German Destroyer Z7 Hermann Schoemann

Z7 ''Hermann Schoemann'' was a built for Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' in the mid-1930s. The ship was plagued by machinery problems for most of her life and was under repair when the Second World War began in September 1939. She covered her sister ships over the next few months as they laid offensive minefields in English waters in late 1939 – early 1940. ''Hermann Schoemann'' played a minor role in the Norwegian Campaign as engine problems limited her availability throughout 1940 and for most of 1941.

She was transferred to France in early 1942 to escort two battleships and a heavy cruiser home to Germany through the English Channel in the Channel Dash. The ship was then transferred to Norway where she participated in Operation Sportpalast (Sports Palace), an unsuccessful attempt to intercept Convoy QP 8 returning from Russia. Another unsuccessful intercept was made in early April before the Germans were successful with Convoy QP 11 at the end of the month. The convoy's escorts conducted a skilful defense and prevented ''Hermann Schoemann'' and the other two destroyers from sinking more than one Soviet freighter. The German commander broke off the action in the hopes of locating the crippled light cruiser . They found the cruiser and her escorting destroyers on 2 May; ''Edinburgh'' disabled ''Hermann Schoemann'' before she could fire any torpedoes and her captain was forced to scuttle her shortly afterwards. The destroyer had 8 men killed and 45 wounded in the engagement.

Design and description

''Hermann Schoemann'' had an overall length of and was long at the waterline. The ship had a beam of , and a maximum draft of . She displaced at standard load and at deep load. The two Wagner geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller shaft, were designed to produce using steam provided by six high-pressure Wagner boilers. The ship had a designed speed of Gröner, p. 199 and she reached a maximum speed of 36.8 knots from while testing various propellers.Koop & Schmolke, p. 86 ''Hermann Schoemann'' carried a maximum of of fuel oil which was intended to give a range of at a speed of , but the ship proved top-heavy in service and 30% of the fuel had to be retained as ballast low in the ship. The effective range proved to be only at 19 knots. The crew numbered 10 officers and 315 enlisted men, plus an additional four officers and 19 enlisted men if serving as a flotilla flagship.

The ship carried five SK C/34 guns in single mounts with gun shields, two each superimposed, fore and aft. The fifth gun was carried on top of the aft superstructure. Her anti-aircraft armament consisted of four SK C/30 guns in two twin mounts abreast the rear funnel and six C/30 guns in single mounts. ''Hermann Schoemann'' carried eight above-water torpedo tubes in two power-operated mounts. A pair of reload torpedoes were provided for each mount. Four depth charge throwers were mounted on the sides of the rear deckhouse and they were supplemented by six racks for individual depth charges on the sides of the stern. Enough depth charges were carried for either two or four patterns of 16 charges each. Mine rails could be fitted on the rear deck that had a maximum capacity of 60 mines. A system of passive hydrophones designated as 'GHG' (''Gruppenhorchgerät'') was fitted to detect submarines and the ''S-Gerät'' active sonar system was scheduled to be installed during March 1940.

Construction and career

''Z7 Hermann Schoemann'', named after Lieutenant (''Kapitänleutnant'') Hermann Schoemann, was ordered on 9 January 1935 and laid down at DeSchiMAG, Bremen on 7 September 1935 as yard number W901. She was launched on 16 July 1936 and completed on 9 September 1937 under the command of Lieutenant Commander (''Korvettenkapitän'') Erich Schulte Mönting. The ship participated in the late 1937 naval maneuvers as part of the 2nd Destroyer Division (''2. Zerstörer-Division''). ''Hermann Schoemann'' hosted Adolf Hitler and his retinue for a short cruise from Kiel to Eckernförde in July 1938 and participated in the August Fleet Review and the following fleet exercise. ''Korvettenkapitän'' Theodor Detmers relieved Schulte-Mönting in October. The division accompanied the heavy cruiser on her voyage to the Mediterranean in October where they visited Vigo, Tangiers, and Ceuta before returning home. The destroyer had a lengthy refit at Wilhelmshaven from February 1939 to October.

''Hermann Schoemann'' patrolled the Skagerrak to inspect neutral shipping for contraband goods in October. The ship attempted to lay a minefield off the British coast on the night of 12/13 November, with two of her sisters, but had to turn back after she and ''Z6 Theodor Riedel'' suffered machinery breakdowns. She made another attempt on the night of 18 December to mine the Humber estuary, together with two other destroyers, but the German ships had to abandon the sortie when they could not pinpoint their location. While patrolling in the Jade estuary on 23 December, she collided with her sister ''Z15 Erich Steinbrinck'' in a heavy fog. ''Hermann Schoemann'' covered minelaying sorties in January and February 1940, but spent most of March under repair for machinery problems.

The ship was allocated to Group 2 for the Norwegian portion of Operation Weserübung. The group's task was to transport the 138th Mountain Infantry Regiment (''138. Gebirgsjäger Regiment'') of the 3rd Mountain Division to seize Trondheim together with ''Admiral Hipper'', but her machinery broke down again before the troops were loaded and she was replaced by ''Friedrich Eckoldt''. As part of the post-Narvik reorganization of the ''Kriegsmarine''s destroyer forces, ''Hermann Schoemann'' was assigned to the 6th Destroyer Flotilla (''6. Zerstörer Flotille''). In June the flotilla was tasked to escort the battleships and , as well as the heavy cruiser in Operation Juno, a planned attack on Harstad, Norway, to relieve pressure on the German garrison at Narvik. The ships sortied on 8 June and sank the troop transport , the oil tanker and the minesweeping trawler en route. The German commander, Admiral Wilhelm Marschall, then ordered the ''Admiral Hipper'' and all four destroyers to Trondheim because of the heavy weather, where they arrived in the morning of 9 June. The two battleships continued the sortie and sank the aircraft carrier and her two escorting destroyers, although ''Scharnhorst'' was badly damaged by a torpedo from the destroyer in the engagement. The battleship was escorted home by the destroyers ''Steinbrinck'', ''Z10 Hans Lody'' and ''Hermann Schoemann'' for repairs. On 25 June, ''Hermann Schoemann'' began a lengthy refit that lasted until 15 February 1941, although her machinery continued to be problematic.Koop & Schmolke, p. 87

1942

She was declared operational in June and transferred to Kirkenes, Norway, the following month. However, continued machinery problems forced her return to Germany in August and repairs that lasted until January 1942. Now assigned to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla (), ''Hermann Schoemann'' sailed from Kiel on 24 January for France as part of the preparations for the Channel Dash. On the evening of 25 January, ''Z8 Bruno Heinemann'' struck two mines laid by off the Belgian coast and sank. The survivors were put ashore at Le Havre before the flotilla reached Brest on the 26th. The German ships departed on the evening of 11 February and the nighttime and morning portion of the transit through the English Channel was uneventful. In the afternoon, however, ''Hermann Schoemann'' twice drove off British Motor Torpedo Boats, together with her sister ''Z14 Friedrich Ihn''. British aircraft began to make their presence known with repeated attacks on the German ships. ''Hermann Schoemann'' was repeatedly struck in the stern by 20 mm cannon shells from defending German fighters and/or No. 452 Squadron RAAF Spitfires. Later that afternoon, Vice Admiral () Otto Ciliax, commander of the battleship flotilla, was transferred to the ship after his temporary flagship, the destroyer , was disabled by a premature detonation in one of her guns that sent shrapnel into the machinery spaces.

Shortly afterwards, ''Hermann Schoemann'' joined four other destroyers in escorting the heavy cruisers and to Trondheim. Heavy weather forced three of the destroyers to return to port before reaching Trondheim and ''Prinz Eugen'' was torpedoed and badly damaged by the submarine on 23 February after their separation. On 6 March, the battleship , escorted by ''Hermann Schoemann'' and three other destroyers, sortied from Trondheim to attack the returning Convoy QP 8 and the Russia-bound PQ 12 as part of Operation Sportpalast. The following morning, Ciliax ordered the destroyers to search independently for Allied ships and they stumbled across the Soviet freighter ''Ijora'', a straggler from QP 8, later that afternoon and sank her. ''Tirpitz'' rejoined them shortly afterwards and they continued to fruitlessly search for Allied shipping until they sailed for the Vestfjorden on the 9th.

On 9 April, the ship was transferred to the 8th Destroyer Flotilla () in Kirkenes. Together with the destroyers '' Z24'' and '' Z25'', ''Hermann Schoemann'' sortied to intercept Convoy QP 14 two days later, but failed to locate any Allied ships in heavy snow and low visibility. The trio sortied again on 30 April to intercept the westbound Convoy QP 11 and the crippled light cruiser , torpedoed earlier by the . They found the convoy the next day, but they only managed to sink a Soviet 2,847-GRT freighter as the convoy's four escorting destroyers repeatedly rebuffed attempts to reach the convoy's ships. Despite a significant firepower advantage, the Germans only moderately damaged in the day's engagements. Captain () Alfred Schulze-Hinrichs, commander of the flotilla, broke off the battle in the late afternoon and decided to search for the cruiser, his original objective. They found ''Edinburgh'' and her escorts on the morning of 2 May and closed to attack with torpedoes. The cruiser opened fire first and disabled ''Hermann Schoemann'' with her second salvo with hits in both engine rooms. The destroyer turned away and dropped smoke floats to create a smoke screen behind which she could hide. The damage was too severe to return to base and, as the crew prepared to abandon ship, ''Hermann Schoemann'' was attacked by the British destroyers who hit her at least three more times. ''Z24'' and ''Z25'' took off about 223 survivors before the ship was scuttled by her crew at coordinates . Another 56 men were rescued by after the German destroyers broke off the engagement. During the battle 8 men were killed and another 45 wounded.Whitley, pp. 136–139

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External links

Kriegsmarine destroyers

{{DEFAULTSORT:Z07 Hermann Schoemann
1936 ships
Ships built in Bremen (state)
Type 1934 destroyers
World War II shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean
Maritime incidents in May 1942
Scuttled vessels of Germany