German destroyer Z23

Sister ship Z29, 1945
History
Nazi Germany
Name	Z23
Ordered	23 April 1938
Builder	AG Weser (Deschimag), Bremen
Yard number	957
Laid down	15 November 1938
Launched	15 December 1939
Commissioned	15 September 1940
Decommissioned	12 August 1944
Fate	Scuttled, 21 August 1944 Scrapped, 1951
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Type 1936A destroyer
Displacement	2,603 long tons (2,645 t) (standard) 3,605 long tons (3,663 t) (deep 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)
Range	2,500 nmi (4,600 km; 2,900 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Complement	332
Armament	4 × single 15 cm (5.9 in) guns 2 × twin 3.7 cm (1.5 in) anti-aircraft guns 5 × single 2 cm (0.8 in) AA guns 2 × quadruple 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes 4 × depth charge launchers 60 mines

Z23 was one of fifteen Type 1936A destroyers built for the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) during World War II. Completed in 1940, the ship spent the war in Norwegian and French waters, escorting German ships and occasionally engaging Allied warships. In early 1941 she escorted ships between the Baltic and southern Norway before spending four months protecting ships as they transited through the Bay of Biscay. A few months after the Operation Barbarossa began in June, Z23 was transferred to northern Norway where she attempted to intercept one of the Arctic convoys returning from the Soviet Union and helped to lay several minefields.

Transferred back to France in early 1943 where she resumed her former role of escorting ships through the Bay of Biscay, which were threatened by Allied aircraft and cruisers attempting to prevent Axis blockade runners from reaching port through the bay. One such mission resulted in the Battle of the Bay of Biscay at the end of the year, in which Z23 played a minor role. On 12 August, she was bombed by British heavy bombers and was declared a constructive total loss. The French salvaged her after the war and used her as a source of spare parts for the ex-German destroyers that they had in service. The ship was condemned in 1951 and later broken up.