Hamburg-class destroyer

The Type 101 Hamburg class was the only class of destroyers built during post-war Germany. They were specifically designed to operate in the Baltic Sea, where armament and speed is more important than seaworthiness. They were named after Bundesländer (states of Germany) of West Germany.

Schleswig-Holstein (D-182)
Class overview
Builders: Stülcken-Werft
Operators:  German Navy
Succeeded by: Brandenburg-class frigate
Built: 1959–1963
In commission: 1964–1994
Completed: 4
Retired: 4
General characteristics
Class and type: Type 101A
Displacement: 4,050 tonnes
Length: 133.7 m (438 ft 8 in)
Beam: 13.4 m (44 ft 0 in)
Draft: 4.8 m (15 ft 9 in)
Propulsion: 4 × Wahodag boilers, 2 steam turbines, 72,000 shp
Speed:
  • 35 knots (65 km/h)
  • 37 knots (69 km/h) only D182
Range: 3,400 nautical miles (6,300 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h)
Complement: 284
Sensors and
processing systems:
Armament:

The German shipyard Stülcken was contracted to design and build the ships. Stülcken was rather inexperienced with naval shipbuilding, but got the order, since the shipyards traditionally building warships for the German navies like Blohm + Voss, Howaldtswerke or Lürssen were all occupied constructing commercial vessels (no naval ship had been built in Germany since World War II).

Originally, they had only barreled weapons, but from 1976 to 1978 they were upgraded with guided missiles to increase their effectiveness against modern surface warships and were re designated Type 101A. One 100 mm gun was replaced by two Exocet missile launchers, the Bofors were replaced by Breda 40 mm, and the torpedo tubes were removed. Modifications were also made to the operations center, radar and bridge.

The design of the Hamburg class has been criticized for many of the same failures of the Kriegsmarine destroyers: too top-heavy and bad sea-keeping capabilities. This is in part due to the low freeboard on the hull. They were replaced up from 1994 by the Brandenburg class frigates (F123).

Schleswig Holstein (D-182) being refueled by USS Iowa (BB-61)

Ships
Pennant Name Builder Laid down Launched Commissioned Decommissioned
D181 Hamburg Stülcken-Werft, Hamburg 29 January 1959 26 March 1960 23 March 1964 24 February 1994
D182 Schleswig-Holstein Stülcken-Werft, Hamburg 20 August 1959 20 August 1960 12 October 1964 15 December 1994
D183 Bayern Stülcken-Werft, Hamburg 15 February 1961 14 August 1962 6 July 1965 16 December 1993
D184 Hessen Stülcken-Werft, Hamburg 5 February 1961 4 May 1963 8 October 1968 29 March 1990

All ships were built by Stülcken and were based in Wilhelmshaven as the 2. Zerstörergeschwader (second destroyer squadron) of the Bundesmarine/Deutsche Marine (German Navy).

Trivia
  • They were nicknamed Hochhäuser (tower blocks) in the German Navy because of their unusually high superstructures.
  • A fictional un-modernized member of the class named Baden appears in the 1979 techno-thriller Threat Warning Red by Anthony Fox. [1]

See also

References
  1. Fox, Anthony (1982). Threat Warning Red. London: Pan Books. ISBN 0-330-26721-3.


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