In the 1930s, German designers received a challenging
task to develop a destroyer that would be similar to
a cruiser and well-suited for conducting raids
and hunting enemy supply convoys.
So the ship needed good sea-going qualities, a long cruising range,
and immensely powerful artillery. The work resulted in the
development of the 36A-class destroyers,
commonly known as the Narvik class. One of these ships was Z-32...
Over 10 years (from 1934 to 1944),
the German Navy received 45 destroyers of different types.
Project 1936A looked quite promising, so another
batch of seven ships was ordered in September 1939.
These destroyers were marked with the Mob index.
Mob stood for "mobilization," as they were built using
the funds initially allocated for combat operations.
Among these ships was Z-32, where Z stood for Zerstörer
(which means "destroyer"), and then came the ship's number in the series.
Due to the large and heavy armament, the ship had an imposing size,
similar to that of a small cruiser.
The Narvik-class destroyers had a total displacement of over 3,600 tons,
their length was 127 meters, , the beam was 12 meters, and the draft about 4.5 meters.
Equipped with an experimental power plant that produced over 70,000 horsepower,
the 36А(Mob) destroyers had excellent sea-going qualities:
their maximum speed was 36 knots.
On the downside, the use of untested novel technical solutions
resulted in the poor reliability of the power plant.
Artillery played the primary role on these ships: five cruiser-style
150-mm guns, two placed in one turret and three in single mounts.
The weapons were to ensure superiority in firepower over
destroyers, operated by Germany's potential enemies in Europe.
The Z-32's anti-aircraft armament was also pretty powerful for the time.
It included two coaxial 37-mm guns and five 20-mm autocannons.
The torpedo armament consisted of two quadruple 533-mm torpedo launchers.
But the most effective weapon of the Project 1936А destroyers were their mines.
The standard load included 60 moored mines—
in contact, magnetic, and anti-submarine varieties.
However, the Project 36A had some evident weaknesses,
such as short cruising range, poor sea-going
qualities in open sea, and difficulties with maintenance
for the 150-mm guns in bad weather and storms.
However, despite some drawbacks, the 36A destroyers were
considered to be pretty successful. Powerful artillery,
high speed, and decent survivability made them a formidable
enemy for the ships of the anti-German coalition.
The destroyers took part in almost all German naval operations.
They were sunk one by one and basically became the Navy's expendable force.
After Hitler banned the use of cruisers and battleships,
the Narviks in fact remained the Navy's only warships.
Few of them survived the war.
Z-32 was commissioned on September 15, 1942.
But the ship's active service only began in early 1943,
when she was redeployed to Western France as part of the 8th Destroyer Flotilla.
Throughout that year her primary task was to escort
cargo vessels breaking through the enemy blockade
to the Atlantic and returning home, as well as
to cover German submarines going out on raids.
Every month, German forces in France were diminishing,
and the moment of truth came in summer 1944.
When the Normandy landings began, Germany's 8th Flotilla,
which had only four destroyers at the time,
received a reckless order to attack the
invading forces of about 5,000 ships and vessels.
On the night before June 9, 1944, destroyer Z-32
fought her last battle. It was the Battle of Ushant.
The German ships faced a hail of fire from a flotilla
of English, Canadian, and Polish destroyers and had to retreat.
Rained upon by shells, Z-32 fought the last hours of the battle on her own.
The German ship tried to escape, but was pursued.
At dawn, having fired all her shells and hardly able
to move, Z-32 beached on rocks near the island of Bas.
When English and Canadian pilots spotted Z-32 in the morning,
the destroyer did not resist.
Bombs literally tore her hull apart, and subsequent
rocket hits destroyed what was left of the ship.
The Normandy landings continued…
Germany's surrender was less than a year away.
Remaining Narvik-class destroyers did not outlast Z-32 for long.
They were given to victorious countries as reparations and were scrapped shortly after.
Today only scale models in naval museums across the world
remind us of the most numerous German surface ships of World War II.