Z 17 Diether von Roeder
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Z 17 Diether von Roeder was the first of six ships of the “ Destroyer 1936 ” class of the Kriegsmarine and type ship of the class. The boat was named after Kapitänleutnant Diether von Roeder von Diersburg , who fell in 1918 as a torpedo boat commander and chief of the 13th torpedo boat semi-flotilla.
history
Peace operations
The destroyer was put into service on August 29, 1938 in Bremen at the Deschimag -Werft AG Weser as a guide boat for the newly established 5th Destroyer Division. The captainleutnant / Kkpt was in command during the entire service life of the ship . Erich Holtorf.
After the usual training in peacetime, Diether von Roeder arrived at AG Weser in January 1939 to repair and remedy the last few defects. The ship was in the shipyard until February. In March it was used in the protection and control service for German deep-sea fishermen near Lofoten . On April 1, the Diether von Roeder paid an honorary visit in Wilhelmshaven at the christening of the battleship Tirpitz and took part in the subsequent naval parade off Heligoland .
From April 18 to May 16, 1939, she took part in a foreign trip by German naval forces to Spanish waters. At the beginning of July she undertook training trips in the Baltic Sea and then carried out a visit to Norway with the 5th Destroyer Division, which was assembled for the first time and consisted of three ships. In August she took part in fleet torpedo shooting exercises in the Baltic Sea.
First war missions
When the war broke out, the Diether von Roeder was ready for action in the Baltic Sea area with the 5th Destroyer Division under frigate captain Hans Hartmann. On September 4th, she moved to Wilhelmshaven to take over mines. Close-range bombs in a British air raid caused no damage. On the night of September 5 to 6, she participated in Group I in laying out the Siegfried Line mine barrier in the German Bight .
On the evening of September 28th, the Diether von Roeder ran out with six other destroyers for a trade war in the Skagerrak . A total of 58 foreign merchant ships were stopped and examined. On October 1, she arrived in Swinoujscie with the three other ships of the 1st Destroyer Division . On October 6th, the association returned to Wilhelmshaven through the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal . On October 8, she and four other destroyers gathered in the German Bight on the Gneisenau . She now belonged to an association led by Vice-Admiral Wilhelm Marschall , who reached the southern Norwegian coast on October 9th. The association returned to Kiel on October 10th . On October 17, she ran out with five other destroyers to carry out an offensive mining operation on the Humber . Arrived there on October 18th, she took part in the throwing action. In the afternoon she arrived in Wilhelmshaven, the next day she drove with the 5th Destroyer Division to Swinoujscie. Seven merchant ships later sank on the thrown mines. On December 1, 1939, the 5th Destroyer Division became the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla with five destroyers. From January 1940, the Diether von Roeder lay in the Germania shipyard in Kiel , due to the weather . On March 13th, after the end of her layover time in the shipyard, she started the march to Wilhelmshaven.
Weser exercise company
On April 4, 1940, the destroyer arrived in Wesermünde . At the Weser Exercise Company he belonged to Warship Group 1 under Commodore Friedrich Bonte . On April 6, he was loaded with material and 200 mountain fighters like the nine other destroyers of the group at the Columbuskaje . At 11 p.m. the ten destroyers cast off and gathered on the Lower Weser . On April 7, around 3 a.m., they met the ships of Warship Group 2 in the German Bight. During the march to Norway, Diether von Roeder and Friedrich Eckoldt formed the end of the German squadron.
On the evening of April 8th, Warship Group 1 was released into the Vestfjord to occupy Narvik . On the morning of April 9th, she entered the Ofotfjord . A collector closure due to seawater ingress caused the turbo generator on the Diether von Roeder to fail. This resulted in a rudder failure and the destroyer slowly turned to port for land. With the command "3 x AK back" he could be brought to a stop shortly before a shoal. After eliminating the disturbance, he followed the leading formation at high speed.
At 05:05, the Diether von Roeder reached the narrow Ramnes-Hamnes with some delay and moved into an outpost position at Barö. At 7:00 a.m. she stopped a Norwegian outpost boat here and sent it to Narvik. A second outpost boat could only be stopped after a warning shot had been given. At 10:35 a.m., a Swedish steamer was stopped, examined and sent to Narvik. At 12:21 p.m. the destroyer was released to Elvegaard. He arrived there at 1:40 p.m. and began landing the mountain troops he was carrying. After the end of this action, the Diether von Roeder arrived in Narvik at 6:50 p.m.
On April 10 at 4:00 a.m., she took over the security in front of the port entrance, replacing Anton Schmitt . At 5:20 a.m. she returned to Narvik with the onset of brightness due to a misunderstood order, long before the replacement by Hans Lüdemann . In the meantime, the British II Destroyer Flotilla with five destroyers under Captain Bernard Warburton-Lee penetrated the Ofotfjord unnoticed. The battle for Narvik began for the first time . Anton Schmitt and Wilhelm Heidkamp received heavy hits. On the Diether von Roeder , people initially believed in an air raid and fired disruptive fire into the air with anti-aircraft weapons until muzzle flashes were sighted in the direction of the port entrance. The silhouette of a British destroyer was made out and fired at with artillery and eight torpedoes . A total of five 12 cm artillery hits hit the Diether von Roeder . Two grenades hit the port oil bunker of boiler room II, whereupon a fire broke out. Another hit put the third gun out of action. When the steering gear failed, the commander, controlling the engines, brought the stern to the post pier at around 6:20 a.m. Unloading began there while the British destroyers withdrew.
In the next two days, among other things, the radio station was expanded and brought ashore. Despite the damage caused and the demolition, which had been prepared to be on the safe side, it seemed possible to get the destroyer fully operational again in a week.
On the afternoon of April 13, the British battleship Warspite entered the Ofotfjord with nine destroyers under the command of Vice Admiral William Whitworth . When the British unit finally reached Narvik after fighting the remaining German destroyers, Diether von Roeder , who was not ready to drive, was the only opponent. With the two front guns she took the destroyer Cossack under fire at a height of 80 m , which was set aground after several hits and later towed away.
The British did not recognize the boat moored by the stern at first and believed in the fire from coastal batteries. Apart from two artillery hits in the back, the Diether von Roeder received no hits. After the remaining ammunition had been fired, the crew disembarked. The two prepared for blowing up water balloons , it was hoped, in addition to British destroyer Foxhound damage that was about to leave to study alongside. A German MG shot at the British destroyer from a mountain position, which then broke off its docking maneuver and went backwards with the machines. A few seconds later, the depth charges detonated and the Diether von Roeder sank within two minutes.
In the fighting on April 10 and 13, 1940, a total of 16 men died on board the destroyer. The remainder of the crew was used in the ensuing battles on land to defend the port of Narvik and the ore railway from Sweden to Narvik in the Berger Marine Regiment .
literature
- Wolfgang Harnack: Destroyer under the German flag: 1934 to 1945 . 2. revised and exp. Edition, Herford: Koehler, 1994, ISBN 3-7822-0616-9
- Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German Warships , Mundus Verlag, Ratingen, 1979, ISBN 3-88385-028-4
Destroyer 1936: Z 17 Diether von Roeder | Z 18 Hans Lüdemann | Z 19 Hermann Künne | Z 20 Karl Galster | Z 21 Wilhelm Heidkamp | Z 22 Anton Schmitt
Destroyer 1936 A: Z 23 | Z 24 | Z 25 | Z 26 | Z 27 | Z 28 | Z 29 | Z 30
Destroyer 1936 A (Mob): Z 31 | Z 32 | Z 33 | Z 34 | Z 37 | Z 38 | Z 39