Z 22 Anton Schmitt

Z 22 Anton Schmitt

Ship data flag  German Empire Ship type destroyer class Destroyer 1936 Shipyard AG Weser ( Deschimag ), Bremen Keel laying January 3, 1938 Launch September 20, 1938 Commissioning September 24, 1939 Whereabouts Sunk on April 10, 1940

Ship dimensions and crew length 125 m ( Lüa ) 120 m ( KWL ) width 11.8 m Draft Max. 4.5 m displacement 3415  t   crew 323 men

Machine system machine 6 Wagner-Deschimag steam boiler 2 sets of Wagner-Deschimag steam turbines Machine performance 70,000 PS (51,485 kW) Top speed 36 kn (67 km / h) propeller 2

Armament 5 × Sk 12.7 cm L / 45 C / 34 4 × Flak 3.7 cm L / 83 C / 30 6 × flak 2.0 cm L / 65 C / 30 8 × torpedo tube Ø 53.3 cm 60 sea ​​mines

The destroyer Z 22 Anton Schmitt was the last destroyer of the Type 36 of the Kriegsmarine to be completed before the beginning of the Second World War . The boat was sunk on April 10, 1940 in the port of Narvik by two torpedo hits.

history

construction

The keel-laying of the ship took place on January 3, 1938 on the Deschimag -Werft AG Weser in Bremen and the launch on September 20, 1938. namesake of the destroyer was in the Battle of Jutland fallen mate Anton Schmitt .

career

After commissioning under Korvettenkapitän Friedrich Böhme on September 24, 1939, Z 22 (tactical identifier 41 ) was assigned to the 3rd Z flotilla on December 1, 1939 under frigate captain Hans-Joachim Gadow . The first use took place in the night of January 10th to 11th 1940 under the leader of the destroyers , Commodore Friedrich Bonte , in an offensive mine laying company off Newcastle , where the destroyers Wilhelm Heidkamp , Karl Galster and Richard Beitzen were next to Anton Schmitt and Friedrich Eckoldt were involved. On January 26, 1940, a leaky oil pipe led to a boiler room fire. The repair of the damage required a longer stay in the shipyard, so that the Z 22 was not ready for use again until the end of March 1940.

For the Weser Exercise company , the occupation of Norway in April 1940, Z 22 was assigned to Warship Group 1 under Commodore Bonte, which was supposed to bring 2000 German mountain troops under Major General Eduard Dietl to occupy the ore port of Narvik . The association consisting of ten destroyers expired on April 7, 1940, was spotted by British reconnaissance planes in the morning hours of the same day and later attacked, albeit unsuccessfully, by aviation associations. On the evening of April 8, the ten destroyers reached the entrance to the Vestfjord , and on the morning of April 9, they passed the Ramnes-Hamnes Strait. Z 22 disarmed the Norwegian guard boat Senja .

According to orders, the destroyers were supposed to start the march back immediately after disembarking their troops, but lack of fuel forced them to stay in Narvik. On the night of April 9-10, 1940, the British 2nd Z-Flotilla (2nd Destroyer Flottilla) under Captain Bernard Warburton-Lee managed to enter the fjord unnoticed by the Germans and at 05:30 the anchored To attack destroyers (→  Battle of Narvik ). After the danger had been recognized on Bontes flagship Wilhelm Heidekamp and when the alarm was about to be given, this ship was hit by a torpedo. The explosion tore away the entire aft ship. Shortly afterwards, two more torpedoes hit the Anton Schmitt . The destroyer broke apart and sank. 52 crew members were killed. Böhme, the commandant, survived.

The wreck is at position 68 ° 26 ′ 4 ″  N , 17 ° 22 ′ 40 ″  E, coordinates: 68 ° 26 ′ 4 ″  N , 17 ° 22 ′ 40 ″  E at a depth of about 23 meters and can be dived.

literature

• Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships. Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present . tape 1 : Ship biographies from Adler to Augusta . Mundus Verlag, Ratingen, S. 233–234 (Licensed edition by Koehler's Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg, approx. 1990).
• Harald Fock: Z-before. International development and war missions of destroyers and torpedo boats . 1914 to 1919 . Koehler Verlag, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-7822-0762-9 , p. 277 .
• Harald Fock: Z-before. International development and war missions of destroyers and torpedo boats in World War II . 1940 to 1945 . Koehler Verlag, Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-7822-0268-6 , p. 75 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships, biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present , Volume 1, ship biographies from Adler to Augusta . Mundus Verlag, Ratingen, p. 233.
2. ↑ Harald Fock: Z-before. International development and war missions of destroyers and torpedo boats in World War II 1940 to 1945. Koehler Verlag, Hamburg 1998, p. 75.
3. ↑ deutsches-marinearchiv.de
4. ↑ Wreck Anton Schmitt Z22 (Narvik) ( Memento from February 17, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )