page_title: German destroyer Z33
section_title: Service history
hierarchical_section_title: German destroyer Z33 / Service history
caption_attribution_description: The German destroyer Z33 under attack by Allied aircraft while she is sheltering in Førde Fjord, Norway on 9 February 1945. Following the war, Z33 was handed over to the Soviet Union on 2 December 1945 as part of Germany's reparations. She was scrapped in 1962.
context_page_description: Z33 was a Type 1936A destroyer built for the Kriegsmarine during World War II. Completed in 1943, the ship was damaged during the raid on the island of Spitsbergen in September and spent all of 1944 in Norwegian waters. She was damaged by British aircraft attacking the battleship Tirpitz in July. Z33 escorted troop convoys from northern Norway when the Germans began evacuating the area beginning in October. She ran aground in early 1945 as she was sailing for the Baltic and was badly damaged. While the ship was being towed to port for repairs, she and her escorts were attacked by Allied fighter-bombers. Z33 finally reached the Baltic in early April, but was reduced to reserve for lack of fuel. The ship was transferred to Cuxhaven and decommissioned shortly before the end of the war.
  Z33 was allocated to the Soviet Union in late 1945 and turned over at the beginning of 1946. Renamed Provornyy, the ship subsequently served with the Soviet Navy. She became a training ship in 1954 before she was converted to an accommodation ship the following year. Provornyy was badly damaged by a fire in 1960 and was scrapped in 1962.
context_section_description: Z33 was first ordered from Seebeckwerft (yard number 665) as a Type 1938B destroyer on 28 June 1939, but the Kriegsmarine cancelled the order in September 1939, re-ordering the ship from AG Weser (Deschimag) (yard number W1003) as a Type 1936A (Mob) destroyer on 19 September 1939. The ship was laid down at Deschimag's Bremen shipyard on 22 December 1940 and launched on 15 September 1941. Construction was slowed by shortage of manpower and materials and Z33 was not commissioned until 6 February 1943.
  The ship sailed to Norway shortly after she finished working up on 22 July. She took part in Operation Zitronella, the German raid on the island of Spitsbergen in September where she was hit by coastal artillery 33 times, killing 3 crewmen and wounding 25. Z33 was one of the escorts for the battleship Scharnhorst during Operation Ostfront on 25 December, an attempt to intercept the British Convoy JW 55B that was bound for the Soviet Union. All of the battleship's escorts were detached the following day to increase the likelihood of intercepting the convoy and did not participate in the ensuing Battle of North Cape. She remained in Norwegian waters through 1944. On 17 July 1944 Z33 was strafed by Vought F4U Corsair fighters of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm during Operation Mascot, an attack on the battleship Tirpitz, but only suffered superficial damage. Beginning in October, the ship escorted convoys during Operation Nordlicht, the evacuation of northern Norway. On 27 December Z33 laid a minefield off Honningsvaag together with her sister Z31. The two ships laid another minefield off Hammerfest on 3 January 1945.
  Z33 departed for Germany on 5 February, but ran aground in Brufjord two days later. The impact severely damaged her port propeller shaft and its propeller, knocked out both turbines, and caused flooding. While under tow to Trondheim she was attacked by Allied Bristol Beaufighter fighter-bombers two days later while anchored in Førde Fjord. The destroyer was further damaged during the attack, but she and her escorts shot down seven Beaufighters, which later became known by the squadrons involved as the "Black Friday" airstrike for the heavy casualties that they suffered. Once repairs were completed she sailed for Swinemünde on 26 March and arrived there on 2 April. Due to Germany's shortage of fuel the ship was laid up and saw no further combat. All of her anti-aircraft guns were removed shortly after her arrival. Before Z33 departed Swinemünde on 27 April to be decommissioned at Cuxhaven, her anti-aircraft weapons were replaced by guns taken from the wreck of Lützow.
  After the war Z33 sailed to Wilhelmshaven and was overhauled to keep her seaworthy while the Allies decided how to divide the surviving ships of the Kriegsmarine amongst themselves as war reparations. The ship was allotted to the Soviet Union in late 1945 and turned over on 2 January 1946 before departing for Liepāja, Latvia. She was renamed Provornyy (Проворный, “Nimble”) and assigned to the Red Banner Baltic Fleet. She briefly became a training ship on 30 November 1954 before  was reclassified as an accommodation ship on 22 April 1955. During 1960, Provornyy was badly damaged by a fire and sank at her moorings. She was refloated two years later and then scrapped.
caption: Z33 under attack by Allied aircraft on 9 February 1945
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