Whitley, pp. 124–129, 141–142, 165–168, 170–171
- ^ Koop & Schmolke, pp. 100–101; Rohwer, pp. 347, 394; Whitley, pp. 168, 170–171
- ^ Koop & Schmolke, p. 101; Whitley, pp. 191–192, 198
References
- ISBN 0-87021-790-9.
- Haarr, Geirr H. (2009). The German Invasion of Norway, April 1940. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-310-9.
- Hervieux, Pierre (1980). "German Destroyer Minelaying Operations Off the English Coast (1940–1941)". In Roberts, John (ed.). Warship. Vol. IV. Greenwich, England: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 110–117. ISBN 0-87021-979-0.
- 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.