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.Whitley, pp. 68, 71–72
Modifications Z24s 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.Gröner, p. 203; Koop & Schmolke, pp. 40, 105; Whitley, p. 159
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.Koop & Schmolke, pp. 24, 102; Rohwer, p. 78, 110; Whitley, pp. 116, 122–24
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, Z25s 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.Koop & Schmolke, pp. 102, 104; Rohwer, pp. 127, 135; Whitley, pp. 131–32
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.Admiralty Historical Section 2007, pp. 27–29; Whitley, pp. 135–36
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.Admiralty Historical Section 2007, pp. 29–30; Whitley, p. 136
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.Rohwer, p. 158; Whitley, pp. 136–37 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.Admiralty Historical Section 2007, pp. 37–39; Rohwer, p. 162; Whitley, pp. 136–38
Later that day, Edinburghs 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.Admiralty Historical Section 2007, pp. 40–42; Koop & Schmolke, p. 104; Whitley, pp. 138–40
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 Tirpitzs 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.Koop & Schmolke, p. 104; Whitley, p. 141
Operations in France