Z39 in September 1945
Class overview
Operators	Kriegsmarine  French Navy  Soviet Navy  Royal Navy  United States Navy
Preceded by	Type 1936 destroyer
Succeeded by	Type 1936B destroyer
Subclasses	Type 1936A, Type 1936A (Mob)
Built	1938–1943
In commission	1940–1958
Completed	15
Lost	7
Retired	8
General characteristics (as built)
Type	Destroyer
Displacement	2,543–2,657long tons (2,584–2,700 t) (standard)
Length	127 m (416 ft 8 in) (o/a)
Beam	12 m (39 ft 4 in)
Draught	4.38–4.65 m (14 ft 4 in – 15 ft 3 in)
Installed power	6 ×water-tube boilers 70,000 PS (51,000 kW; 69,000 shp)
Propulsion	2 × shafts 2 × gearedsteam turbine sets
Speed	36knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range	2,600 nmi (4,800 km; 3,000 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Complement	321–335
Armament	4 × singleor 1 × twin and 3 × single15 cm (5.9 in) guns 2 × twin3.7 cm (1.5 in)AA guns 5–10 ×2 cm (0.79 in) AA guns 2 × quadruple 53.3 cm (21 in)torpedo tubes 4 ×depth charge throwers 60 ×mines

TheType 1936A destroyers, also known as theZ23 class, were a group of fifteendestroyers built for theNazi Germany'sKriegsmarine from 1938 to 1943. They were known to theAllies as theNarvik class. In common with other German destroyers launched after the start of World War II, the Narviks were unnamed, known only by their hull numbers –Z23 toZ39.

In terms of armament, they were closer to light cruisers than the typical destroyer. The use of 15 cm (5.9 in) guns was atypical of destroyers which tended to have guns around 120–127 mm (4.7–5.0 in) in calibre. They were intended to carry two forward guns in a twin turret, but as the twin turrets were not ready in time, early class 1936As carried a single mounted gun forward.

Despite being powerful the ships were not without their flaws. There were problems with the reliability of the high pressure steam engines and seakeeping in rough seas due to the newly designed bow and heavy forward artillery.

The eight ships of the Type 1936A design (Z23 toZ30) were all laid down between 1938 and 1940. The seven destroyers numbered fromZ31 toZ39 were classed as Zerstörer 1936A (Mob); they were laid down in 1940 and 1941 and were slightly larger and had some internal modifications (including engines that caused less trouble than with their predecessors) from the original design to shorten construction times.

The ships had anoverall length of 127 metres (416 ft 8 in) and were 121.9 metres (399 ft 11 in)long at the waterline. They had abeam of 12 metres (39 ft 4 in), and a maximumdraught of 4.38–4.65 metres (14 ft 4 in – 15 ft 3 in). They displaced 2,543–2,657 long tons (2,584–2,700 t) atstandard load and 3,519–3,691 long tons (3,575–3,750 t) atdeep load. The ship'shulls were divided into 16watertight compartments and they were fitted with adouble bottom that covered 47% of their lengthamidships.^[1] Their crew consisted of 11–15 officers and 305–20 sailors; when serving as a flagship an additional 4 officers and 19 sailors were assigned.^[2]

The Type 1936As were powered by two Wagner gearedsteam turbine sets, each driving a single three-bladed 3.2–3.35-metre (10 ft 6 in – 11 ft 0 in)propeller, using steam provided by six high-pressure Wagnerwater-tube boilers withsuperheaters that operated at a pressure of 70 atm (7,093 kPa; 1,029 psi) and a temperature of 450–480 °C (842–896 °F). The turbines were designed to produce 70,000metric horsepower (51,000 kW; 69,000 shp) for a speed of 36knots (67 km/h; 41 mph).^[3] The ships carried a maximum of 835 tonnes (822 long tons) offuel oil which gave a range of 2,600nautical miles (4,800 km; 3,000 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).^[4]

The main armament of the Type 1936A ships was intended to be five 45-calibre15-centimetre (5.9 in) TbtsK C/36 guns in a twin-gun turret forward and the three other guns in single mounts withgun shields aft of the mainsuperstructure, but delivery of the turrets was delayed and all of the Type 36A class was delivered with four single 15 cm guns with one gun forward and three aft.Z28 was the sole exception as its armament was arranged with two single mounts fore and aft.Z23,Z24,Z25 andZ29 were later fitted with the turret. All of the Type 36A (Mob) ships exceptZ31 were built with the turret and that ship received one later.^[5] The single mounts had a range of elevation from −10° to +30° while the guns in the turret could be elevated to 65°. The TbtsK C/36 gun fired 45.3-kilogram (100 lb) projectiles at amuzzle velocity of 835 m/s (2,740 ft/s) which gave them a maximum range of 21,950 metres (24,000 yd).^[6] The hand-loaded gun had a maximum rate of fire of 7–8rounds per minute and the ships carried a total of 480 shells for them.^[7]

Their anti-aircraft armament consisted of four 80-calibre3.7-centimetre (1.5 in) SK C/30 guns in two twin mounts abreast the aftfunnel.^[8] The power operated mounts had a maximum elevation of 85° which gave the guns a ceiling of 6,800 metres (22,300 ft); horizontal range was 8,500 metres (9,300 yd) at an elevation of 37.5°. The single-shot SK C/30 fired 0.748-kilogram (1.65 lb) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 1,000 m/s (3,300 ft/s) at a rate of 30 rounds per minute.^[9] The mounts were stabilized, but theirgyroscopes were undersized and could not cope with sharp turns or heavyrolling.^[10] They were also fitted with five to ten fully automatic 65-calibre2-centimetre (0.8 in) C/30 guns in quadruple and single mounts.^[8] The gun had an effective rate of fire of about 120 rounds per minute. Its 0.134-kilogram (0.30 lb) projectiles were fired at a muzzle velocity of 835 m/s (2,740 ft/s)^[11] which gave it a ceiling of 3,700 metres (12,100 ft) and a maximum horizontal range of 4,800 metres (5,200 yd).^[12]

The ships carried eight above-water 53.3-centimetre (21 in)torpedo tubes in two power-operated mounts. Two reloads were provided for each mount. The standard torpedo for the Type 36B destroyers was theG7a torpedo.^[13] It had a 300-kilogram (660 lb)warhead and three speed range settings: 14,000 metres (15,000 yd) at 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph); 8,000 metres (8,700 yd) at 40 knots (74 km/h; 46 mph) and 6,000 metres (6,600 yd) at 44 knots (81 km/h; 51 mph).^[14] They had fourdepth charge launchers and mine rails could be fitted on the rear deck that had a maximum capacity of 60mines. 'GHG' (Gruppenhorchgerät) passivehydrophones were fitted to detectsubmarines and aS-Gerätsonar was also probably fitted. The ships were equipped with aFuMO 24/25radar set above thebridge.^[15]

The class, including the 36A (Mob), consisted of 15 ships. All were built inBremen byAG Weser shipyard (part ofDeutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG/Deschimag) apart fromZ37,Z38 andZ39 which were built byGermania (Kiel).

• Brown, David K. (2000).Nelson to Vanguard: Warship Design and Development, 1923–1945. London: Chatham.ISBN 9781861761361.
• Campbell, John (1985).Naval Weapons of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
• Gröner, Erich (1990).German Warships 1815–1945. Vol. 1: Major Surface Warships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 0-87021-790-9.
• Koop, Gerhard & Schmolke, Klaus-Peter (2003).German Destroyers of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-59114-307-1.
• Whitley, M. J. (1991).German Destroyers of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 978-1-55750-302-2.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toZerstörer 1936A class destroyer.

• Rohwer, Jürgen (2005).Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
• Sieche, Erwin (1980). "Germany". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.).Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 218–254.ISBN 0-85177-146-7.

• Destroyer classes
• Type 1936A-class destroyers
• World War II destroyers of Germany

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• CS1: long volume value
• Commons category link is on Wikidata