Z 34

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Z 34 p1
Ship data
flag German EmpireGerman Empire (Reichskriegsflagge) German Empire
Ship type destroyer
class Destroyer 1936A (Mob)
Shipyard AG Weser ( Deschimag ), Bremen
Keel laying January 15, 1941
Launch May 5, 1942
Commissioning June 5, 1943
Whereabouts Sunk on March 26, 1946
Ship dimensions and crew
length
127 m ( Lüa )
120 m ( KWL )
Template: Infobox ship / maintenance / LppGroesserKWL
121.9 m ( Lpp )
width 12 m
Draft Max. 4.62 m
displacement 3597  t
 
crew 319 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 		35.9 kn (66 km / h)
propeller 2
Armament
Sensors
  • 2 wireless measuring devices Fu Mo 25
  • 1 radio measuring device Fu Mo 61 or 63
  • 1 radio monitoring device Fu MB 24

The destroyer Z 34 was built as type 1936A (mob) of the German navy during World War II . The ship was sunk in the North Sea on March 26, 1946.

history

construction

The keel was laid on January 15, 1941 at Deschimag -Werft AG Weser in Bremen and launched on May 5, 1942.

Mission history

After commissioning under Korvettenkapitän Karl Hetz on June 5, 1943, Z 34 was assigned to the 4th destroyer flotilla on the same day. After training the crew and remaining work in the shipyard, the destroyer moved from the Baltic Sea to Northern Norway at the beginning of November 1943 and joined the 4th Destroyer Flotilla there on November 7, 1943, which was assigned to the 1st combat group with the battleships Scharnhorst and Tirpitz .

The destroyer was not involved in any major combat during its stay in Northern Norway. Although he was with Operation Ostfront , the unsuccessful attack by a German warship group on the northern sea convoy JW 55B , he had no enemy contact.

On January 25, 1945, the 4th Destroyer Flotilla received the transfer order to the Baltic Sea. During the march back to the Baltic Sea in the association of the flotilla with the destroyers Z 31 and Z 38 , there was a battle with the British cruisers Diadem and Mauritius in Norwegian waters on January 28 , whereby Z 34 also carried out torpedo attacks on the British. In the calm sea, the destroyers were able to reach their maximum speed, ran away from the British cruisers and came under the protection of coastal batteries. When they opened fire, Diadem and Mauritius broke off the chase and returned to Scapa Flow . The German destroyers ran through the coastal waters to Bergen , from where the Z 34 and Z 38 went to sea again in the evening and reached Kiel on February 1, despite British air raids over Stavanger .

On February 5, 1945, Z 34 was assigned to the 2nd Combat Group, which was stationed in the Baltic Sea. In mid-February, the warship was docked in Gotenhafen for minor repairs and reinforcement of the anti-aircraft armament. From February 16, Z 34 was in escort for supply ships of the Eastern Front and refugee transports from the east to the west. From March 9th, the destroyer was involved in land target shelling against advancing Soviet troops, transported soldiers, wounded and refugees to the west (up to 1500 people per trip), carried security for its own small and large warships, freighters, hospital ships and refugee transports fended off enemy air strikes, with eight dead and 16 injured among the crew on April 15 and 16 by bomb fragments and the explosion of their own anti-aircraft ammunition.

On April 15 at 11.10 p.m. Z 34 was hit by a torpedo, which put half of the machinery out of operation. The destroyer then drove to Swinoujscie with the aid of towing . On April 17th it was ordered that a company for infantry combat was to be formed from the crew of Z 34 , which marched off to the front on April 21st. The remaining crew members helped the destroyer lying in the dock in Świnoujście with local shipyard workers to make it operational again. With the crew replenished by members of the heavy cruiser Lützow , the destroyer left on the day of the evacuation of Swinoujscie on May 5, 1945 with the staff of the commanding Admiral Westliche Ostsee as the last German warship to go west. All Soviet air strikes were successfully repulsed.

In the late evening of May 10, 1945, the Z 34 entered the British-occupied Kiel. The commander of the destroyer reported that "under scandalous circumstances we were robbed of our personal property by completely undisciplined soldiers and - unfortunately - officers of the Royal Navy and chased off board like criminals."

The End

Z 34 remained in Kiel for some time and was then moved to Wilhelmshaven as spoils of war , but was no longer intended for distribution to the victorious powers by the Tripartite Naval Commission because of the torpedo hit and was cannibalized for other German destroyers, which were sent to France and England as spoils of war , the USSR and the USA were extradited. Z 34 was sunk by the British on March 26, 1946 in the central North Sea loaded with ammunition to be disposed of in deep water.

literature

  • Rolf Güth: Destroyer Z 34 - A war diary from everyday life during the naval war from 1943 to 1945 , Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford 1980.

Web links