Class 119

Class 119
Destroyer 1 class
Destroyer 6 at the Kiel Week 1962
Overview
Type	destroyer
units	6th
Shipyard	see units
Keel laying	1941 to 1942
Launch	1942 to 1943
Commissioning	1958 to 1960
Decommissioning	1967 to 1982
Technical specifications
displacement	2250-2750  ts
length	114.70 m
width	12.00 m
Draft	4.40 m (standard)
drive	2 sets of General Electric steam turbines 4 oil-fired steam boilers from Babcock & Wilcox 2 shafts with propellers, ø 3.50 m, 3 blades each 1 rudder
speed	36  kn
Armament	4 × 127 mm in single towers 6 × 7.6 cm L / 50 in twin mounts 5 × 21 inch torpedo tubes (1 group of five) 2 × 53.3 cm torpedo tubes 2 × Hedgehog anti -submarine launchers 1 × WaBo rail 1 × mine drainage rail

The class 119 of the German Navy was from the late 1950s - under the US Military Assistance Program  adopted six - destroyers of the Fletcher class formed.

history

Fletcher class

→ Main article : Fletcher class

Between 1941 and 1945, 175 Fletcher-class destroyers were built for the United States Navy . 19 of them were lost in the war. 145 destroyers were decommissioned after the end of the war and assigned to the reserve fleet .
As early as 1948, 18 units began to be reactivated and converted for submarine hunting . Another 60 destroyers were reactivated and modernized in two different configurations. Of the 18 anti-submarine units, three destroyers were later modernized again as part of the FRAM II program.
In the 1950s, many Fletcher destroyers were handed over to various navies, both in their original configuration and in a modernized form.
The US Navy began to permanently decommission the Fletcher-class destroyers from 1969. Some destroyers of this class remained in service well beyond the 1990s. The last ship of the class, the BAM Cuitlahuac (ex USS John Rodgers (DD-574)), was decommissioned from the Mexican Navy on June 16, 2001. This ended the era of the Fletcher destroyers after almost 60 years.

Federal Navy

Since the time for planning, building and testing its own larger ships was not available, the Federal Republic of Germany received six Fletcher-class destroyers for the German Navy from the USA from 1958 to 1960 as part of the American Military Assistance Program . An option for the surrender of five more destroyers was not taken. After the loan period was extended in the meantime, the four units that were still in existence at that time were purchased in 1976 for the equivalent of around € 191,500 each. The class 119 destroyers were not given any names when they were commissioned, they were only numbered from 1 to 6. It was not until 1960 that they were given the names Destroyer 1 to Destroyer 6 . In common parlance, the destroyers Z 1 , Z 2 , Z 3 , Z 4 , Z 5 and Z 6 were named. After their commissioning, the first three destroyers were assigned to the 1st destroyer squadron, and the other three to the 3rd destroyer squadron. The home port for all units was Kiel . The destroyer 3 was placed under the fleet service squadron in Flensburg from April 1, 1974 . From October 1, 1971, the remaining destroyers were combined in the 3rd destroyer squadron. After the dissolution of the 3rd Destroyer Squadron on June 30, 1981, the two remaining destroyers, Destroyer 2 and Destroyer 5, were placed under the 1st Destroyer Squadron until they were decommissioned. After their decommissioning, destroyers 1 and 6 were cannibalized as spare parts reserves for the other destroyers. Destroyer 6 was canceled and Destroyer 1 was then used up as a target ship for naval aviation in the Mediterranean. On May 16, 1979, the destroyer Destroyer 1 was sunk by the German submarine U 29 by torpedo fire. The other destroyers were handed over to the Greek Navy as part of defense aid. The tasks of the destroyers of the destroyer 1 class were taken over by the frigates of the Bremen class .

technology

Before the takeover, the ships were modernized to a considerable extent. All 20 mm Oerlikon cannons were removed and the 40 mm Bofors guns were replaced by three 76.2 mm twin flak. In order to gain the deck space required for these guns and the fire control equipment connected to them, the third 127 mm turret and the front quintuplet torpedo tube set had to be removed. The electronics were modernized and the mast was replaced by a tripod mast.
When the six destroyers were in dock later, in accordance with German requirements, the initially open bridges were transformed into a closed bridge while at the same time being enlarged. Three destroyers (Destroyer 2, Destroyer 3 and Destroyer 4) were each provided with a small hut on the back of the bridge. Furthermore, all six units were retrofitted with two U-defense torpedo tubes (single UTR 533 mm). The second quintuplet torpedo tube set was later removed.
From the beginning of the 1960s to 1962, destroyer 4 had two 40 mm Bofors flak MELs in the positions of the 76.2 mm flak on the port and starboard sides. For testing purposes, a containerized 76-mm Oto Melara tower was carried in place of the eighth 76.2 mm anti-aircraft twin from 1974 to spring 1975 .

units

F letcher - class
Surname	Identifier	Shipyard	keel interpretation	Stack run	Indienst- position	Außerdienst- position	Deleted [a]	photo
USS Ringgold	DD 500	Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company	06/25/1942	11/11/1942	12/30/1942	03/23/1946	October 01, 1974
USS Anthony	DD 515	Bath Iron Works	08/17/1942	December 20, 1942	02/26/1943	04/17/1946	04/15/1972
USS Wadsworth	DD 516	Bath Iron Works	08/18/1942	August 18, 1943	May 16, 1943	04/18/1946	October 01, 1974
USS Charles Ausburne	DD 570	Consolidated Steel Corporation	05/14/1941	March 16, 1942	11/24/1942	04/18/1946	December 01, 1967
USS Claxton	DD 571	Consolidated Steel Corporation	06/25/1941	04/01/1942	December 8, 1942	04/18/1946	October 01, 1974
USS Dyson	DD 572	Consolidated Steel Corporation	06/25/1941	04/15/1942	12/30/1942	March 31, 1947	October 01, 1974

^[a] Removed from US Navy list of ships.

Z first ö rer 1 - class
Surname	Identifier	Radio call sign		Indienst- position	Außerdienst- position	Whereabouts	photo
		until 11/30/1981	from 01.12.1981
Destroyer 1 ex USS Anthony (DD-515)	D 170 (line 1)	DBZQ	-	January 17, 1958	03/17/1972	Sunk in 1979 as a target ship by U 29 off Crete
Destroyer 2 ex USS Ringgold (DD-500)	D 171	DBOV	-	06/14/1959	09/18/1981	to Greece Kimon  (D 42), canceled in 1993
Destroyer 3 ex USS Wadsworth (DD-516)	D 172	DBOW	-	10/06/1959	October 15, 1980	to Greece Nearchos  (D 65), canceled in 1991
Destroyer 4 ex USS Claxton (DD-571)	D 178	DBOX	-	December 15, 1959	02/26/1981	to Greece, spare parts reserve, canceled in 1991
Destroyer 5 ex USS Dyson (DD-572)	D 179	DBQY	DRAI	02/17/1960	02/26/1982	to Greece, spare parts reserve, canceled in 1993
Destroyer 6 ex USS Charles Ausburne (DD ‑ 570)	D180	DBRB	-	04/12/1960	10/09/1967	1968 to Harmsdorf in Lübeck , canceled

See also

• List of Fletcher-class units

literature

• Gerhard Koop, Siegfried Breyer: The ships, vehicles and planes of the German Navy 1956 until today . Munich 1996, ISBN 3-7637-5950-6 .
• Wolfgang Harnack: The destroyer flotilla of the German Navy from 1958 until today . Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-7822-0816-1
• Stefan Terzibaschitsch : Destroyer of the US Navy . Augsburg 1997, ISBN 3-86047-587-8

Web links

Commons : German Fletcher-class destroyers  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Class 119 on marine.de
• (engl.) The History - Fletcher-Class Destroyer of the Federal German Navy - Destoerer 1
• Homepage of the Greek Navy on Destroyer ex Nearchos  (D 65) / ex Destroyer 3 (D 172) ( Memento from April 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Military Assistance Program in the English language Wikipedia
2. ↑ Terzibaschitsch: Destroyer of the US Navy
3. ^ Koop, Breyer: The ships, vehicles and planes of the German Navy 1956 until today
4. ↑ Harnack: The Destroyer Flotilla of the German Navy from 1958 to today
5. ^ Consolidated Steel Corporation in the English language Wikipedia