German destroyer Z6 Theodor Riedel

Drawing of Z6 Theodor Riedel as of 1943
History
Nazi Germany
Name:	Z6 Theodor Riedel
Namesake:	Theodor Riedel
Ordered:	9 January 1935
Builder:	DeSchiMAG, Bremen
Yard number:	W900
Laid down:	18 July 1935
Launched:	22 April 1936
Completed:	2 July 1937
Captured:	10 May 1945
France
Name:	Kléber, 4 February 1946
Namesake:	Jean Baptiste Kléber
Acquired:	4 February 1946
In service:	September 1946
Out of service:	20 December 1953
Renamed:	Q85, 10 April 1957
Reclassified:	Hulked, 10 April 1957
Struck:	10 April 1957
Identification:	Pennant number: T03
Fate:	Scrapped, 1958
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	Type 1934A-class destroyer
Displacement:	2,171 long tons (2,206 t) (standard) 3,110 long tons (3,160 t) (deep load)
Length:	119 m (390 ft 5 in) o/a 114 m (374 ft 0 in) w/l
Beam:	11.30 m (37 ft 1 in)
Draft:	4.23 m (13 ft 11 in)
Installed power:	70,000 PS (51,000 kW; 69,000 shp) 6 × water-tube boilers
Propulsion:	2 shafts, 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed:	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range:	1,530 nmi (2,830 km; 1,760 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Complement:	325
Armament:	5 × single 12.7 cm (5 in) guns 2 × twin 3.7 cm (1.5 in) AA guns 6 × single 2 cm (0.8 in) AA guns 2 × quadruple 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes 60 mines 32–64 depth charges, 4 throwers and 6 individual racks

The German destroyer Z6 Theodor Riedel was a Type 1934A-class destroyer built for the Kriegsmarine during the mid-1930s. At the beginning of World War II in September 1939, the ship laid defensive minefields to the North Sea. She covered her sister ships over the next few months as they laid offensive minefields in English waters in late 1939–early 1940. She participated in the early stages of the Norwegian Campaign by transporting troops to the Trondheim area in early April 1940 and was transferred to France later that year where the ship covered another minelaying sortie before engine problems caused her to return to Germany in November for repairs. Theodor Riedel was badly damaged when she ran aground three days after her repairs were completed and was out of action until May 1942.

The ship was transferred to Norway in 1942 and ran aground yet again as she prepared to attack one of the convoys to Russia in July. Repairs were completed in December and Theodor Riedel participated in the Battle of the Barents Sea at the end of the year and in the German attack on Spitzbergen in mid-1943. After another lengthy refit, the ship began escorting ships between Denmark and Norway in mid-1944 and continued to do so until May 1945 when she made several trips to rescue refugees from East Prussia before the end of the war on 8 May.

Theodor Riedel spent the rest of the year under British control as the Allies decided how to dispose of the captured German ships and was ultimately allotted to France in early 1946 and renamed Kléber. She became operational later that year, but she was reconstructed and modernized in Cherbourg in 1948–51. After its completion, the ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron for several years. Kléber was placed in reserve in late 1953, but was not condemned until 1957 and scrapped the next year.