Type 101/101A Hamburg class destroyers - A native built destroyer design of the Cold War

de_Radio_Demon · July 19, 2023, 10:23pm

Would you like to see the Type 101/101A class destroyers added to war thunder?

Yes
Maybe
Unsure
No

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Between the two versions, which configurations of the Type 101 class would you like to be added?

Type 101 (As built)
Type 101A (Guided missile destroyer modernization)
Unsure
I said no to the first question

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Type 101/101A Hamburg class destroyers - A native built destroyer design of the Cold War

Background

The Type 101 Hamburg class of destroyers is a class of 4 German destroyers built for West Germany during the Cold War, these ships were very unique due to the fact the they were the only destroyer class built in Germany following the Second World War, this is not to say that the ships were the only class of destroyers West Germany operated with the previous 119 Zerstörer class which were fletcher class destroyers, the Hamburgs would not be the last German Destroyer to be built for and serve in the West German Navy as the Lütjens class destroyers would be built in the USA which were themselves modified Charles F. Adams class Destroyers. These ships are comparable in capability to that of the training cruiser Deutschland and technologically wise they were built to be similar to the Köln class frigates found in the game already which is why they may remind one of those ships, they were armed with original 4 DCN 100 mm/L55 guns in the same generally layout with 2 at the forward part of the ship and the other 2 at the rear part of the ship, additionally they came with 5 hull mounted 533mm torpedo tubes with 3 in the bow while the other 2 were placed in the stern, this was also reinforce with 2 additional 533mm single torpedo tubes mounted on the deck with one on each side like the Köln frigates in-game, the ships also came equipped with 4 twin 40mm Bofors mounts for anti air, to top it off they came with 2 Quad mount 375mm Bofors ASW rocket launchers, they additionally came with 2 depth charge racks which could carry 5 in each rack, over time however as technology became more advance and that anti ship missiles become more prevalent these ships would see their armament changed which would see them transformed into the 101A configuration, this saw them with now only 3 of the DCN 100 mm/L55 guns with the super firing rear turret being removed in order to install 2 twin box launchers for the MM38 Exocet SSM, additionally they now received newer AA guns in the form of 4 twin 40mm Breda Mod.64 AA guns (the ones also found on the Köln frigates in-game), the other big change was the removal of all hull mounted torpedo tubes and the ships now received 2 additional 533mm torpedo tubes which were place beside the preexisting ones bringing the total of the deck torpedo tubes to 4, as for the ASW rockets, they were kept and never modified nor had any additional mounts added, and nothing changed with the depth charge racks. Due to the company who was tasked with designing the ships all 4 would end up being haunted from design flaws with the ships.

History

FGS Hamburg (D181)

Spoiler

FGS Hamburg was laid down on January 29th, 1959 by Stülcken-Werft her namesake city of Hamburg, she would be launched March 26th, 1960 and was commissioned on March 23rd, 1964 as the lead ship of her class. Normally a German warship would be ordered from either Blohm & Voss, Howaldtswerke or Lürssenin however they were all busy building commercial ships at the time which led them with Stülcken-Werft to design and build them which was inexperienced in terms of building warships which would come back to haunt the ships, the ship was planned to serve in the same destroyer squadron as her sister in Squadron 2 however due to the fact she was the first of her class in service she was temporarily assigned to the 1st destroyer squadron which consisted of the 119 Zeströyer class ships in Kiel, it would not be until formed until April 1st in 1965 and even then Bayern as well as Hessen to build up the rest of their crew complement though in the later case Hessen would not be commissioned until 1968, the ship was assigned the hull number of D181 and given the radio call sign of DBZK and from 1975 to 1976 she received her modernization into the 101A standard which saw the removal the hull mounted torpedos and C turret and saw the ship receive anti ship missiles as well as more modern 40mm guns, and on December 1st, 1981 she had her radio call sign changed to DRAA.

Throughout the Cold War the ship would mostly take part training expeditions in the baltic as well as take part in NATO exercise, in 1984 she became the flagship German SNFL formation and during her time in service she would take part in one operation shortly before she was taken out of service as took part in the blockade against Yugoslavia in Operation Sharp Guard from 1992 to 1993 in the Adriatic Sea. She was then taken out of service on February 24th, 1994 and was sold for scrap 4 years later in 1998. She like her sister was criticized due to their design during their service as due to their low free board and the fact the ships were top heavy they had poor sea-keeping capability.

FGS Schleswig-Holstein (D182)

Spoiler

FGS Schleswig-Holstein was laid down on August 20th, 1959 by Stülcken-Werft in Hamburg, she launched exactly 1 year later on August 20th, 1960, and was commissioned on October 12th, 1964 as the 2nd ship of the Hamburg class. Normally a German warship would be ordered from either Blohm & Voss, Howaldtswerke or Lürssenin however they were all busy building commercial ships at the time which led them with Stülcken-Werft to design and build them which was inexperienced in terms of building warships which would come back to haunt the ships. Upon completion of fitting out and completing her sea trials Schleswig-Holstein she joined her sister Hamburg to form the 2nd destroyer squadron and would later be joined by her sisters Bayern and Hessen later on, unlike Hamburg she would take longer for her modernization as it would last from 1976 all the way up till 1979.

Following her modernization not much would happen during the her service other than the likely exercises in the Baltic and with NATO as was normal for many ships of nation apart of NATO and she was decommissioned December 15th, 1994 and like her sister she was sold for scrap in 1998. She like her sister was criticized due to their design during their service as due to their low free board and the fact the ships were top heavy they had poor sea-keeping capability.

FGS Bayern (D183)

Spoiler

FGS Bayern was laid down February 15th, 1961 by Stülcken-Werft in Hamburg, she was launched on August 14th, 1962, and was commissioned July 6th, 1965 as the 3rd ship of the Hamburg class though she was actually the 4th laid down as her sister Hessen was actually laid down 10 days earlier however due to issues occurring with her sister during her sea trials Bayern was commissioned 3 years earlier before Hessen. Normally a German warship would be ordered from either Blohm & Voss, Howaldtswerke or Lürssenin however they were all busy building commercial ships at the time which led them with Stülcken-Werft to design and build them which was inexperienced in terms of building warships which would come back to haunt the ships.

Upon commissioning she would as planned join her sisters in the 2nd destroyer squadron, similar to Hamburg she wouldn’t take too long with her modernization which saw her take almost a year as she completed her modernization 3 day before the 1 year mark of her start on the modernization. In 1980 she would suffer an incident when she accidentally collided with the friendly tanker Spessart during an exercise in the Mediterranean which resulted in her bow compressed inwards as far as the breakwater and so because she was not near Germany she had to make emergency repairs in Toulon.

In her later years of service in the 1990’s she would be the first German warship to visit the port of Haifa in Israel as apart of NAVOCFORMED AAG 109/90, and in 1992 she would like Hamburg take part in a blockade against Yugoslavia in Operation Maritime Monitor in order to maintain a arms embargo to prevent weapons from reaching the country. She would decommission earlier than her older sister on December 16th, 1993 and sold for scrap in late April in 1995. She like her sisters was criticized due to their design during their service as due to their low free board and the fact the ships were top heavy they had poor sea-keeping capability.

FGS Hessen (D184)

Spoiler

FGS Hessen was laid down on February 5th, 1961 by Stülcken-Werft in Hamburg, she was launched May 4th, 1963, and even though she started earlier than Bayern she would commission 3 years after her sister due to in part of issues found during sea trails, she was finally commissioned on October 8th, 1968 making her the 4th and final ship of the class. Normally a German warship would be ordered from either Blohm & Voss, Howaldtswerke or Lürssenin however they were all busy building commercial ships at the time which led them with Stülcken-Werft to design and build them which was inexperienced in terms of building warships which would come back to haunt the ships.

Once she came into service with the issue worked out she was immediately sent to join the 2nd destroyer squadron in Wilhelmshaven, her career was relatively peaceful at first without any incident when in December, 1971 an explosion and fire occurred from one of her electrical plants which killed 2 of her crew. Then 1974 it was discovered that “A red cell” was discovered to be aboard the ship which caused concern among the crew, these crew members were distributing an illegal newspaper known as Hessentorpedo. (I did try to search up more on this however was not really able to find anything more on this)

Like her sisters she would undergo her modernization in the mid 1970’s which saw her modernized from 1974 till 1976, following this her career would be relatively uneventful and she would be decommissioned before her sisters on March 29th, 1990, she was sold for scrap the next year. She, like her sister, was criticized due to their design during their service as due to their low free board and the fact the ships were top heavy they had poor sea-keeping capability, though it’s probably safe to say Hessen was the unlucky one of her class.