Death in cold waters. The short combat path of the destroyer Bernd von Arnim (6 photos)

The Norwegian campaign in World War II was marked for Germany by the loss of a number of large surface ships. Thus, in the battle for Narvik, the destroyer Z-11 Bernd von Arnim was lost, which had previously shown itself to be very worthy.





Bernd von Arnim and Wolfgang Zenker in Bremerhaven, 1938

The German command sought to increase the number of naval forces, so in the mid-1930s, a successful development from Deutsche Werke under the code name Type 1934 went into production. Its development, Type 1934A, numbered 12 units, one of which was the Z-11 Bernd von Arnim. The destroyer was laid down at the Germaniawerft shipyard in Kiel on April 26, 1935 and was named in honor of the commander of the destroyer G-42, sunk by the British in 1917.

The technical characteristics were as follows. The length was 119 m, the width 11 m, the draft 4.2, and the full displacement reached 3,200 tons. The power plant with a capacity of 69,000 hp consisted of two Wagner steam turbines with a gearbox, working on two shafts. Steam was supplied by six high-pressure Benson boilers with a superheater, operating on fuel oil. The maximum speed was 38 knots.

The destroyer's armament consisted of 5×1 127-mm SK C/34 main caliber guns, 2×2 37-mm, 6×1 20-mm anti-aircraft guns and two quadruple 533-mm torpedo tubes. In addition, there were four bomb throwers for dropping depth mines and rails on the stern for installing minefields - there could be up to 60 of the latter on board.

Z-11 Bernd von Arnim was launched on July 8, 1936, and after completion was accepted into service on December 6, 1938. Nothing noteworthy happened to the ship before the start of World War II, and with the start of hostilities, it was assigned to the Baltic to fight the Polish fleet.

Afterwards, the destroyer was reoriented to patrolling the Skagerrak Gulf to intercept and inspect neutral ships for contraband. On the night of 17-18 November 1939, Bernd von Arnim, along with two other destroyers, laid about 180 mines in the Thames Estuary. The sortie was successful - a British destroyer, a trawler and seven other ships were lost in the minefield.

On 22 November, Bernd von Arnim joined the squadron escorting the battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst through the North Sea with the aim of breaking through to the North Atlantic. After returning to base, together with the same-type destroyers Hans Lody and Erich Giese, she was to lay mines near the city of Cromer on the British coast on the night of 6-7 December, but problems arose. Two boilers failed and were extinguished, forcing the destroyer to return to port before completing its mission.

In early April 1940, Bernd von Arnim was assigned to the first group of ships in preparation for the campaign in Norway. On April 6, the 139th Mountain Infantry Regiment and the headquarters of the 3rd Mountain Division embarked on board, and the following day it set out to sea. On the morning of April 8, a storm began, which, however, did not prevent the British destroyer HMS Glowworm from spotting the Germans.



British destroyer HMS Glowworm on fire, photo taken from one of the German ships, presumably from the cruiser Admiral Hipper

Bernd von Arnim began laying a smoke screen and turned northwest, reaching 35 knots. This was a mistake: the ship was damaged by waves, and two crew members were washed overboard. The ship's commander, Korvettenkapitän Kurt Rechel, was forced to slow to 27 knots, which allowed the British to approach and open fire.

For an hour, the destroyers fired at each other, but due to the storm, neither managed to hit. At the same time, Rechel changed course to the northeast, intending to meet the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. Soon the cruiser appeared and sank HMS Glowworm with its main caliber fire, allowing Bernd von Arnim to approach the coast of Norway unhindered.

On the morning of April 9, the Germans were at Ofotfjord. Bernd von Arnim, as part of a squadron of destroyers Wilhelm Heidkamp and Georg Thiele under the command of Friedrich Bonte, under cover of a snowstorm, entered the fjord and approached the pier of the port of Narvik, after which the landing of troops began. A few minutes later, the Germans were discovered by the coastal defense battleship HNoMS Norge. It immediately opened fire with its main caliber, and in response, Bernd von Arnim launched seven torpedoes.

Only two torpedoes hit the battleship, but that was enough to detonate the ammunition magazines. The Norwegian ship capsized and sank. Bernd von Arnim lowered lifeboats and rescued 96 Norwegians, after which it began refueling from the only German tanker that had made it to Narvik. As soon as the fuel was transferred, the destroyer went into the southern arm of the Ofotfjord, the Ballangenfjord.





The coastal defense battleship HNoMS Norge, sunk by torpedoes from the destroyer Bernd von Arnim on April 9, 1940. Photo from 1910

Before dawn on April 10, five British destroyers surprised five German destroyers in Narvik harbor, sank two of them and badly damaged the others, and then tried to retreat, but now they were caught by surprise by the Germans, who had raised the alarm in Herjansfjord.

Bernd von Arnim and Thiele from Ballangenfjord were approaching the ensuing battle. They crossed the British course and opened fire from a distance of 4 km. The first ship in the column, HMS Hardy, was heavily damaged and beached, "opening" the next destroyer for fire. HMS Havock could not be damaged by either artillery or torpedoes, and retreated. The third one, HMS Hunter, opened up. It was set on fire and hit with a torpedo, after which the British ship stopped and capsized. HMS Hotspur, which was following behind, crashed into it. The remaining enemy destroyers managed to escape, but what was achieved was a victory.



The remains of the destroyer HMS Hardy, sunk by artillery from Bernd von Arnim and Thiele on April 10, 1940. Photo taken in July 1962

Bernd von Arnim was hit by five British shells, which disabled one boiler. However, the problems that arose were quickly resolved. In addition, six torpedoes from other heavily damaged German destroyers were transferred to Bernd von Arnim.

On the night of April 12, it became known that another British attack was being prepared - this time with very large forces supported by aircraft. On the morning of 13 April, the enemy did indeed appear (the battleship Warspite and nine destroyers), but much earlier than expected. All five serviceable German destroyers went on the attack. Bernd von Arnim launched torpedoes at the British destroyers, but failed to score any hits and immediately retreated to Rombaksfjord, the easternmost arm of the Ofotfjord. Rechel hoped to ambush the British when they reached the German shelter.

However, he had not taken into account the almost complete lack of ammunition. All the torpedoes had already been dropped, and most of the artillery shells had been fired the day before. The surprise of the British attack did not allow the Germans to replenish their supplies, so the destroyer's crew had little choice. Rechel ran the destroyer aground, then ordered the explosives to be planted. As soon as the crew left the ship, Bernd von Arnim was blown up.



Bernd von Arnim after being blown up by its crew in Rombaksfjord

Rechel and his men were able to join up with ground troops and participated in the Norwegian campaign until June 1940. As for the destroyer Bernd von Arnim, when the British finally reached it, they found it lying on its side, and after a while the ship sank.

Thus, the loss of Bernd von Arnim turned out to be a result of miscalculated timing and poor ammunition supply. The Germans had no supply transports on hand, and the second attack by the Royal Navy prevented them from being brought into place. Having achieved particular success in the battle of 10 April, the destroyer Bernd von Arnim simply could not keep up with the fresh enemy forces in the battle of 13 April.