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Z15 ''Erich Steinbrinck'' was a built for Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' in the mid-1930s. The ship was named after the First World War German naval officer Erich Steinbrinck. At the beginning of World War II on 1 September 1939, the ship was initially deployed to blockade the Polish coast, but she was quickly transferred to the North Sea to lay defensive minefields. In late 1939 and 1940 the ship laid multiple offensive minefields off the English coast that claimed 24 merchant ships and a destroyer. ''Steinbrinck'' was under repair for most of the Norwegian Campaign of early 1940 and was transferred to France later that year. After a lengthy refit in Germany, she returned to France in early 1941 where she escorted returning warships, commerce raiders, and supply ships through the Bay of Biscay for several months. After her refit was completed, ''Steinbrinck'' was transferred to Northern Norway in 1942 where she participated in several minor operations before she was damaged running aground and forced to return to Germany for repairs. The ship returned to Norway in mid-1943 where she escorted German capital ships as they moved between Norway and Germany and participated in the German attack (Operation Zitronella) on the Norwegian island of Spitzbergen, well north of the Arctic Circle. ''Steinbrinck'' was ordered home in November to begin a lengthy refit, during which she was badly damaged by Allied bombs, and was unserviceable for the rest of the war. She was turned over the Soviet Union after the war as war reparations and only served a few years before she was converted into a training ship and then a barracks ship before being sold for scrap in 1958. ==Design and description== ''Erich Steinbrinck'' had an overall length of and was long at the waterline. The ship had a beam of , and a maximum draft of . She displaced at standard and at deep load. The Wagner geared steam turbines were designed to produce which would propel the ship at . Steam was provided to the turbines by six high-pressure Benson boilers〔Gröner, p. 199〕 with superheaters. ''Erich Steinbrinck'' carried a maximum of of fuel oil which was intended to give a range of at , but the ship proved top-heavy in service and 30% of the fuel had to be retained as ballast low in the ship.〔Whitley, p. 18〕 The effective range proved to be only at .〔Koop and Schmolke, p. 26〕 The ship's crew consisted of 10 officers and 315 sailors.〔 ''Erich Steinbrinck'' 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 rear deckhouse. 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. The ship carried eight above-water torpedo tubes in two power-operated mounts.〔〔 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. Sufficient depth charges were carried for either two or four patterns of sixteen charges each.〔Whitley, p. 215〕 Mine rails could be fitted on the rear deck that had a maximum capacity of sixty mines.〔 'GHG' (Gruppenhorchgerät) passive hydrophones were fitted to detect submarines and an active sonar system was installed by the end of 1940.〔Whitley, p. 72〕 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. Sometime in 1944–45, ''Steinbrinck'' 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 four twin 2 cm mounts on the forecastle and side of the bridge.〔Whitley, pp. 73–74〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「German destroyer Z15 Erich Steinbrinck」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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