Z 27
 1936 A model
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Z 27 was a 1936A destroyer ofthe German Navy .
Building history
The destroyer Z 27 was the fifth boat of the 1936A type ordered in May 1938. All eight boats of the class originated in the work of the Weser the Deschimag . The keel was laid on December 27, 1939. The launch took place on August 1, 1940.
The two front 15 cm guns were to be set up in a twin turret. The production of these towers was delayed considerably. So a single gun was set up in its place.
Use in the Baltic Sea
Z 27 put into service on February 26, 1941. Although not yet fully ready for war, the destroyer was assigned to the northern group of the "Baltenflotte" under Vice Admiral Ciliax in September 1941 , which on 23 September with the battleship Tirpitz , the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer , the light cruisers Nuremberg and Cologne , the destroyers Z 25 and Z 26 , the torpedo boats T 2 , T 5 , T 7 , T 8 , T 11 as well as some speed boats advanced into the Åland Sea to combat possible Soviet naval forces there. After the successful attacks by Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 on the ships of the Soviet 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 Finnbus until they too were ordered back to Gotenhafen on October 1st .
Use in the North Sea
On November 24, 1941, Z 27 drove with Z 5 and Z 23 from Kiel to Aarhus and loaded mines there with the other destroyers . On November 29, 1941, Z 27 moved with Z 5 , Z 23 , Z 25 and the Tanga speedboat to Trondheim . From there, Z 27 moved to the 8th destroyer flotilla in Kirkenes .
On December 16, 1941, the 8th destroyer flotilla advanced with destroyers Z 23 , Z 24 , Z 25 , Z 26 and Z 27 against the Kola coast . On the 17th, the four destroyers encountered the British minesweepers Hazard and Speedy, which had set out to pick up the Northern Sea Convoy PQ 6 , 14 nm off the coast . The Speedy received four hits, the Hazard was undamaged. The two British minesweepers managed to escape.
From Kirkenes, the Z 27 drove back to Germany on January 5, 1942 with the Z 26, which had been forced to stay in the shipyard due to engine damage .
In May 1942, Z 27 moved back to Norway to Kampfgruppe II , an association of heavy German warships.
In mid-October 1942 the destroyer laid mines at the entrance to the White Sea together with Z 4 , Z 16 and Z 30 .
In early November drove Z 27 with Z 4 , Z 16 , Z 27 and the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper in companies hope an attack against the Soviet cruise to the Arctic Sea. Z 27 sank the Soviet U-fighter Bo 78 and the tanker Donbass .
On December 2, 1942, the Z 27 drove back to Germany for a stay in the shipyard at Deschimag in Bremen. In mid-June 1943 she drove back to Norway with the Z 30 . At the end of June she laid mines off southern Norway before rejoining combat group II in the northern Norwegian Altafjord .
At the beginning of September 1943, Z 27 took part in Operation Sicily , the attack by a German warship group on Svalbard . At the end of September the destroyer drove with Z 5 , Z 14 and 15 escorts for the heavy cruiser Lützow from Norway to Kiel.
Use in the Atlantic
On October 31, Z 27 set off together with ZH 1 on the voyage to France, which led via Rotterdam and Dunkirk and led to slight splinter damage to the ship by English coastal artillery on the Strait of Dover and to an unsuccessful battle with English motor torpedo boats off Cape Antifer on November 4, 1943, before reaching Le Verdon the next day .
Between December 23 and 26, 1943, Z 27 was part of the escort that brought the blockade breaker Osorno from Japan to Bordeaux .
On December 26, 1943, the Z 27 departed again, with the flotilla chief Captain Hans Erdmenger on board, as the lead ship for four other destroyers and six torpedo boats of the 4th torpedo boat flotilla, in order to safely bring in the Alsterufer blockade breaker from Japan . However, the Allies were informed by Ultra , the eavesdropping and deciphering of the German military radio traffic , of the Alsterufer , which had already been sunk the day before, and the deployment of the German security association. The German side, however, knew nothing of the sinking of the Alsterufer and the German warship association drove out into the Atlantic to pick up the ship, where the German association was intercepted by an English warship association consisting of the light cruisers Glasgow and Enterprise . The two cruisers succeeded in destroying parts of the German unit because the sea was rough and the cruisers were quieter in the sea than the smaller German units, which enabled relatively precise shooting. The Germans could not use their speed advantage in the heavy seas either. Z 27 shot two torpedo compartments at the English cruisers during the three-hour battle without getting a hit. The Z 27 and the two fleet torpedo boats T 25 and T 26 were sunk by the British. About 300 men, including Hans Erdmenger, went down with Z 27 .
Commanders
February 26, 1941 to August 1942 Corvette Captain Karl Smidt
August 1942 to December 26, 1943 Corvette Captain Günther Schulz
literature
- Ulrich Elfrath: German destroyers 1934–1945 - development deployment, whereabouts Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, Friedberg / H. without year.
- 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 .
- Gerhard Koop / Klaus-Peter Schmolke: The German Destroyers 1935-1945 , Bernard & Graefe, Bonn 1995.
- 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 special 2, 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)
Individual evidence
- ^ Preston: Superdestroyers , p. 72.
- ^ Preston, p. 67
- ↑ Hildebrand et al .: The German warships. Volume 5, p. 24.
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