German destroyer Z10 Hans Lody

Design and description

Z10 Hans Lody had an overall length of 119 m and was 114 m long at the waterline. The ship had a beam of 11.30 m, and a maximum draft of 4.23 m. She displaced 2171 LT at standard load and 3110 LT at deep load. The two Wagner geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller shaft, were designed to produce 70000 PS using steam provided by six high-pressure Wagner boilers. The ship had a designed speed of 36 kn and she reached a maximum speed of 37.8 knots from 65000 shp during her sea trials. Hans Lody carried a maximum of 752 t of fuel oil which was intended to give a range of 4400 nmi at a speed of 19 kn, but the ship proved top-heavy in service and 30% of the fuel had to be retained as ballast low in the ship. The effective range proved to be only 1530 nmi at 19 knots. The crew numbered 10 officers and 315 enlisted men, plus an additional four officers and 19 enlisted men if serving as a flotilla flagship.

The ship carried five 12.7 cm SK C/34 guns in single mounts with gun shields, two each superimposed, fore and aft. The fifth gun was carried on top of the aft superstructure. Her anti-aircraft armament consisted of four 3.7 cm SK C/30 guns in two twin mounts abreast the rear funnel and six 2 cm C/30 guns in single mounts. Hans Lody carried eight above-water 53.3 cm torpedo tubes in two power-operated mounts. A pair of reload torpedoes were provided for each mount. Four depth charge throwers were mounted on the sides of the rear deckhouse and they were supplemented by six racks for individual depth charges on the sides of the stern. Enough depth charges were carried for either two or four patterns of 16 charges each. Mine rails could be fitted on the rear deck that had a maximum capacity of 60 mines.

During the war the ship's light anti-aircraft armament was augmented several times. In 1941, improved 2 cm C/38 guns replaced the original C/30 guns and three additional guns were added. The two guns on the aft shelter deck were replaced at some point by a single 2 cm quadruple Flakvierling mount, probably in 1942. During her 1944–45 refit, Hans Lody received the "Barbara" anti-aircraft refit in which all of her existing 3.7 cm and most of her 2 cm guns were replaced. She retained her Flakvierling mount and the remainder of her anti-aircraft armament now consisted of seven twin 3.7 cm SK M/42 mounts and three twin 2 cm mounts.

Construction and career

Z10 Hans Lody, named after naval reservist Carl Hans Lody who was executed by the British as a spy during World War I, The destroyer was assigned to the 8th Destroyer Division (8. Zerstörerdivision) upon completion and participated in the homecoming celebrations for the Condor Legion on 30 May 1939 under her first commander, Lieutenant Commander (Korvettenkapitän) Karl-Jesko von Puttkamer.

When World War II began in September 1939, Hans Lody was initially deployed in the Baltic to operate against the Polish Navy and to enforce a blockade of Poland, but she was soon transferred to the German Bight where she joined her sisters in laying defensive minefields. While loading mines on 4 September, one exploded aboard Hans Lody, killing two crewmen and wounded six others, and slightly damaging the ship's stern. The ship later patrolled the Skagerrak to inspect neutral shipping for contraband goods, losing one man overboard and three injured during a storm at the end of October. of 14,294 GRT.

Bey, now using Hans Lody as his flagship, left port on the morning of 6 December with and Z11 Bernd von Arnim to lay a minefield off Cromer. The latter ship had severe boiler problems and was ordered to return to port in the late afternoon while the other two continued their mission. They spotted several darkened ships as they approached their destination, including the destroyers and , but were not spotted in return. As the two German destroyers withdrew after having laid their mines, they spotted the two British destroyers again at a range of 8000 m and closed to attack. When the range dropped to 4600 m, Lody fired three torpedoes at Juno, the leading British ship, while Giese fired four at Jersey. None of Lodys torpedoes struck their target, but one of Gieses hit Jersey abreast her aft torpedo mount. The torpedo detonated in an oil fuel tank and started a major fire. Neither British ship spotted the German destroyers and they continued on while Juno turned about to help her sister. Two British ships totalling 5,286 GRT were sunk by this minefield. Hans Lody began a refit at Wesermünde on 9 December that was not finished until 22 May 1940.

In June Hans Lody was tasked to escort the battleships and , as well as the heavy cruiser , in Operation Juno, a planned attack on Harstad, Norway, to relieve pressure on the German garrison at Narvik. The ships sortied on 8 June and sank the troop transport , the oil tanker and the minesweeping trawler en route, Hans Lody delivering the coup de grâce on the first two of these. The German commander, Admiral Wilhelm Marschall, then ordered the Admiral Hipper and all four destroyers to Trondheim because of the heavy weather, where they arrived in the morning of 9 June. The two battleships continued the sortie and sank the aircraft carrier and her two escorting destroyers, although Scharnhorst was badly damaged by a torpedo from the destroyer in the engagement. The battleship was escorted home by Hans Lody and her sisters Steinbrinck and for repairs. The destroyer was lightly damaged during an air raid on 13 June, but was back in service a week later. She returned to Norway in time to screen the crippled Gneisenau as she returned to Kiel on 25 July, suffering a minor collision with the battleship en route.

Hans Lody transferred to France on 9 September in preparation for Operation Sealion, the planned invasion of Great Britain. During a Royal Air Force air raid on Brest on 10 October, Hans Lody was slightly damaged by bomb splinters and strafing, losing two crewmen killed and seven wounded during the attack. The ship returned home on 5 December for a refit in Wesermünde that lasted until April 1941.

1941–1942

She was one of the escorts for the battleship and the heavy cruiser from Cape Arkona to Trondheim on 19–22 May as they sortied into the North Atlantic. Z10 Hans Lody was then sent to Kirkenes, Norway, in July.

After repairs were completed, she screened Lützow during her voyage to Trondheim 15–20 May 1942 and laid a minefield in the Skaggerak en route. Hans Lody was damaged when a valve was left open and flooded the starboard engine room in early June and required two weeks to be repaired. She was one of four destroyers assigned to escort the battleship during Operation Rösselsprung (Knight's Move), an attack on the Russia-bound Convoy PQ 17. The ships sailed from Trondheim on 2 July for the first stage of the operation, although three of the destroyers, including Hans Lody, assigned to Tirpitzs escort ran aground in the dark and heavy fog and were forced to return to port for repairs. After temporary repairs, she was towed back to Kiel for permanent repairs on 25 July. Three days later the ships were attacked without effect by three Beaufort torpedo bombers. Korvettenkapitän Karl-Adolf Zenker assumed command in August. The dockyard estimated the time to repair Hans Lody at six months or more and the Kriegsmarine gave serious consideration to decommissioning her as uneconomical to repair, but was persuaded to repair her anyway.

1943–1949

By 1943, the ship had received a FuMO 21 search radar. During sea trials on 15 February 1943, a fire broke out in an engine room; repairs were not completed until 22 April and the ship then returned to Norway. In September the ship participated in Operation Zitronella, ferrying troops of the 349th Grenadier Regiment (Grenadier-Regiment) of the 230th Infantry Division to destroy Norwegian facilities on the island of Spitzbergen, together with Tirpitz and the battleship Scharnhorst, escorted by eight other destroyers. While successful, the operation was primarily intended to boost the morale of the ships stationed in the Arctic when fuel shortages limited their activities and the Allies reestablished the bases five weeks later. Hans Lody and her sisters then spent the next six months in southern Norway laying minefields at the entrance to the Skaggerak and escorting convoys to and from Norway. She was ordered to Kiel at the end of April 1944 for a lengthy refit that lasted until February 1945. Sometime in 1944, the ship had her radar replaced by a FuMO 24 search radar and her foremast was rebuilt in a goal-post shape to allow the 6 × antenna to fully rotate. A FuMO 63 K Hohentwiel radar replaced the searchlight on its platform abaft the rear funnel. After working up, the ship was assigned convoy escort duties in the Skaggerak on 5 April. A month later, Hans Lody departed Copenhagen to load refugees at the Hela Peninsula in East Prussia; she had about 1,500 aboard when she returned on 7 May. The ship sailed to Kiel the next day and was decommissioned on 9 May.

The Royal Navy assumed control of her the following day and sailed her to Wilhelmshaven where she waited while the Allies decided on the disposition of the captured ships. She was allocated to Britain at the end of 1945 and arrived at Portsmouth on 7 January 1946 where she was allocated the pennant number of R38, later H40. The ship was initially used to familiarize the British on her high-pressure boilers until October when she was used as accommodation ship in Southampton. Hans Lody arrived at Sunderland under tow on 17 July 1949 to be broken up.

Notes

Citations

References

References

1. Gröner, p. 199
2. Koop & Schmolke, p. 89
3. Whitley, p. 18
4. Koop & Schmolke, p. 26
5. Whitley, p. 68
6. Whitley, p. 215
7. Whitley, pp. 73–74
8. was ordered on 4 August 1934 and [[Keel laying. laid down]] at [[Germaniawerft]], [[Kiel]], on 1 April 1935 as [[yard number]] G536. She was [[Ship naming and launching. launched]] on 14 May 1936 and completed on 13 September 1938.Whitley, p. 204
9. Rohwer, pp. 2–3
10. Whitley, p. 84
11. Whitley, p. 86
12. Whitley, pp. 89–90
13. Hervieux, pp. 112–13
14. Whitley, p. 90
15. Rohwer, p. 11
16. Koop & Schmolke, p. 90
17. Rohwer, p. 26; Whitley, pp. 105–06
18. Now based at [[Brest, France. Brest]], the ship helped to lay a [[minefield]] in [[Falmouth Bay]] during the night of 28/29 September. Five ships totalling only 2,026 GRT were sunk by this minefield.Whitley, pp. 106–07
19. Koop & Schmolke, p. 90; Rohwer, p. 147; Whitley, pp. 139–42
20. Gröner, p. 200; Koop & Schmolke, pp. 40, 90; Whitley, pp. 167, 169–170
21. Whitley, pp. 191–192