CONSTRUCTION DETAILS
Z 2 Georg Thiele after her first conversion, with ‘box’ type bridgework and spray deflectors at the bows.
DESTROYER TYPES
WEIGHT GROUPINGS (tonnes) (after Witte)
CONSTRUCTION WEIGHT GROUPINGS TYPE 1936A (after Witte)
WEIGHTS (TONNES) AND PERCENTAGE WEIGHTS OF SUB-GROUPS (after Witte)
FORM VALUES (after Witte)
The longitudinal coefficient is the ratio of the volume of displacement to the volume of a prism having a length equal to the length between perpendiculars and a cross-sectional area equal to the midships sectional area. The fineness of waterplane coefficient is the ratio of the area of the waterplane to the area of its circumscribing rectangle. The midships section coefficient is the ratio of the midships section area to the draught and beam extreme amidships.
METACENTRIC HEIGHTS (GM) (after Witte)
Z 35: Main frame (after Hadeler).
Z 35: Bulkhead, Frame 54 (after Hadeler).
Type 1936A: Lines and frames (after Hadeler).
* It was planned originally that Z 23 to Z 36 should all be in service much earlier than eventually was the case. Yard contracts were placed on 1 April 1937 for Z 23 to Z 25 at Deschimag and for Z 26 to Z 28 at Blohm & Voss, Hamburg but these were cancelled following a change of plan in the autumn of 1937. Prewar, Z 29 to Z 39 were intended to enter commission in May 1945 but were brought forward by two to three years.
The series Z 31 to Z 42 inclusive was initially Type 1938B. Contracts were placed for Z 31 to Z 36 on 28 June 1939 and given yard numbers 663 to 668 at Deschimag, Bremen and Wesermünde. Oderwerke Stettin received contracts for the remainder—Z 37 to Z 39 (Yard Nos 822 to 824) on 28 June 1939; and Z 40 to Z 42 (Yard Nos 825 to 827) on 21 July 1939. On 19 Septmber 1939 the plans for the 1938B Type were discarded. The yard contracts for Z 31 to Z 34 at Deschimag were placed as Type 1936A, then cancelled and replaced as Type 1936A (Mob): those for Z 35, Z 36 and Z 43 to Z 45 at Deschimag were placed as Type 1936A (Mob), then cancelled and replaced as Type 1936B (Mob). The yard contracts for Z 37 to Z 39 at Oderwerke, Stettin, were placed as Type 1936A, cancelled, and replaced as Type 1936A(Mob)at Germania-Werft, Kiel. Yard contracts were also placed for Z 40 to Z 42 at Oderwerke, Stettin, as Type 1936A, but these were then cancelled and replaced as Type 1938A/Ac at Germania, Kiel, Z 40 on 19 September 1939 (Yard No 642) and the other two on 13 October 1939 (Yard Nos 643 and 644). Z 40 was then cancelled in June 1940, the other two in October 1940. The 1938A/Ac programme was scrapped on 1 February 1941.
Contracts were placed at Deschimag for five destroyers of the 1936C type, Z 46 and Z 47 on 8 October 1941 (Yard Nos 1071 and 1072) and the other three on 12 June 1943 (Yard Nos 1157, 1158 and 1159). It was decided initially to build Z 46 and Z 47 as Type 1936B (Mob). Because of shortages and air raids neither were launched and the material was broken up on the stocks in 1945. It does not seem that the last three were laid down. Z 51, a unique Type 1941, was given yard number 1160 and then redesignated Type 1942 under yard number 1109, replacing T 43, a Type 1942 fleet torpedo boat, the building contract being placed on 25 November 1942. Z 51 was the all-diesel oceanic destroyer mentioned earlier in the text.
Types 1936D and E were an alternative project to the 1936A Types should the 15cm twin turret on the forecastle be found impractical: the design plans were destroyed in an air raid. The Type 1945 destroyer was a development of the 1936D and E Types. Types 1937 J I, II, III and IV were project studies, the last two for scaled-up destroyers displacing over 5,400 tons full load.
The Types 1938A and B were projects which laid the foundations for Types 1938Ac and Ad, the design for the Spähkreuzer or ‘Z Plan’ small cruisers. The Spähkreuzer were scaled-up destroyers with mixed steam/ diesel drive and really belonged in the light cruiser category; none was launched. Mention is made of them as a footnote earlier in the text. The Type 1940 was a project study. Types 1941A to D were drawn up following the cancellation of the Spähkreuzer programme, but ultimately the designers went back to the 1936C design. Type 1942A to C, at Deschimag, had originally been the torpedo boats T 44 to T 47 (Yard Nos 1110–1113). The contract was briefly redesignated Type 1941 when Z 51 was ordered on 25 November 1942, then changed to Type 1942.
The Type 1942A was the ‘groundwork’ for the diesel-driven Z 52 to Z 56, which would have displaced about 3,700 tons full load and have been capable of 38 knots with a huge range. Eventually it was redesignated Type 1942B and C and finally Type 1944. Contracts for these five ships were placed at Deschimag in 1944 (Yard Nos 1110–1114 but cancelled on 6 November 1944.
The Type 1942/43 was a project study for an escort destroyer, while Types 1943, 1943A and 1943A (Mod) were project studies for a small destroyer based on the 1936C design.—Tr.