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Kriegsmarine Destroyer

Z2 Georg Thiele - Zerstorer 1934

 

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Kriegsmarine

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 Special thanks to Michael Emmerich of www.german-navy.de for the use of images and information in this section.

Z2 Georg Thiele (1939)

History

The destroyers of the "Zerstörer 1934" class were the first four destroyers build in Germany after World War I.

Based on the same design principals as the torpedo boats, those ships showed some serious problems after completion, which was partly caused by the fast naval construction programs after 1933.  They were very bad seagoing ships, like most other German vessels they took over a high amount of water during heavy seas, making their forward artillery unusable. Further they showed a structural weakness since the hull started to bend in heavy seas and were burdened with heavy vibrations produced by the engines.

Their high pressure turbine engines caused many problems during operations, which were limited by the short range of those ships. The idea was to equip the ships with the newly designed high pressure turbines because this system seemed to have several advantages about normal turbine systems - at least on the paper. Test installations on land were very promising, but when installed on board on the destroyers, the engines rooms got very crowded making maintenance very difficult.

Like all other German destroyers, they were all equipped for mine laying which was intensively used during the first months of the war.

Most ships of this class did not survive the second year of the war, two of them were even sunk by own bombers, but in their few operational months, they did some successful mining operations near the British coast.

 

Construction Data Dimensions Commanders
Laid down:     Deutsche Werke Kiel, 25.10.1934
Launched:     18.08.1935
Commissioned:     27.02.1937
Fate:     sunk on 13.04.1940
Costs:     13,7 Mio Reichsmark
 
Size (Max):     3156 t
Length (Total):     119,0 m
Length (Waterline):     114,0 m
Beam:     11,3 m
Draft:     4,23 m
Crew:     325
 
KK/FK Hartmann:     Feb 1937 - Aug 1938
KK v. Pufendorf:     Aug 1938 - Oct 1938
KK Wolff:     Oct 1938 - Apr 1940

 

Weapons

Armour and Aircraft

Engines & Performance

12,7 cm L/45 C/34 :     5
3,7 cm L/83 C/30:     4
2 cm MG L/65 C/30:     4-6
53,3 cm Torpedo tubes:     8
Mines:     60
 
 
Shafts:     2
Turbines:     2
Type:     Wagner Geared Turbines
Total Performance:     70000 shp
Speed:     36,0 kn
Range:     1900 sm at 19 kn
 

Operational History

Named after Georg Thiele, commander of the VII. torpedo boats half flottilla in WW1 who dies in a battle against superior British forces on 17.10.1914.

Z2 Georg Thiele was part of the 1st destroyer division at the outbreak of the war, operating in the Baltic Sea near Danzig, transferred to the North Sea after the Polnish campaign. During in Operation Weserübung  the Z2 Georg Thiele was part of the Kriegsschiffgruppe 1 heading for Narvik and was scuttled on 13.04.1940 in the Rombakkenfjord near Narvik after taking serious damaged in the first destroyer battle at Narvik against British destroyers.