German Destroyer Z24

''Z24'' was one of fifteen Type 1936A destroyers built for the ''Kriegsmarine'' (German Navy) during World War II. Completed in 1940, the ship spent the first half of the war in Norwegian waters. She was very active in attacking the Arctic convoys ferrying war materials to the Soviet Union in 1941–1942, but only helped to sink one Allied ship herself.

After being rearmed in late 1942, ''Z24'' was transferred to France, where she spent 1943 escorting Axis blockade runners through the Bay of Biscay and played a minor role in the Battle of the Bay of Biscay at the end of the year. After the Allied landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944, she was one of the few remaining destroyers in French waters and was badly damaged during the Battle of Ushant several days later. After repairs had been completed in early August, the ship was damaged by Allied fighter-bombers in mid-August. Another attack later in the month by fighter-bombers sank ''Z24''.

Design and description

The Type 1936A destroyers were slightly larger than the preceding Type 1936 class and had a heavier armament. They had an overall length of and were long at the waterline. The ships had a beam of , and a maximum draft of . They displaced at standard load and at deep load. The two Wagner geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller shaft, were designed to produce using steam provided by six Wagner water-tube boilers for a designed speed of . ''Z24'' carried a maximum of of fuel oil which gave a range of at . Her crew consisted of 11 officers and 321 sailors.Gröner, pp. 203–04

The ship carried four TbtsK C/36 guns in single mounts with gun shields, one forward of the superstructure and three aft. Her anti-aircraft armament consisted of four C/30 guns in two twin mounts abreast the rear funnel and five C/30 guns in single mounts. ''Z24'' carried eight above-water torpedo tubes in two power-operated mounts. Two reloads were provided for each mount. She had four depth charge launchers and mine rails could be fitted on the rear deck that had a maximum capacity of 60 mines. 'GHG' (''Gruppenhorchgerät'') passive hydrophones were fitted to detect submarines and an ''S-Gerät'' sonar was also probably fitted. The ship was equipped with a ''FuMO'' 21 radar set above the bridge.

Modifications

''Z24''s single forward 15 cm gun was exchanged for a 15 cm LC/38 twin-gun turret during her late-1942 refit. This exacerbated the Type 36A's tendency to take water over the bow and reduced their speed to . Around the same time ''Z24'' received a pair of quadruple 2 cm mounts and three more single 2 cm guns to give her a total of sixteen 2 cm guns. A ''FuMB'' 1 Metox radar detector was added later. When the ship docked in Brest, France, in June 1944, a pair of quadruple 2 cm mounts replaced single guns that had been mounted amidships.

Service history

''Z24'' was ordered from AG Weser (Deschimag) on 23 April 1938. The ship was laid down at Deschimag's Bremen shipyard as yard number W958 on 2 January 1939, launched on 7 March 1940, and commissioned on 23 October. After working up, she began escorting ships between the Baltic and Norway in March 1941. On 12–13 June ''Z24'' was one of the escorts for the heavy cruiser '' Lützow'' as the latter ship attempted to break out into the Atlantic. Several Bristol Beaufort aircraft spotted ''Lützow'' and her escorts off the Norwegian coast and one managed to surprise them and torpedo the cruiser early on the morning of 13 June, forcing her to return to Germany for repairs. ''Z24'' was transferred to Brest on the 16th, together with her sister '' Z23'', and they helped to escort the battleship through the Bay of Biscay on 20–24 July and covered the passage of the merchant raider through the bay on 21–28 August. They were ordered to northern Norway on 23 October.

At the end of November the sisters reached Tromsø and was assigned to the ''8. Zerstörerflottile'' (8th Destroyer Flotilla). On 17 December, ''Z24'', along with her sisters ''Z23'', '' Z25'', and '' Z27'', sortied into the Barents Sea on 16 December 1941, searching for Allied ships off the coast of the Kola Peninsula. The following day, ''Z25''s radar spotted two ships in heavy fog at a range of . The Germans thought that they were Soviet destroyers, but they were actually two British minesweepers, and , sailing to rendezvous with Convoy QP 6. The Germans intercepted them, but the heavy fog and icing precluded accurate gunfire. The British ships were able to escape despite four hits on ''Speedy'' and the heavy expenditure of ammunition. On 13 January 1942, ''Z25'' escorted ''Z23'' and ''Z24'' as they laid a minefield in the western channel of the White Sea. A week later, ''Z23'' accidentally rammed ''Z24'' in heavy fog on 20 January, forcing the latter to return to Wesermünde for repairs.

Anti-convoy operations

After they were completed, the ship escorted the heavy cruiser to Norway on 18 March. Ten days later, ''Z24'' and her sisters ''Z25'' and departed the Varangerfjord in an attempt to intercept Convoy PQ 13. Later that night they rescued 61 survivors of the sunken freighter then sank the straggling freighter . They rescued 7 survivors before resuming the search for the convoy. The light cruiser , escorted by the destroyer , spotted the German ships with her radar at 08:49 on the 29th and was spotted herself around the same time. Both sides opened fire at the point-blank range of in a snowstorm. ''Trinidad'' engaged the leading German destroyer, ''Z26'', badly damaging her, and then switched to ''Z25'' without making any hits. Between them the destroyers fired 19 torpedoes at the cruiser, all of which missed after ''Trinidad'' turned away, and hit her twice with their 15 cm guns, inflicting only minor damage. The British ships maneuvered to avoid torpedoes, which forced them to disengage, and ''Z26'' accidentally became separated from her sisters. ''Trinidad'' and ''Fury'' pursued ''Z26'' and further damaged her before ''Trinidad'' was crippled by one of her own torpedoes.

The destroyer took up the pursuit after ''Fury'' turned away to render assistance to the cruiser. After the sixth hit made by the British destroyer, ''Z26'' lost power at 10:20 and was listing to port with her stern awash. ''Eclipse'' was maneuvering to give the German destroyer the coup de grâce with a torpedo when the snowstorm ended and visibility increased, revealing ''Z24'' and ''Z25'' approaching. They promptly opened fire at ''Eclipse'', hitting her twice and wounding nine men, before she could find cover in a squall at 10:35. The German ships did not purse ''Eclipse'', preferring to heave to and take off 88 survivors from ''Z26''.

The two destroyers, now reinforced by ''Z7 Hermann Schoemann'' and assigned to ''Zerstörergruppe Arktis'' (Destroyer Group Arctic), commanded by '' Kapitän zur See'' (Captain) Alfred Schulze-Hinrichs, searched unsuccessfully for Convoys PQ 14 and QP 10 on 11 April. On 30 April the torpedoed and crippled the light cruiser , part of the close escort for Convoy QP 11. Later that day, the trio of destroyers were ordered to intercept her. The following afternoon they encountered the main body of the convoy and attacked in limited visibility. Over the next four hours, they made five attempts to close with the convoy, but the four escorting British destroyers were able to keep themselves between the Germans and the convoy. After being rebuffed, Schulze-Hinrichs decided to break off the attack and search for his original objective. The German ships were only able to sink the freighter, , with torpedoes from ''Z24'' and ''Z25'', and badly damage the escort destroyer with gunfire. The British ships did not make any hits on the German destroyers.

Later that day, ''Edinburgh''s original escort of two destroyers was augmented by four British minesweepers and a small Russian tugboat. The cruiser was steaming under her own power at a speed of about by the morning of 2 May with steering provided by the tugboat. She was spotted by the Germans and ''Z7 Hermann Schoemann'' exchanged fire with the minesweeper at about 06:27. ''Edinburgh'' then cast off her tow and increased speed to her maximum of about , steering in a circle. ''Z7 Hermann Schoemann'' maneuvered at to obtain a good position from which to fire torpedoes once the range closed to . At 06:36, the cruiser opened fire, with the first salvo only missing by about . The destroyer immediately turned away, increased speed to , and started making smoke, but to no avail as the second salvo set her on fire and severed the main steam line, which disabled the engines. ''Z25'' initially engaged the destroyer , hitting her three times at about 06:50, which disabled two guns and knocked out her power with a hit in her forward boiler room. Her sister passed in front of ''Forester'' a few minutes later to draw the attention of ''Z24'' and ''Z25'', which succeeded all too well as she was hit four times by 07:24, disabling the engines and leaving her with only a single gun operable. In the meantime, the cruiser had been hit once more by a torpedo at 07:02, although it only knocked out her engines and gave her a list to port. Rather than sink any of the three disabled British ships or the lightly armed minesweepers, ''Z24'' and ''Z25'' concentrated on rescuing the crew of the drifting ''Z7 Hermann Schoemann'' despite occasional British shells. The former made multiple attempts to come alongside to take off about 210 survivors while the latter laid a smoke screen. ''Z7 Hermann Schoemann'' was then scuttled using her own depth charges. ''Z24'' was unscathed during the battle, but ''Z25'' was hit once.

The ship took part in the preliminaries of Operation Rösselsprung, an attempt to intercept Convoy PQ 17 in early July. ''Lützow'' and her sister formed one group in Narvik with ''Z24'' and four of her sisters while ''Admiral Hipper'' and the battleship composed another. While en route to the rendezvous at the Altafjord, ''Lützow'' and three destroyers of ''Tirpitz''s escort ran aground, forcing the entire group to abandon the operation. On 12 July ''Z24'' escorted one of the damaged destroyers to Kiel and then began a lengthy refit at Wesermünde that lasted until January 1943.

Operations in France

On 5 March 1943, the ''8. Zerstörerflottile'' (''Z23'', ''Z24'', and ) was transferred via the English channel to the French Atlantic coast in Operation Karin. Despite attacks by British coastal artillery and motor torpedo boats, the flotilla managed to pass through the Straits of Dover unscathed, but ''Z37'' ran aground at Le Havre en route. The flotilla provided distant cover for an attempt by the Italian blockade runner ''Himalaya'' to sail for the Far East on 28 March, but the ship had to return to Bordeaux after it was spotted by a British reconnaissance aircraft. Two days later, the flotilla escorted the Italian blockade runner '' Pietro Orseolo'' through the Bay of Biscay despite the ship being torpedoed by an American submarine and under heavy attack by Bristol Beaufighter fighter-bombers and Beaufort torpedo bombers; the German destroyers shot down five of the attacking aircraft. ''Himalaya'' made another attempt to break out on 9 April, but the ships were spotted by a Short Sunderland flying boat. After reversing course, they were attacked by Vickers Wellington bombers and Handley Page Hampden torpedo bombers. Five of the attackers were shot down. On 14 June ''Z24'' and ''Z32'' sortied into the Bay of Biscay to take off the survivors of the sunken which had been rescued by . The flotilla escorted submarines through the bay for the rest of the summer. On 24–26 December, the ship was one of the escorts for the blockade runner through the Bay of Biscay.

Another blockade runner, the refrigerated cargo ship , trailed ''Osorno'' by several days and four destroyers, including ''Z24'', of the ''8. Flotille'' and six torpedo boats of the ''4. Torpedobootflotille'' (4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla) set sail on 27 December to escort her through the bay. The Allies were aware of these blockade runners through their Ultra code-breaking efforts and positioned cruisers and aircraft in the Western Atlantic to intercept them in Operation Stonewall. A Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber from No. 311 Squadron RAF sank ''Alsterufer'' later that afternoon. At about midday on 28 December, the British cruisers and , on patrol in the Bay of Biscay to intercept blockade runners, intercepted the German destroyers and torpedo boats, resulting in the Battle of the Bay of Biscay. Heavy seas prevented the German force from using its theoretical advantage in speed and firepower, with the destroyer ''Z27'' and the torpedo boats and sunk. ''Z24'' was neither engaged by the British cruisers nor fired its weapons and suffered engine problems during the battle.

The ship began a refit at La Pallice on 14 January 1944 that was completed in early May. After word of the Allied landings at Normandy on 6 June was received by ''Kapitan zur See'' Theodor von Bechtolsheim, commander of the ''8. Zerstörerflottile'', ordered his three remaining destroyers, ''Z24'', ''Z32'', , and the torpedo boat , to sail for Brest to begin operations against the invasion fleet. They were attacked by Beaufighters during their journey, with ''Z32'' damaged by a pair of rockets and one aircraft forced to ditch. Once they reached Brest, ''Z24'' and ''Z32'' had their anti-aircraft suites reinforced. On the night of 8/9 June, the four ships set out from Brest for Cherbourg, but were intercepted by eight Allied destroyers of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla in the Battle of Ushant. The German ships had been spotted first and the British opened fire first, with the Germans responding with a four-torpedo salvo from each destroyer that missed when the Allied ships turned to evade them. Their fire was extremely effective with ''Z24'' badly damaged only moments after firing her first salvo. The range was so close that both sides engaged with their or 37 mm anti-aircraft guns which appreciably added to the damaged suffered by ''Z24''. The Allied ships hit the German destroyer with five shells before she was able to lay smoke and disengage. The first shell struck the 15 cm loading room for the turret, severing all communication with the turret, while another shell devastated the forward superstructure, killing 13 men, and set the radio room on fire. Other shells hit the forward engine room, set the aft funnel and some ready-use ammunition on fire and destroyed one of the amidships quadruple 2 cm gun mounts. Two Canadian destroyers pursued ''Z24'' and ''T24'' until the German ships passed over a minefield and they reached Brest later in that evening.

The ship was under repair at Bordeaux from 13 July to 5 August, but was attacked by Allied fighter-bombers on the 14th off Royan. She was struck by five rockets and ninety 20 mm shells that damaged her superstructure and gun turret. ''Z24'' returned to Bordeaux for repairs, but was attacked by rocket-carrying Beaufighters off Le Verdon-sur-Mer on 24 August. The ship was struck three times with one dead and another wounded from the attack. She managed to come alongside a quay the next day, but later capsized and sank. Her crew was incorporated into the defender of ''Festung Gironde'' (Fortress Gironde) that held out until the surrender of Germany in May 1945.Koop & Schmolke, p. 105; Rohwer, p. 347; Whitley, pp. 162–63

Notes

References

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External links

Kriegsmarine destroyers

{{DEFAULTSORT:Z24
1940 ships
Ships built in Bremen (state)
Type 1936A-class destroyers
Maritime incidents in August 1944
World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean
Destroyers sunk by aircraft
Ships sunk by British aircraft