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The German destroyer Z4 ''Richard Beitzen'' was a Type 1934 destroyer built for the ''Kriegsmarine'' during the 1930s. At the beginning of World War II in September 1939, the ship was initially deployed to blockade the Polish coast, but she was soon transferred to the Kattegat where she inspected neutral shipping for contraband goods. In late 1939 and early 1940, the ship laid two offensive minefields off the English coast that claimed 17 merchant ships. ''Richard Beitzen'' was in reserve during the Norwegian Campaign of early 1940 and was transferred to France later that year where she made several attacks on British shipping. The ship returned to Germany in early 1941 for a refit and was transferred to Norway in June 1941 as part of the preparations for Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. ''Richard Beitzen'' spent some time at the beginning of the campaign conducting anti-shipping patrols in Soviet waters, but these were generally fruitless. She escorted a number of German convoys in the Arctic later in the year. The ship escorted several German heavy cruisers at the beginning and end of their anti-shipping raids in 1942. She participated in the Battle of the Barents Sea when Convoy JW 51B was attacked on 31 December 1942 near the North Cape, Norway. ''Richard Beitzen'' spent much of 1943 escorting ships to and from Norway until November when she ran aground in November. Badly damaged, repairs lasted until August 1944 when she returned to Norway and resumed her former duties. The ship had another grounding incident in November and was under repair until February 1945. While escorting a convoy in April, she was badly damaged by aircraft and was still under repair when the war ended on 9 May. ''Richard Beitzen'' was eventually allocated to the British when the surviving warships were divided between the Allies after the war. They made no use of the ship before scrapping her in 1949. ==Design and description== ''Richard Beitzen'' 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 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 high-pressure Wagner boilers. The ship had a designed speed of , but her maximum speed was .〔Gröner, p. 199〕 ''Richard Beitzen'' carried a maximum of of fuel oil which was intended to give a range of at a speed of , 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 19 knots.〔Koop & Schmolke, p. 26〕 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. ''Richard Beitzen'' 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. Enough depth charges were carried for either two or four patterns of 16 charges each.〔Whitley, p. 215〕 Mine rails could be fitted on the rear deck that had a maximum capacity of 60 mines.〔 A system of passive hydrophones designated as 'GHG' (''Gruppenhorchgerät'') was fitted to detect submarines.〔Whitley, pp. 71–72〕 An active sonar system was scheduled to be installed in June 1940, but it is uncertain when it was actually done. During the war, the ship's light anti-aircraft armament was augmented several times. Improved 2 cm C/38 guns replaced the original C/30 guns and three additional guns were added sometime in 1941. The two guns on the aft shelter deck were replaced by a single 2 cm quadruple ''Flakvierling'' mount, probably during her late 1941 refit. ''Richard Beitzen'' appears not have any additional AA guns added after this time.〔Whitley, pp. 72–75〕 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 Z4 Richard Beitzen」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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