Z 11 Bernd von Arnim
 The self-submerged Bernd von Arnim in 1940
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Z 11 Bernd von Arnim was a destroyer in the German Navy . It was named after the commander of the G 42 torpedo boat , Kapitänleutnant Bernd von Arnim (1885–1917), who died in the First World War when his boat was sunk on April 21, 1917.
General
The destroyer was on 8 July 1936, the shipyard number 537 on the Germania shipyard in Kiel on stack and was in the name of Bernd von Arnim baptized. The type 1934 A had a few modifications compared to the first destroyers built after the First World War. The ship floors were reinforced, bilge keels were added and the forecastle was lengthened by one meter and raised by half a meter. The most important distinguishing feature, however, was the right-angled transition of the shear duct in the area of the forecastle deck and a slightly less steep stem . Overall, the seaworthiness of the Type 1934 A still left a lot to be desired due to the low freeboard and poor longitudinal stability - a deficiency that was only remedied with the Type 1936 .
The Bernd von Arnim was put into service on June 8, 1938.
Mission history
After the usual fleet service, the Z 11 was used at the beginning of the war in the Bay of Danzig to block the Polish fleet , before moving to the North Sea at the end of September 1939, where it waged a trade war and was able to raise two Danish freighters destined for England as a prize. On November 17, 1939, the Bernd von Arnim took part in an offensive mine operation off the Thames estuary.
Z 11 took on army troops in Wesermünde for the Weser Exercise Company , the occupation of Norway , and ran out to Norway on April 6, 1940 , together with Warship Group 1 and the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau . During the crossing to the port of destination Narvik , the German unit got into heavy seas, had great problems keeping the course and was pulled far apart. On the morning of April 8, 1940, a rudder failure occurred on the Bernd von Arnim , which almost led to the destroyer's capsizing . Shortly afterwards, the British destroyer HMS Glowworm came into view and the two ships got into a fierce battle. It was only when the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper came to the rescue that the British destroyer could be sunk.
The Bernd von Arnim ran into the port of Narvik on April 9, 1940 as the first German warship and was shot at by the Norwegian coastal armored ship Norge while the mountain troops were being set down, which was then sunk by the German destroyer. After taking over the fuel from the supplier Jan Wellem , the Z 11 was ready for use again on April 10, 1940 and was together with the Georg Thiele in the Balangenfjord , west of Narvik. On the news of the British counterattack on the port of Narvik, the two German ships lifted anchor and attacked the five enemy destroyers, whereby the flotilla leader HMS Hardy and the destroyer HMS Hunter were so badly damaged that they had to be abandoned. The Bernd von Arnim received five hits during this battle and had two deaths.
By the evening of April 12, the combat damage had been repaired to such an extent that Z 11 was partially operational. In a second British attack on Narvik on April 13, 1940, in which the battleship Warspite was also involved, the Bernd von Arnim retreated to the Rombaksfjord after she had fired all her ammunition and was there together with the destroyer Hans Lüdemann and Wolfgang Zenker of the crews at 68 ° 24 '58 " N , 17 ° 53' 40" E self- sunk in order to capture the ships by the British prevent.
The crew of the ship was then deployed under their commander Curt Rechel until the beginning of June 1940 in the "Marine-Bataillon Arnim" (2 companies) in the Bjørnfjell section (on the Swedish border) to protect the ore railway to Narvik.
The wreck of the Bernd von Arnim was demolished in 1962.
Commanders
The sole commanding officer was Corvette Captain Curt Rechel from June 8, 1938 to April 13, 1940 .
literature
- Gerhard Koop, Klaus-Peter Schmolke: German Destroyers of World War II - Warships of the Kriegsmarine . Seaforth Publishing, 2014, p. 91.
Individual evidence
Destroyer 1934: Z 1 Leberecht Maass | Z 2 Georg Thiele | Z 3 Max Schultz | Z 4 Richard Beitzen
Destroyer 1934A: Z 5 Paul Jacobi | Z 6 Theodor Riedel | Z 7 Hermann Schoemann | Z 8 Bruno Heinemann | Z 9 Wolfgang Zenker | Z 10 Hans Lody | Z 11 Bernd von Arnim | Z 12 Erich Giese | Z 13 Erich Koellner | Z 14 Friedrich Ihn | Z 15 Erich Steinbrinck | Z 16 Friedrich Eckoldt