Type 1936A-class destroyer

Z39 in September 1945
Class overview
Operators:	Kriegsmarine  French Navy  Soviet Navy  Royal Navy  United States Navy
Completed:	15
Preserved:	0
General characteristics
Class and type:	Narvik-class destroyer
Displacement:	2,600 tonnes (standard) 3,605 (max)
Length:	127 m (416 ft 8 in)
Beam:	12 m (39 ft 4 in)
Draught:	4.65 m (15 ft 3 in)
Installed power:	70,000 hp (52,000 kW)
Propulsion:	2 shafts, geared turbines 6 boilers
Speed:	37½ knots (69 km/h)
Range:	3650 nmi at 18 knots
Endurance:	1936A: 2,150 nautical miles (3,980 kilometres) at 19 knots (35 km/h) 1936A (Mob): 2,240 nautical miles (4,150 kilometres) at 19 knots (35 km/h)
Complement:	220 officers and men
Armament:	1936A: 4 or 5 15 cm guns (4x1 or 1x2 & 3x1) 1936A (Mob): 5 15 cm guns (1x2 & 3x1) 4 37 mm guns (later 10, or 14 in 1936A (Mob)) 8 20 mm guns (later 20, or 18 in 1936A (Mob)) 8 533 mm torpedo tubes 60 mines 4 depth charge launchers

The Zerstörer 1936A-class destroyers, or Narvik-class destroyers as they were known to the Allies, were a class of German destroyers of the Second World War. In common with other German destroyers launched after the start of World War II, the Narviks were unnamed, known only by their hull numbers - Z23 to Z39.

In terms of armament, they were closer to light cruisers than the typical destroyer. The use of 15 cm (5.9 inch) guns was atypical of destroyers which tended to have guns around 120 – 127 mm (4.7 to 5 inch) in calibre. They were intended to carry two forward guns in a twin turret, but as the twin turrets were not ready in time, early class 1936As carried a single mounted gun forward.

Despite being powerful the ships were not without their flaws. There were problems with the reliability of the high pressure steam engines and seakeeping in rough seas due to the newly designed bow and heavy forward artillery.

The eight ships of the Zerstörer 1936A class (Z23 to Z30) were all laid down between 1938 and 1940. The seven destroyers numbered from Z31 to Z39 were classed as Zerstörer 1936A (Mob); they were laid down in 1940 and 1941 and were slightly larger and had some internal modifications (including engines that caused less trouble than with their predecessors) from the original design to shorten construction times.

The class, including the 36A (Mob), consisted of 15 ships. All were built in Bremen by AG Weser shipyard (part of Deutsche Schiff- und Maschinenbau AG/Deschimag) apart from Z37, Z38 and Z39 which were built by Germania (Kiel).