German destroyer Z11 Bernd von Arnim Z11 " Bernd von Arnim " was a built for the German Navy ( " Kriegsmarine " ) in the late 1930s . At the beginning of World War II , the ship was initially deployed to blockade the Polish coast , but she was quickly transferred to the German Bight to lay minefields in German waters . In late 1939 the ship made one successful minelaying sortie off the English coast that claimed one British warship and seven merchant ships . During the early stages of the Norwegian Campaign , " Bernd von Arnim " fought the British destroyer while transporting troops to the Narvik area in early April 1940 , but neither ship was damaged during the action . The ship fought in both naval Battles of Narvik several days later and had to be scuttled after she exhausted her ammunition . Design and description . " Bernd von Arnim " 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 Wagner geared steam turbines were designed to produce which would propel the ship at . Steam was provided to the turbines by six high - pressure Benson boilers with superheater s . " Bernd von Arnim " carried a maximum of of fuel oil which was intended to give a range of at , 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 . " Bernd von Arnim " carried five 12 . 7 cm SK C / 34 guns in single mounts with gun shield s , two each superimposed , fore and aft . The fifth gun was carried on top of the rear deckhouse . Her anti - aircraft armament consisted of four 3 . 7 cm SK C / 30 guns in two twin mounts abreast the rear funnel and six 2 cm C / 30 guns in single mounts . The ship carried eight above - water torpedo tube s in two power - operated mounts . 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 . ' GHG ' ( " Gruppenhorchgerät " ) passive hydrophone s were fitted to detect submarine s . Career . The ship was ordered on 4 August 1934 and laid down at Germania , Kiel on 26 March 1935 as yard number G537 . She was launched on 8 July 1936 and completed on 6 July 1938 . When World War II began in September 1939 , " Bernd von Arnim " was initially deployed in the Baltic to operate against the Polish Navy and to enforce a blockade of Poland , but she was soon transferred to the German Bight where she joined her sisters in laying defensive minefields . The ship also patrolled the Skagerrak to inspect neutral shipping for contraband goods . " Bernd von Arnim " joined the other destroyers in laying minefield s off the British coast in November , when " Bernd von Arnim " , " Hermann Künne " and " Wilhelm Heidkamp " laid about 180 magnetic mine s in the middle of the Thames Estuary on the night of 17 / 18 November . The destroyer , one trawler , and seven other ships totalling 27 , 565 Gross Register Tons ( GRT ) were sunk by this minefield . Four days later , she was one of the destroyers escorting the battleship s and through the North Sea to break out into the North Atlantic . Together with her sisters " Hans Lody " and " Erich Giese " , " Bernd von Arnim " was to lay a minefield off Cromer during the night of 6 / 7 December , but she had trouble with two of her boilers and had to shut them down . The ship was ordered to return to port while the other two destroyers continued their mission . Norwegian campaign . " Bernd von Arnim " was allocated to Group 1 for the Norwegian portion of Operation Weserübung in April 1940 . The group ' s task was to transport the 139th Mountain Infantry Regiment ( " 139 . Gebirgsjäger Regiment " ) and the headquarters of the 3rd Mountain Division ( " 3 . Gebirgs - Division " ) to seize Narvik . The ships began loading troops on 6 April and set sail the next day . " Bernd von Arnim " was spotted by the British destroyer in a storm on the morning of 8 April and the ship turned away to the north - west at full speed after laying a smoke screen . The German ship was suffering damage from the heavy seas at and was forced to reduce speed to after she had lost two men overboard . The British destroyer was better suited for the conditions and began to close on " Bernd von Arnim " . Lieutenant Commander ( " Korvettenkapitän " ) Curt Rechel , captain of " von Arnim " , turned his ship to the north - east , closer to the heavy cruiser . The ships exchanged fire without effect for an hour until " Hipper " came within range and sank " Glowworm " shortly afterward . The German destroyers reached the Ofotfjord on the morning of 9 April and Commodore Friedrich Bonte took his flagship " Wilhelm Heidkamp " , " Bernd von Arnim " and " Georg Thiele " down the fjord to Narvik . A heavy snowstorm allowed " von Arnim " and " Thiele " to enter the harbor without challenge and tie up at a pier . The mountain troops immediately began disembarking , but the ship was spotted by the coast defense ship a few minutes later . The latter ship immediately opened fire and was able to fire approximately 13 shells at range before " von Arnim " was able to fire seven torpedoes . Only two struck the Norwegian ship , but they detonated one or more of the ship ' s magazine s and she immediately capsized and sank . None of the Norwegian shells hit either of the two German destroyers due to the darkness and falling snow , despite the short range . " Von Arnim " lowered boats to rescue the surviving Norwegian sailors and was able to pick up 96 men together with boats from the merchantmen in harbor . " Von Arnim " and " Thiele " were the first to refuel from the single tanker that had made it safely to Narvik and later moved to the Ballangenfjord , a southern arm of the Ofotfjord , closer to the entrance . Shortly before dawn on 10 April , the five destroyers of the British 2nd Destroyer Flotilla surprised the five German destroyers in Narvik harbor . They torpedoed two destroyers and badly damaged the other three while suffering only minor damage themselves . As they were beginning to withdraw they encountered the three destroyers of the 4th Flotilla which had been alerted in the Herjansfjord when the British began their attack . The Germans opened fire first , but the gunnery for both sides was not effective due to the mist and the smoke screen laid by the British as they retreated down the Ofotfjord . The German ships had to turn away to avoid a salvo of three torpedoes fired by one of the destroyers in Narvik , but " von Arnim " and " Thiele " had also been alerted and were coming up to engage the British . The two German destroyers crossed the T of the British flotilla and were able to fire full broadsides at a range of only . They first engaged the British flagship , , and badly damaged her . Both of her forward guns were knocked out and the forward superstructure was set afire . " Hardy " was forced to beach herself lest she sink , and the German ships switched their fire to , the next ship in line . Their fire was relatively ineffective and both sides fired torpedoes without scoring any hits . " Havock " pulled out and dropped to the rear to fight off any pursuit by the ships of the 4th Flotilla . This placed in the lead and she was quickly set on fire by the German ships . " Thiele " probably also hit her with a torpedo and she was rammed from behind by when the latter ship lost steering control . " Hotspur " was able to disengage , but " Hunter " capsized shortly afterward . The three remaining British ships were able to escape from the Germans under the cover of a smoke screen . " Von Arnim " had been hit by five British shells , which had knocked out one boiler . This was repaired by the morning of 13 April and she received six torpedoes from the badly damaged destroyers . On the night of 12 April , Commander Erich Bey , the senior surviving German officer , received word to expect an attack the following day by British capital ship s escorted by a large number of destroyers and supported by carrier aircraft . The battleship and nine destroyers duly appeared on 13 April , although earlier than Commander Bey had expected , and caught the Germans out of position . The five operable destroyers , including " Bernd von Arnim " , charged out of Narvik harbor and engaged the British ships . Although no hits were scored , they did inflict splinter damage on several of the destroyers . The ship was able to make a torpedo attack on the British destroyers before being driven off , but her torpedoes all missed . Lack of ammunition forced the German ships to retreat to the Rombaksfjorden ( the easternmost branch of the Ofotfjord ) , east of Narvik , where they might attempt to ambush pursuing British destroyers . " Von Arnim " had exhausted her ammunition and she was beached at the head of the fjord . Her crew placed demolition charges and abandoned the ship . By the time the British reached the ship she had rolled over onto her side . The ship ' s crew joined the German troops ashore and participated in the campaign until the British evacuated the area in June .