- Yes
- Maybe
- Unsure
- No
- As built
- 1942 Refit
- 1943 Refit
- 1944 Refit
- 1945 Refit
- Unsure
- I said no to the previous question
Notes -
Due to the fact that there are not too many images of the ship I have included mostly images of ship models of her, I will try to include as many images of the ship.
Background & History
Z28 was a Type 1936A class destroyer built between 1939 to being commissioned in 1941, she was the 6th ship of the class and compared to her sisters she was the most unique of her class, compared to her sisters who did share the same amount of main guns and caliber the layout of the guns was different, while a majority of the ships were built and intended to have a twin 15 cm gun mount on the bow for a total of 5 guns the twin turrets themselves were not ready in time for the class however later on were modified and given twin mounts as the Mob variety were completed with, yet Z28 was an exception to this plan as she saw her design herself modified as like the other Type 1936A class vessels were built with 4 15 cm guns in single shielded mounts the Z28 had them in super firing pairs forward and aft of the vessel unlike her sisters which had 1 gun forward and 3 guns aft as previous destroyers, the reason she had this alternative gun layout was due to her purpose being to act as a flotilla leader.
Due to the ships additional role her design required modification which saw the 3rd mount which would have been located near the rear super firing turret relocated forward of the bridge in order to make space to accommodate the command facilities need for the role which made her a one off modified design and due to the changes made they decided to leave the twin 15 cm gun mount off the ship, this would have a unintentionally beneficial result for the vessel as when the other ships had a twin mount installed forward it was found that they did not fare well due to the immense weight the much heavier mount caused but due to Z28 lacking that feature likely proved to be the most seaworthy of the entire class which is ironic as most German destroyer design previous had been unintentionally poor in sea worthiness with the exception of the type 1936 class which made it ironic in that the modified design due to the lack of the twin gun mount was likely a better design though she still had to deal with the temperamental high pressure machinery that plagued all German destroyers, it should also be noted her maximum displacement was the least among her sisters.
In terms of armament she had the 4 15 cm/55 (5.9") TBts KC/36 guns in single mounts as mentioned before in super firing positions towards the bow and stern of the vessel, in terms of anti-air armament she completed with 4 3.7 cm/83 SK C/30 guns in twin mounts along with 5 2 cm/65 (0.79") C/38 guns though over time this was increased and by the last year of the war she had a total of 6 3.7 cm/57 (1.5") Flak M43 guns, the same 4 3.7 cm/83 SK C/30 guns, and at least 10 2 cm/65 (0.79") C/38 cannons. Her torpedo armament consisted of the same 8 21-inch (533mm) torpedo tubes in quad mounts, additionally she could carry 60 mines and 4 depth charge throwers.
Z28 herself was laid down on November 30th, 1939, she was launched on August 20th, 1940, and was commissioned on August 9th, 1941. At first Z28 would find herself working up into service for quite some time as she spent time working up until 1942, during the later period of this she was based in Denmark and was used to patrol the Skagerrak and Kattegat from late 1941 to early 1942, by April she would then see her deployed to Norway in April as she joined as an escort for a convoy destined for Narvik in July Operation Rösselsprung as a part of the efforts in attacking the convoy PQ17 where she was a part of the surface element of the Kriegsmarine where she along with some of her sisters acted as the escort for the battleship Tirpitz and the heavy cruiser Admiral hipper with the 2 remaining Deutschland class cruisers making up major element of another surface group, the operation itself saw 3 of the escorting destroyers running aground which forced the enter surface elements to abandon the operation while the U-boat’s and Luftwaffe continued with the operation and proved to be successful despite the major failures of the surface forces with the Lützow also later running aground which required repairs for all 4 ships despite them not encountering any ships, despite this the operation was one of the most successful operations of the Kriegsmarine of this type and the Tirpitz did play a indirect role to its success as allied intelligence learned of the ship heading out to sortie against PQ17 which saw the convoy order to scatter which played into the convoys losses despite the surface forces failure to deploy. In the later part of December, the vessel was deployed as a part of a minelaying effort off the coast of the island of Novaya Zemlya along with the Hipper and 3 other destroyers following which she took part in some escorting operations of major capital ships in Norway before heading to Kiel in Germany for a refit which was completed by early 1943. In March following her refit she took part in escorting Scharnhorst to Bogen Bay with the force which conceded of the battleship and 4 destroyers running into a storm off Bergen with only Z28 coming out of the storm with no damage however on April 2nd following the ship in escorting in Scharnhorst she ran aground while with the destroyer Z4 and was forced to Trondheim to make repairs during which she was present during an allied air attack which her slightly damaged, she would then once the minor repairs were completed sent back to Bremen for full repairs. Following the repairs she was based in Norway in January of 1944 as a part of 6. Zerstörerflotille before in February having the group transferred to the Baltic as a part of German operations which saw them take part in minelaying and convoy escort as well as an operation which was made in case the Finnish surrendered to the Soviets however that operation was canceled. With the tide of the war turning for the worse for the German ground forces Z28 would begin to take part in a number of actions involving fire support of retreating German forces as well as helping with troop evacuations and in late October during one of her shore bombardment operations was damaged by a Soviet aircraft which saw her return to port for repairs which would last until February 28th, 1945 following which she oddly take part in Operation Hannibal with the Z28 helping to escort an ocean liner which was being used to evacuate Germans. She would repeat this on March 4th however while in port on the 6th she was hit by British bombers amidship receiving 2 hits amidship causing heavy losses, she would end up being the last ship of her class loss during the war.
Specifications
Displacement
2,596 tons standard
3,519 tons full load
Length 127 m (416 ft 8 in) (o/a)
Beam 12 m (39 ft 4 in)
Draft 4.65 m (15 ft 3 in)
Installed power
6 × water-tube boilers
70,000 PS (51,000 kW; 69,000 shp)
Propulsion
2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbine sets
Speed 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Complement 332
Sensors and systems
As built
FuMO 21 radar
S-Gerät sonar
GHG hydrophone
1944 Refit
FuMO 24 radar
S-Gerät sonar
GHG hydrophone
FuMB 3 Bali ECM suite
FuMB 6 Palau ECM suite
Armament
As built
Main armament
4 x 15 cm/48 (5.9") Tbts KC/36 (150mm) guns (4 x 1)
Anti-aircraft armament
4 x 3.7 cm/83 SK C/30 (37mm) AA guns (2 x 2)
5 x 2 cm/65 (0.79") C/38 (20mm) AA guns (5 x 1)
Torpedo tubes
8 x 53.3 cm (533mm) torpedo tubes (2 x 4)
Additional armament
up to x 60 mines
4 x depth charge throwers
1942 Refit
Main armament
4 x 15 cm/48 (5.9") Tbts KC/36 (150mm) guns (4 x 1)
Anti-aircraft armament
4 x 3.7 cm/83 SK C/30 (37mm) AA guns (2 x 2)
9 x 2 cm/65 (0.79") C/38 (20mm) AA guns (1 x 4 & 5 x 1)
Torpedo tubes
8 x 53.3 cm (533mm) torpedo tubes (2 x 4)
Additional armament
up to x 60 mines
4 x depth charge throwers
1943 Refit
Main armament
4 x 15 cm/48 (5.9") Tbts KC/36 (150mm) guns (4 x 1)
Anti-aircraft armament
4 x 3.7 cm/83 SK C/30 (37mm) AA guns (2 x 2)
11 x 2 cm/65 (0.79") C/38 (20mm) AA guns (1 x 4 & 7 x 1)
Torpedo tubes
8 x 53.3 cm (533mm) torpedo tubes (2 x 4)
Additional armament
up to x 60 mines
4 x depth charge throwers
1945 Refit
Main armament
4 x 15 cm/48 (5.9") Tbts KC/36 (150mm) guns (4 x 1)
Anti-aircraft armament
6 x 3.7 cm/57 (1.5") Flak M43 (37mm) AA guns (2 x 2 & 2 x 1)
4 x 3.7 cm/83 SK C/30 (37mm) AA guns (2 x 2)
10 x 2 cm/65 (0.79") C/38 (20mm) AA guns (2 x 4 & 2 x 1)
Torpedo tubes
8 x 53.3 cm (533mm) torpedo tubes (2 x 4)
Additional armament
up to x 60 mines
4 x depth charge throwers
Note
Some of the refits in armament the ship has may not be accurate, especially the final one as what is stated from sources and what is depicted from models and other visual depictions (all of them) indicate different things (I.E. what sources that textually online say and what visual representations show), while I have listed the armament listed by sources list rather than the models but due to the limited amount of online information I would take the number listed with a grain of salt, also at least one source which talks about a model mentions information from the same source which another source states which is in line with all the online text sources of 10 37mm and 10 20mm guns by the end of the war with the same model presented having the 2 quad 20mm gun mounts but one source stating it was 2 twin mountings instead of a quad, all I can confirm is that it was 10 guns however the combinations I have come down to what the ship may have had are between 1 x 4, 2 x 2, 2 x 1 or 2 x 4 & 2 x 1 both fit the total amount fitting 10 as the norm since this part seems to be a constant detail, this number is based off a mix of the contradicting sources however the latter mentioned is assuming the armament changes from the online based source is stating is correct on armament until the 1943 refit in what was added and the final refit in what was removed but it could be possible the total amount could have been more but the safe conclusion is 10 guns as well as for the fact that I have no way to confirm twin mounts, as for the 37mm gun mounts it’s unclear how it exactly was other than the original 37mm twin mounts never seemed to change however the source stating the changes more specifically mentions 6 single mounts added near the end of her career however no model shows this however after some thinking on the matter since the models (at least the ones I have observed and found) normally of a smaller size don’t include the smaller AA gun mounts such as the likes of the single 20mm mounts in which case the true 37mm AA gun count might be still be 10 but the M43 guns would then be grouped in 2 twin and 2 single mounts which would be in line with all sources in terms of total number and the ships depiction. Keep in mind all of this here is from my analysis and conclusion which I have only made since the many text based online sources agree near enough completely on the total amount of guns but all models and visual depictions of the ships final armament agree the same layout which was different from the text based online sources which I found could not be ignored since some many indicators seems to agree on one or the other versions when if shown or states in a certain method all agree in the same matter of that method of what it is.
Sources
Spoiler
German destroyer Z28 - Wikipedia
Type 1936A destroyer - Wikipedia
Image Sources