Destroyer 1934
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The Destroyer 1934 was a destroyer class of the Kriegsmarine during World War II . The name refers to the year the keel was laid for the first ship, the first German destroyer. From 1934 to 1937 a total of 16 Destroyer 1934 and 1934A boats were built.
The first four units Z 1 to Z 4 belonged to the destroyer class 1934 , the rest to the destroyer class 1934A . The first group differed from the second in the so-called shear ducts on the forecastle, the upper end of which was rounded off in a quarter circle. This was reminiscent of the characteristic appearance of the torpedo boats of the First World War. The 1934 type initially had a smaller bridge with a semicircular front. This was exchanged for the 1934A type before the war began.
technology
The destroyers in 1934 were technically much more complex and therefore more complex than the British ships from the same period. With a displacement of up to 3,250 tons, they were also larger than most other destroyers. However, the high standard of shipbuilding meant that relatively few boats of this class could be built due to the high costs and the long construction time. In addition, the approach to equipping with technology was too optimistic, because the modern technology was in some cases not yet fully developed. This path was also continued with the successor classes. The result was that Germany had few destroyers at the beginning of World War II and could not compensate for the heavy losses during the invasion of Norway in April 1940.
hull
With the first four destroyers, there was no rise in the deck towards the bow, so that the already low freeboard and the cut of the bow let the ships dip heavily with the forecastle in heavy seas. Furthermore, a storage wedge was installed, which was supposed to improve the handling characteristics, but which pushed the stern up and thus down the bow, which exacerbated the previously existing problems with immersion. Ultimately, the storage wedges were removed again and the bow shapes of the first four ships of the 1934 type were changed so that they corresponded to those of the 1934A type.
drive
In contrast to the destroyer in 1936 , the propulsion system was not fully developed; so there were sometimes very serious problems with the overpressure boilers of the Benson design , which sometimes interrupted the use of the ships for months due to a defect. If everything worked, a high speed of 36 knots was achieved. One of the disadvantages of the boats was the unsatisfactory stability at sea due to too high a center of gravity . To mitigate these consequences, consumption restrictions for heating and fuel oil of 135 to 325 tons, for stocks of 650 to 740 tons, were ordered. That limited their radius of action.
Armament
The main armament was five 12.7 cm SK C / 34 guns in single mounts with protective shields along the longitudinal axis. Guns A and E were mounted at deck level , guns B and D on the superstructure behind and in front of it. As a result, the inner gun could overshoot the outer one (so-called excessive end position). Gun C was set up on the same deckhouse as D only in the direction of travel, which is why it could not fire directly in the direction of travel or astern.
At the time of commissioning, four 3.7 cm SK C / 30s in two gyro-stabilized double mounts (Dopp.L. C / 30) were asymmetrically arranged amidships for air defense in all units . In addition, six 2 cm Flak C / 30 in single mounts (MPL C / 30), two on each side on the forecastle and two on the aft protective deck. The surviving units should go through the "Barbara" program at the end of the war, in which the anti-aircraft equipment should be standardized. This comprised six 3.7 cm Flak 43 in double mounts (two each in front of the bridge amidships and instead of the cannon C), nine 2 cm Flak C / 38 (one single mount at the bow, one double mount each in the bridge cam and one Quads aft). The circumstances of the war prevented a complete implementation of this planning and therefore the flak armament of the still existing destroyers varied.
Further armament included two quadruple torpedo tube sets in caliber 53.3 cm for torpedoes of the type G7a , up to 60 sea mines could be accommodated, which were stored on deck and transported via a rail system to two landing ramps at the stern, and the anti-submarine equipment existed from four depth charges .
Sensors
Two optical rangefinders were used on board to direct the fire of the artillery , one on the bridge structure, the second on a platform behind the second chimney. For submarine hunts, a sonar swiveling by 160 ° was used, which covered a range from 10 ° to 170 °, which, in contrast to the British Asdic (which could only be swiveled by 45 °), helped to accurately determine the depth of submerged submarines determine. This made more precise depth charges possible.
All destroyers still existing after April 1940 were equipped with radio measuring devices ( radar ) of the type FuMO 29 "Seetakt" . But it was not until the end of 1944 that improved equipment became available and the Paul Jacobi , Theodor Riedel and Hans Lody were equipped with a second FuMO 63 "Hohentwiel K" device aft of the aft chimney . Even this device was already outdated at this point and could neither be used for air warning nor as a fire control for the flak. The warning of enemy aircraft was therefore based largely on a wide-ranging radio measurement observation ( radar warning devices ), which picked up the impulses of the on-board radar devices of the Allied aircraft.
units
| Surname | Shipyard | Keel laying | Launch | Commissioning | Whereabouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type 1934 | |||||
| Z 1 Leberecht Maass | German works , Kiel | October 10, 1934 | August 18, 1935 | January 14, 1937 | February 22, 1940 Bomb hit by the German air force, then sunk by hit by mines |
| Z 2 Georg Thiele | October 25, 1934 | August 18, 1935 | February 27, 1937 | April 13, 1940 in Narvik scuttled | |
| Z 3 Max Schultz | January 2, 1935 | November 30, 1935 | April 8, 1937 | Sunk on February 22, 1940 after two mines hit | |
| Z 4 Richard Beitzen | January 7, 1935 | November 30, 1935 | May 13, 1937 | Handed over to Great Britain on January 15, 1946 | |
| Type 1934A | |||||
| Z 5 Paul Jacobi | Deschimag , Bremen | July 15, 1935 | March 24, 1936 | June 29, 1937 | Handed over to Great Britain on January 15, 1946, as Desaix to France |
| Z 6 Theodor Riedel | July 18, 1935 | April 22, 1936 | July 2, 1937 | Handed over to Great Britain on January 28, 1946, as Kléber to France | |
| Z 7 Hermann Schoemann | September 7, 1935 | July 16, 1936 | September 9, 1937 | Hit by HMS Edinburgh on May 2, 1942 and then scuttled | |
| Z 8 Bruno Heinemann | January 14, 1936 | September 15, 1936 | January 8, 1938 | Run into mine on January 25, 1942 and sunk | |
| Z 9 Wolfgang Zenker | Germania shipyard , Kiel | March 22, 1935 | March 27, 1936 | July 2, 1938 | Sunk April 13, 1940 in Narvik |
| Z 10 Hans Lody | April 1, 1935 | May 14, 1936 | September 13, 1938 | Surrendered to Great Britain on January 6, 1946 | |
| Z 11 Bernd von Arnim | April 26, 1935 | July 8, 1936 | December 6, 1938 | Sunk April 13, 1940 in Narvik | |
| Z 12 Erich Giese | May 3, 1935 | March 12, 1937 | March 4, 1939 | Hit by two torpedoes in Narvik on April 13, 1940, sunk | |
| Z 13 Erich Koellner | October 12, 1935 | March 18, 1937 | August 29, 1939 | Sunk April 13, 1940 in Narvik | |
| Z 14 Friedrich Ihn | Blohm & Voss , Hamburg | May 30, 1935 | November 15, 1936 | April 6, 1938 | Surrendered to the USSR on February 5, 1946 when Zorkyj was in service |
| Z 15 Erich Steinbrinck | May 30, 1935 | September 24, 1936 | May 31, 1938 | Transferred to the USSR on January 2, 1946, in service as Pylkij | |
| Z 16 Friedrich Eckoldt | November 4, 1935 | March 21, 1937 | July 28, 1938 | Sunk December 31, 1942 in the Battle of Sheffield in the Barents Sea | |
Calls
The first war operation took place on September 3, 1939 with a battle between Leberecht Maass and Wolfgang Zenker against Polish warships and a coastal battery. After the Leberecht Maass had to record one dead and three wounded by the hit of a 15 cm bullet, both boats broke off the engagement.
Between October 1939 and February 1940 destroyers of this class laid over 1,000 sea mines on the British east coast.
On December 7, 1939, after the completion of a mine-laying operation , Z 10 Hans Lody and Erich Giese located two British destroyers off the Bay of Cromer on the English east coast and attacked them with torpedoes at around 3 a.m. Erich Giese scored a torpedo hit on the Jersey , which was only put into service in April 1939 , but which could be towed and repaired.
In the course of the Wikinger company on February 22, 1940, a mistake led to the loss of Leberecht Maass and Max Schultz , who along with four other boats - Friedrich Eckoldt , Richard Beitzen , Erich Koellner and Theodor Riedel - were marching through a gap in the mine towards Doggerbank were. Assuming it was a British destroyer flotilla, a Heinkel He 111 of the German Air Force bombed Leberecht Maass, which was at the end of the keel line . During the following rescue maneuvers Leberecht Maass and Max Schultz ran into mines and sank. 270 men of Leberecht Maass and all 308 men of Max Schultz lost their lives; of the crew of the Leberecht Maaß only 60 could be rescued.
In the operation weserübung on April 9, 1940, Paul Jacobi , Theodor Riedel , Bruno Heinemann and Friedrich Eckoldt in the occupation of Trondheim involved.
The destroyers Georg Thiele , Wolfgang Zenker , Bernd von Arnim , Erich Giese and Erich Koellner belonged to the combat group which, under the leadership of Commodore Friedrich Bonte, transported mountain troops to occupy the ore port of Narvik . All ten boats of this combat group were lost in the course of two British counter-attacks on April 10 and 13 in the Narvik area, either by direct enemy action or by self-sinking, as they threatened capture after the ammunition and fuel had been exhausted.
Hermann Schoemann, under the leadership of Korvettenkapitän Heinrich Wittig and the chief engineer Kapitänleutnant Lorenz Böhmer, washit twice in the turbine rooms by the British light cruiser Edinburgh on May 2, 1942 during the attack on the Northern Sea Convoy QP 11 . The main steam supply line and the main condenser were destroyed, as a result of which both turbines and most of the electrical system failed. This meant that the guns could only be aimed by hand. Since Hermann Schoemann was no longer ready to sail and could not be recovered during the ongoing battle, the crew sanktheir destroyer themselves. It waspicked upby the destroyer Z 25 and the German submarine U 88 .
At the end of November 1941, the destroyers Hans Lody and Richard Beitzen, together with Karl Galster, badly damaged the British destroyer Javelin , which, however, could be repaired.
See also
literature
- Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945 . tape 2 : torpedo boats, destroyers, speedboats, minesweepers, mine clearance boats . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1999, ISBN 3-7637-4801-6 , pp. 89-93 .
- Mike J. Whitley: Destroyer in World War II . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01426-2 , p. 31-34 .
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ The Kriegsmarine referred to all vehicles up to and including destroyer size as "boats", regardless of the fact that they were mostly ships.
- ↑ Gröner: The German warships. Volume 2, p. 89.
- ↑ Harald Fock: Combat Ships. Naval shipbuilding in German shipyards. 1870 until today. Koehler, Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-7822-0624-X , p. 77
- ↑ Erich Gröner: The ships of the German Navy and Air Force 1939–1945 and their whereabouts. 8th edition, JF Lehmanns Verlag, Munich, 1976, p. 19.
Destroyer 1934: Z 1 Leberecht Maass | Z 2 Georg Thiele | Z 3 Max Schultz | Z 4 Richard Beitzen
Destroyer 1934A: Z 5 Paul Jacobi | Z 6 Theodor Riedel | Z 7 Hermann Schoemann | Z 8 Bruno Heinemann | Z 9 Wolfgang Zenker | Z 10 Hans Lody | Z 11 Bernd von Arnim | Z 12 Erich Giese | Z 13 Erich Koellner | Z 14 Friedrich Ihn | Z 15 Erich Steinbrinck | Z 16 Friedrich Eckoldt