Z 25
 Narvik-class dual turret
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Z 25 was a 1936A destroyer ofthe German Navy . The first missions took place in 1941 from Kirkenes in the North Sea . In April 1942, Z 25 was involved in the attack on the Edinburgh , which led to the loss of the British cruiser. The destroyer was last used in the Baltic Sea. It survived the World War and was handed over to France in February 1946 andput into serviceby the French Navy as Hoche . In 1958 the former Z 25 was separated and canceled until 1962.
Building history
The destroyer Z 25 was the third boat of the 1936A type ordered in May 1938. All eight boats of the class originated in the work of the Weser the Deschimag . Construction of the first boat began in 1938 and was launched in 1939 after the start of the war. The keel of Z 25 was laid on February 15, 1939 and the boat was launched on March 16, 1940. The type 1936A was a further development of the type 1936 and corresponded to the predecessors in the basic design. With a length of 127 m over all and 121.9 m in the waterline, the boats were slightly longer, were up to 12.0 m wide and had a maximum draft of 4.5 m. All received the so-called Atlantic bow . The standard displacement of Z 25 was 2543 ts or 3543 ts when fully equipped. The Deschimag geared turbines had a maximum output of 70,000 hp , which enabled the boat to reach a top speed of over 36 knots . The steam generation for the turbines took place in six high pressure boilers from the Wagner system. The first five new boats could hold a little more propellant oil with 791 tons and had a range of 2500 nautical miles at 19 knots. In contrast to the previous destroyers, the newbuildings received two rudders in the screw current, which improved their maneuverability. The planned improvement of the seaworthiness through the Atlantic bow and changes to the hull did not bring the expected success. In particular, the very heavy double tower on the fore ship had a negative effect.
Reinforced armament
The main difference of the 1936A was the reinforcement of the armament on 15 cm L47 torpedo boat cannons of the C36 model. The caliber was already installed on the 1916 torpedo boats during World War I , but they were no longer used before the end of the war. Only two of the twelve planned boats could be completed and served for a few years in the French Navy as Amiral Sénès and in the Italian Navy as Premuda . The subsequent builds of both navies, however, received guns with a smaller caliber.
The two front 15 cm guns were to be set up in a (double) turret. The production of these towers was delayed considerably and did not keep pace with the production of the destroyer hulls and their other equipment. So none of the eight boats was finished with the twin tower. In its place, a single gun was temporarily set up on the base of the tower. As with the previous destroyers, three 15 cm individual guns were set up on the stern. The anti-aircraft armament consisted of two 3.7 cm anti-aircraft twin guns as in the predecessors, but only five 2 cm automatic cannons of the model 38 . There were also two quadruple 53.3 cm torpedo tube sets , four depth charges on the sides of the aft deckhouse and, if necessary, up to 60 mines .
In September 1942, the Z 25 was converted to the 15 cm twin turret as the second 1936A destroyer. Like all destroyers of the class, the anti-aircraft armament of the Z 25 was reinforced by a 2 cm Flak Vierling 38 , to which a second was added in early 1943. At the beginning of 1945, the Z 25 was ready for action with significantly increased air defense (Barbara armament). The 15 cm single gun in front of the aft deckhouse and the five 2 cm single guns were removed and replaced by six 37 mm L57 single guns M / 43 and four 20 mm L65 twin guns C / 38, so that the destroyer can be fitted with a 15 -cm double turret at the bow and two single guns at the stern had ten 37-mm anti-aircraft guns (two twin, six single guns) and sixteen 20 mm flak (two quadruple, four twin guns).
Mission history
Z 25 was assigned to the 8th destroyer flotilla upon commissioning. First in command was Corvette Captain Heinrich Gerlach . The operational destroyer moved from Kiel to Bergen on June 26, 1941 . During the transfer march he had a serious grounding near Haugesund , during which both propellers were bent and damage was caused to the hull . The boat had to be returned to the shipyard for repairs. The repaired destroyer was assigned at the end of September 1941 under its new commander Korvettenkapitän Heinz Peters to the northern group of the "Baltenflotte" under Vice Admiral Ciliax , which on 23 September with the battleship Tirpitz , the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer , the light cruisers Nuremberg and Cologne and the sister boats Z 26 and Z 27 and the torpedo boats T 2 , T 5 , T 7 , T 8 , T 11 as well as a few speedboats from Swinoujscie pushed into the Åland Sea to combat any activities of the Soviet fleet. After the successful attacks by Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 under Lieutenant Colonel Dinort on the ships of the Baltic Fleet , the two heavy units ran back again. The destroyers stayed with Ciliax's new flagship Nuremberg for protection at the exit of the Finnbusen until they too were withdrawn to Gotenhafen on October 1st .
On November 28th, Z 25 took over mines in Aarhus and then moved to Drontheim with the sister boats Z 27 , Z 23 and the Paul Jacobi as well as the speedboat escort ship Tanga .
Use in the North Sea
From December 16 to 18, 1941, the Z 25 advanced in the 8th destroyer flotilla under Captain Pönitz with the Z 23 , Z 24 and Z 27 against the Kola coast . When the flotilla boat Z 26 broke down due to an engine failure, the flotilla chief switched to Z 25 . On the 17th, the four destroyers encountered the British minesweepers Hazard and Speedy , which had set sail for picking up the northern sea convoy PQ 6 , 14 nm off the coast and were mistakenly referred to as Russian destroyers of the Gnevny class . The Speedy received four hits, the Hazard was undamaged. The two minesweepers escaped the German attackers, who did not discover the seven freighters of the convoy secured by the cruiser Edinburgh and the destroyers Echo and Escapade .
The flotilla stationed in Kirkenes carried out further reconnaissance, security and escort trips. On January 13, 1942, the Z 25 was again the master boat of the 8th destroyer flotilla and secured the Z 23 and Z 24 , which laid four mine barriers with 100 EMC in the western fairway of the White Sea at Cape Kachovskij. On January 27, the destroyer's first mission in the North Sea ended and he moved from Kirkenes to Brest in France .
Relocation of the heavy units
On February 12, 1942 secured Z 25 with the destroyers Z 29 (flagship FdZ , Rear Admiral Erich Bey ), Richard Beitzen (with the head of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla, Captain Berger ), Paul Jacobi , Friedrich him and Hermann Schoemann the outbreak the battleships Scharnhorst (flagship of the BdS Vice Admiral Ciliax) and Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen from Brest through the English Channel and the southern North Sea to Germany ( company Cerberus ).
Because of the damage to the two battleships caused by mine hits, their relocation to Norway ( Operation Sportpalast ) was delayed , for which only the heavy cruisers Prinz Eugen and Admiral Scheer Brunsbüttelkoog left on February 21 . In addition to Z 25 , the destroyers Richard Beitzen , Paul Jacobi , Hermann Schoemann and Friedrich Ihn secured the association. British scouts captured the ships in the southern North Sea, but one of the contactors was shot down by German fighters . Only one of the bombers that was dispatched found the unit, which threw its bombs next to the Prinz Eugen and was then shot down. On February 22nd, the Germans ran to refuel in the Grimstadfjord, from which they left the same evening. The Richard Beitzen , Friedrich Ihn and Paul Jacobi were released to Bergen because of the bad weather, while the heavy cruisers with the Z 25 and the Hermann Schoemann continued to Drontheim on the 23rd . From a British submarine group set up off the coast there, only the Trident came up to the unit and scored a torpedo hit on the stern of the Prinz Eugen . Attempts by the Home Fleet under Admiral Tovey to intercept the German ships on their march north with the aircraft carrier Victorious or surface units failed.
Further missions in the North Sea
When the Tirpitz left the archipelago for the first time on March 6, 1942 to attack a British convoy, the Z 25 belonged to her security alongside the Friedrich Ihn , the Paul Jacobi , the Hermann Schoemann and two torpedo boats. The Paul Jacobi and the two torpedo boats had to be released early, and the bad weather did not allow aerial reconnaissance . The convoys PQ 12 and QP 8 were not found, QP 8 was passed ignorant very close. Only the Soviet straggler Izora (2815 GRT ) was sunk by Friedrich Ihn . The Home Fleet under Tovey, which is also at sea, did not discover the German battleship and its companions until March 9; an attack of twelve Albacore - torpedo aircraft of the Victorious however, and a submarine attack were unsuccessful. Eight British destroyers waited in vain for the German unit off Bodø , as the latter marched back more slowly than expected. On March 13, the German units returned to their berths near Trondheim.
From March 19 to March 27, the 8th destroyer flotilla marched with Z 24 , Z 25 and Z 26 from Trondheim back to Kirkenes. On the following day the three destroyers were deployed against convoy PQ 13 , which a BV 138 of 2. / KFlGr 406 had discovered on the 27th . The convoy had been fairly dispersed by heavy storms. He was secured by the cruiser Trinidad , the destroyers Eclipse , Fury , the destroyer escort Lamerton as well as two anti- submarine trawlers and three former Norwegian whaling boats , of which the Sulla had sunk in the storm. From Murmansk , the British destroyer Oribi and the Soviet destroyers Gremyashchi and Sokrushitelny joined the reorganizing convoy.
On their search, the German destroyers first encountered the dispersed freighter Bateau (4687 GRT), which Z 26 sank. When visibility was poor and the snow was blowing, they came across Trinidad and Fury running in front of the convoy . The British cruiser shot Z 26 incapable of maneuvering. A torpedo then fired by the Trinidad as a catch shot turned into a circle and hit the cruiser itself, which, however, could still be brought into Murmansk. Z 24 and Z 25 were able to save 88 men from the sinking Z 26 ; 240 men were killed on line 26 . The two boats hit the Eclipse hard in the ongoing battle (23 dead) and then escaped to Kirkenes after brief exchanges of fire with the Oribi and the Sokrushitelny .
The next use of Kirkenes destroyer took place against the April 10, 1942, fifteen vans from Kolafjord expired Convoy QP 10 with the destroyers Hermann Schoeman , Z 24 and Z 25 , who sought in vain for the convoy, although aircraft and submarines successfully attacked the convoy. The destroyers of the 8th destroyer flotilla also failed to find the countercurrent PQ 14 in the bad weather.
Even against the Rückgeleitzug QP 11 with 13 ships, who left on April 28, Murmansk, the destroyer ran Hermann Schoeman (with the head of the 6th Destroyer Flotilla, Captain Schulze-Hinrichs , on board), Z 24 and Z 25 from . Obstructed by ice and repeatedly pushed aside by British destroyers and the Corvette Snowflake , they only managed to damage the Soviet freighter Tsiolkovski (2847 GRT) and the destroyer Amazon . The destroyers then searched Edinburgh , immobilized by a torpedo hit by U 456 , the security of which had been reinforced by the Soviet guard ship Rubin , a tug and the British mine sweepers Harrier , Niger , Gossamer and Hussar of the Halcyon class . During the attack on the cruiser on May 2, 1942, the Hermann Schoemann was badly hit by the Edinburgh . In heavy fighting, severely hampered by snow showers and a haze of smoke, the Z 24 and Z 25 severely damaged the Forester and the Foresight and the Z 25 scored a hit at 7:02 am amidships on the port side of the Edinburgh . The new destruction made the cruiser unsaved, so it had to be abandoned and sunk by the foresight . When the Soviet destroyers Gremyashchi and Sokrushitelny came to the rescue, the Germans withdrew. Z 24 and U 88 saved most of the crew of Hermann Schoemann . Z 25 secured the takeover of the castaways. She had received a 12 cm hit in the radio room (four dead, seven injured). She moved back to Trondheim and from there to Kiel from May 16 to 18 with the emergency repaired Prinz Eugen . At the Deschimag in Wesermünde the destroyer was repaired and received the double turret developed for the class for the single gun on the forecastle.
On November 11, 1942, the Z 25 , which was operational again, moved together with the light cruiser Nuremberg from Swinoujscie to Trondheim. From January 15 to 19, 1943, the Z 25 with the Friedrich Ihn , the Paul Jacobi , the Z 24 and the Karl Galster searched the North Sea unsuccessfully for Norwegian cargo ships attempting to break through from Gothenburg to Great Britain; the majority of the Norwegians had broken off the attempt knowing the German reaction. From January 23, 1943, another attempt was made to move the battleship Scharnhorst and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen from the Baltic Sea to Norway. The Paul Jacobi , Z 24 and Z 25 ran towards the association from Kristiansand . When British reconnaissance pilots discovered the formation on January 25, the heavy units broke off the relocation march and the destroyers ran to Kristiansand. On their way to Bergen, the Paul Jacobi , the Erich Steinbrinck , Z 24 and Z 25 were attacked by British torpedo pilots.
On February 8, 1943, the destroyers of the 8th Destroyer Flotilla received the order to move to the Bay of Biscay . They ran first to Kristiansand and began on March 5 with Z 23 , Z 24 , Z 25 , Z 32 and Z 37 the march from the North Sea through the channel into the Biscay under Captain Erdmenger . Before Dover , the flotilla was shot at by British coastal artillery and attacked unsuccessfully by MTBs . The flotilla reached Le Havre on March 6th, Cherbourg on March 7th and Bordeaux on March 8th . Because of a machine failure, the Z 25 had to return to the shipyard in Wesermünde. On April 22, 1943, she went back to Norway, but returned to Germany in August for a scheduled shipyard layover. During the subsequent tests in the Baltic Sea, she suffered a hit from the bottom of the mine, which severely damaged the port engine.
Operations in the Baltic Sea
The destroyer was not operational again until 1944. On February 13, 1944, the Z 25 moved with the Z 35 and T 30 to Reval and remained in service in the Baltic Sea until the end of the war. On March 12, Z 25 , Z 28 and Z 39 of the 6th Destroyer Flotilla under Captain Kothe's sea fire shelled Soviet positions near Hungerburg near Narva . From March 13 to April 26, the destroyers were involved in six missions with Z 25 , Z 28 , Z 35 and Z 39 in the renewal of the sea urchin barriers in the Gulf of Finland . By May 20, the destroyers, mine ships and smaller vehicles had laid out a total of 7,599 mines and 2,795 anti-blocking agents. On April 21, the mine ship Roland was lost on its own lock. Despite the promise of the Finnish President Ryti reject any separate peace with the Soviet Union, the heavy cruiser ran Lutzow and the destroyers Z 28 , Z 25 , Z 35 and Z 36 on June 28, according to Utö to the German occupation of the Aaland Islands prepare . The company ("Tanne West") was postponed and later given up completely. The 6th Destroyer Flotilla, stationed in Turku , moved on July 30th / 1. August 1944 with Z 25 , Z 28 , Z 35 and Z 36 to Riga to prepare coastal bombardments in support of the army.
On 20./21. On August 2nd, the destroyers in the 2nd Combat Group with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen under Vice Admiral Thiele on the Gulf of Riga near Tukkum shelled broken heads of the Red Army . With the support of the naval artillery, a land connection to the severed Army Group North could be re-established.
After Finland demanded the withdrawal of German troops from Finland on September 2, the Germans tried to stop supplies that had left Finland. Z 25 was able to land the Finnish steamer Najaden northwest of Dagö . The steamer coming from Danzig was brought to Riga and eight tanks, trucks and the coal cargo were unloaded before the ship was allowed to continue its journey.
On September 23, Z 25 with Z 28 and the 3rd torpedo boat flotilla with T 20 , T 13 , T 17 and T 19 secured the last German convoy with more than 9,000 people on the training ship Hansa (ship 5, ex British Glengarry ), four transporters and the hospital ship Oberhausen from Reval , which was additionally secured on the further journey by the Prinz Eugen , the Lützow , Z 35 and Z 36 . On the 21st, Z 25 and Z 28 evacuated 370 refugees from Baltischport to Libau . On the following day, the destroyer again secured the last four transporters from Finland with Wehrmacht personnel and goods to Gotenhafen with the Z 28 . This was followed by transports of army personnel from Gotenhafen to Memel and back of naval helpers. Z 25 was attacked against Soviet troops who broke through between Libau and Memel to the Baltic Sea on 11/12. Used in October 1944 with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen and the Z 35 and Z 36 . Z 25 probably suffered screw damage from a torpedo patrol shot, and bunker leaks from on-board gun fire from Soviet pilots and had to be taken to a shipyard.
When the 8th destroyer flotilla “Narvik” was re-established on November 4, 1944, the flotilla chief Heinrich Gerlach, the first in command of the Z 25 , first put his stand on it and then switched to the Z 35 on November 20 . From November 19 to 21, 1944, the Z 25 was used for the first time in the Thiele combat group with the Prinz Eugen and the destroyers Z 35 , Z 36 and Z 43 in the bombardment of land targets near Sworbe . Z 25 also took part in the air security of the Admiral Scheer, who was arriving to relieve .
The next missions of the Z 25 did not take place until the end of January 1945 in Combat Group 2 / Thiele with the Prinz Eugen , the Paul Jacobi and the torpedo boats T 1 , T 12 , T 23 , T 33 and T 35 (later also the Admiral Scheer , Z 34 , T 28 , T 36 ) during artillery support for various German bridgeheads on Samland .
From mid-February, Z 25 primarily secured refugee escorts between Gotenhafen and Saßnitz , for example Germany on 18/19, Pretoria on 23/25 and Hamburg on 26/27. February. On March 26, 1945, Z 25 with the Paul Jacobi escorted the Potsdam , the Goya and the Kanonier with around 22,000 refugees and wounded to Copenhagen . From mid-April onwards, Z 25 in Copenhagen was out of action due to a lack of fuel.
Last evacuation trips
Z 25 was one of the ships outside the territorial waters when the capitulation came into force in Northwest Germany and Denmark, which took 45,000 refugees on board in Hela on May 5, 1945 and brought them to Copenhagen. Like other fast warships unloaded in the roadstead on May 7th, she called at Hela again and took on board other soldiers and refugees who were disembarked in the Bay of Kiel on May 10th. The destroyer decommissioned that day.
Commanders
| 11/30/1940 to 7/1941 | KK Heinrich Gerlach | last Vice Admiral ( German Navy ) |
| 07-09-1941 | KL / KK Kurt Haun IO (deputy) | |
| 09.1941 to 07.1943 | KK / FK Heinz Peters | |
| 07/08/1943 | KK Heinz Birnbacher | Rear Admiral ( German Navy ) |
| 08-12.1943 | KL Alexander Opalka IO (deputy) | |
| 12.1943 to 10.05.1945 | KK / FK Alfred Gohrbandt |
Post-war use
On June 16 and 17, 1945, the Z 25 moved to Wilhelmshaven with German machine personnel and a British guard . On 4th / 5th January 1946 the destroyer moved to Rosyth , where the Royal Navy took over the destroyer on January 6, 1946. On February 2, 1946, the boat was handed over to France in Cherbourg and put into service as Hoche on February 4 . It was named after the revolutionary general Lazare Hoche . At the same time Z 31 was adopted as Marceau , Z 5 Paul Jacobi as Desaix and Z 6 Theodor Riedel as Kleber . The four destroyers formed the 1st DCT (division de contre torpilleurs). The destroyers were decommissioned from 1948 for modernizations, most recently the Hoche (T02) on January 1, 1949.
From January 1950 to March 1953 the boat was completely modernized. On October 16, it was put back into service as a fast escort ship with the registration D-602 and then used in the Mediterranean . The 15 cm twin turret on the forecastle was replaced by a single gun. The German anti-aircraft armament was removed except for two 20-mm twin guns in the bridge area; for the other anti-aircraft guns eight 40 mm / L60 guns from French production came on board, which were set up in pairs next to each other in front of the bridge, in front of and behind the rear funnel and on the rear deckhouse. The German torpedo tubes were exchanged for two French 55 cm triplet sets. In addition, the Hoche received a new radar system . In 1956 the destroyer came to the port reserve in Toulon . Sold for demolition in 1958, the boat was then scrapped in 1961/62.
literature
- Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung [arr.]: The ships of the German Navy and Air Force 1939–1945 and their whereabouts. Bernard & Graefe, Bonn 2000 (9th, revised and expanded edition), ISBN 978-3763762156 .
- Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships: Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford.
- Wolfgang Harnack: Destroyers under the German flag: 1934 to 1945. Koehler, Hamburg 1997 (3rd, revised edition), ISBN 3-7822-0698-3 .
- Volkmar Kühn: Torpedo boats and destroyers in action 1939–1945. The fight and destruction of a weapon. Flechsig, Würzburg 2006 (6th, ext. A. special edition), ISBN 978-3881896375 .
- Anthony Preston: Superdestroyers - the German Narvik type 1936. Warship special2, Conway maritime press, Greenwich (1978), ISBN 0-85177-131-9 .
- Jürgen Rohwer , Gerhard Hümmelchen : Chronicle of the naval war 1939-1945. Manfred Pawlak Verlags GmbH (Herrsching 1968), ISBN 3-88199-0097 .
- Mike J. Whitley: Destroyers in World War II: Technique - Class - Types. Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 978-3613014268 .
Web links
- Germany 15 cm / 48 (5.9 ") Tbts KC / 36 and KC / 36T at navweaps.com (English, accessed October 9, 2015)
- Germany 3.7 cm / L83 (1.5 ") SK C / 30 on navweaps.com (accessed April 29, 2014)
- Germany 2 cm / 65 (0.79 ") C / 30 and C / 38 on navweaps.com (English, accessed April 29, 2014)
- "1936A" type destroyers (1940-1941) (accessed October 7, 2015)
- HOCHE destroyer (accessed October 17, 2015)
Individual evidence
- ^ Preston: Superdestroyers , p. 72.
- ^ Preston, p. 64.
- ↑ a b Preston, p. 65.
- ^ Preston, p. 63.
- ^ Preston, p. 67
- ↑ a b c d Hildebrand et al .: The German warships. Volume 6, p. 75.
- ↑ Hildebrand et al .: The German warships. Volume 5, p. 24.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Hildebrand et al., Volume 6, p. 76.
- ↑ Hildebrand et al. a .; Volume 6, p. 16.
- ↑ 32 men died on the Trinidad . After an emergency repair in Murmansk, the again damaged cruiser had to be sunk on the march back to Great Britain.
- ↑ Service history HMS Eclipse
- ^ WAR DIARY German Naval Staff Operations Division
- ↑ In 1797 the French general was the first chief of the Cisrhenan Republic formed on the territory of the German Empire .
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