ZG 3

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Vasilefs Georgios
(ΒΠ Βασιλεύς Γεώργιος) p1
Ship data
flag GreeceKingdom of Greece (service and war flag at sea) Greece
Ship type destroyer
class Vasilefs Georgios class
Shipyard Yarrow Shipbuilders , Glasgow
Build number 1702
Keel laying 1937
Launch March 3, 1938
Commissioning February 15, 1939
Whereabouts Aground on April 20, 1941
From 1942
flag German EmpireGerman Empire (Reichskriegsflagge) German Empire
other ship names

ZG 3 Hermes

Commissioning March 21, 1942
Whereabouts Sunk as a barrier on May 7, 1943
Ship dimensions and crew
length
101.20 m ( Lüa )
98 m ( KWL )
width 10.40 m
Draft Max. 3.23 m
displacement Construction: 1,414 ts
Use: 2,088 ts
 
crew 225 men
Machine system
machine 3 Yarrow boilers
2 Parsons turbines
2 shafts
Machine
performance 		34,000 PS (25,007 kW)
Top
speed 		32 kn (59 km / h)
propeller 2
Armament
Sensors

The destroyer ZG 3 Hermes was the former Greek destroyer Vasilefs Georgios (Greek: ΒΠ Βασιλεύς Γεώργιος = King George ), who was captured by the German Navy in World War II and put back into service.

history

Greek Navy

The Vasilefs Georgios was, like her sister ship Vasilissa Olga (Greek: ΒΠ Βασίλισσα Όλγα = queen Olga ) at Yarrow Shipbuilders in Glasgow built and was a modified version of the British destroyer of the G-Class . She was put into service by the Greek Navy on February 15, 1939 as the flagship of the destroyer flotilla and was the most modern ship in the Greek Navy at the beginning of the Second World War.

German aerial photo of the Greek naval base in Salamis in April 1941. Vasilefs Georgios lies in the flooded floating dock (left).

During the Greco-Italian War (October 1940 – April 1941) she provided escorts for convoys and took on 14./15. November 1940 and 4th / 5th January 1941 took part in the first and third of three Greek night raids against Italian shipping in the Strait of Otranto .

When the German Wehrmacht attacked Greece in 1941 , the ship was heavily damaged in a German air raid on April 14, 1941, anchored in the Bay of Sofiko in the Saronic Gulf . Frigate captain Pyrros Lappas (Πύρρος Λάππας) was still able to bring his ship to Salamis , where it went into floating dock . Due to the surrender of Greece on April 23 and the subsequent rapid occupation of the country by German and Italian troops, the repair work could no longer be completed, and the ship and the floating dock were agrounded by the Greeks.

Navy

The Germans lifted the destroyer, made it operational again and put it into service on March 21, 1942 as ZG 3 . The Z stood for "destroyer", the G for "Greece". He was subordinated to the Marine Group Command South "Admiral Agäis" and was the only German destroyer in the entire Mediterranean . The boat operated in 1942 mainly as an escort for the ship convoys between Italy and Tunis , which brought supplies for the German and Italian troops in North Africa. On August 22nd, the boat was given the additional name Hermes .

On April 21, 1943, the Hermes was able to sink the attacking British submarine HMS Splendid ( 40 ° 30 ′ 0 ″  N , 14 ° 15 ′ 0 ″  E ) off Capri . A few days later, on April 30, 1943, the Hermes was on its way to Tunis again with the Italian destroyer RN Leone Pancaldo when both were attacked by Allied bombers. The Leone Pancaldo sank after heavy bomb hits, 156 men of her 280 men strong crew lost their lives. The Hermes , most of whose survivors had been taken on board by the Italian hospital ship Aquileia , was towed to La Goulette with engine damage . On May 7, 1943, the Hermes was sunk as a barrier in the approach of Allied troops in the port entrance of La Goulette. ( 36 ° 46 ′ 0 ″  N , 10 ° 21 ′ 0 ″  E )

Commanders

Greek Navy
  • Frigate Captain Pyrros Lappas (Πύρρος Λάππας): February 15, 1939 - April 23, 1941
Navy

Both German commanders were awarded the Knight's Cross during their service on the destroyer .

literature