German World War II destroyers At the outbreak of the Second World War , the German Navy , the Kriegsmarine , had 21 destroyer s ( Ger : " Zerstörer " ) in service , while another one was just completing . These 22 vessels - comprising 3 classes ( Type 34 , 34A and 36 ) - had all been built in the 1930s , making them modern vessels ( no destroyers remained in German hands following the close of the First World War ) . Including that final pre - war vessel , a further 19 were brought into service during the war and more were captured from opposing navies , including the Italian Navy ( " Regia Marina " ) after the Italian Armistice with the Allies in 1943 . German destroyer classes were generally known by the year of their design . Because of their size , use and weaponry , some vessels classified as " fleet torpedo boats " , " Flottentorpedoboot " , are also described . Class general characteristics are taken from the first of each class , and may differ slightly for individual ships , particularly when they were refitted . Post - war , some surviving ships had significant changes to armament . Zerstörer 1934 . This class of four ships was the first German destroyer class built since World War I , laid down between October 1934 and January 1935 . They were not very good ships . Built rapidly , they were too wet in heavy seas , which could make their forward guns unusable , there were structural weaknesses and machinery problems . The engines were newly designed high pressure turbines that promised much but disappointed once installed : maintenance was difficult and they caused excessive vibration . In addition , the class ' range was limited ( less than half of equivalent British ships ) and they had limited magazine capacities ( again half of the British equivalents ) . Only one ship survived the war . The ships were named after German navy personnel killed in World War I . The ships were : Zerstörer 1934A . Twelve destroyers laid down between July and November 1935 . They were only slightly modified from the design of the preceding 1934 class and continued their predecessors ' limited endurance and magazine capacity - factors which contributed to the heavy German losses at the Second Battle of Narvik . Five survived the war . Zerstörer 1936 . These 6 ships ( of 26 planned ) ordered under the 1935 Program were improved and enlarged versions of the 1934 and 1934A classes . Most of the serious faults of the earlier ships had been resolved : engine reliability and the structural integrity was much improved and they were much better seagoing ships , shipping less water through an improvement in the design of the bows . Despite this , five of this newer type were also lost at Narvik in April 1940 . Zerstörer 1936A " " Narvik " " . Eight destroyers intended to carry new 150 mm ( 5 . 9 inch ) guns in single turrets with a twin turret at the bow . The twin mountings were not ready in time and so singles were first used , and the twins fitted later ( only to four ships : Z - 23 , Z - 24 , Z - 25 , Z - 29 ) . Anti - aircraft armament was substantially improved . Despite reusing earlier ship designs as a basis , with modifications to improve seaworthiness , the ships were wet in heavy seas , especially fitted with heavy turrets . After much effort , the problem was traced to a newly designed stern . However , this problem was somewhat offset by the fact that the twin mount was fully enclosed and had a high maximum elevation , allowing limited use against aircraft . These ships reverted to the traditional German practice of giving torpedo ships numbers rather than names . Four survived the war . Zerstörer 1936A ( Mob ) . When war broke out in 1939 , planned new destroyer classes were cancelled and twelve additional 1936A vessels ( " Z . 31 " to " Z . 42 " , although the last three were to be cancelled ) were ordered with slight modifications to speed construction and save materials . The 150 mm twin turrets had been manufactured for planned , but never built , " O " class battlecruisers . In war service , the engines were more reliable than in earlier ships but at the end of the war , heavy corrosion was discovered . Seven of this sub - class were built : one was sunk , another two were severely damaged and not repaired . The remaining four were war booty allocated to the Allies . Zerstörer 1936B . The main armament of this class reduced back to single mounted 127 mm guns and the anti - aircraft armament was increased . The efficacy of this change was not proven in high seas as this sub - class only operated in the Baltic and coastal waters . Eight ships to this design were ordered , but the orders for " Z . 40 " , " Z . 41 " and " Z . 42 " ( all three ordered from Germaniawerft at Kiel ) were replaced by orders for three " Spähkreuzer " ( " scout cruisers " ) , to be numbered " Sp . 1 " , " Sp . 2 " and " Sp . 3 " respectively . Two ships ( " Z . 44 " and " Z . 45 " ) were never completed , being suspended in 1944 and scuttled incomplete after the war . The three that were commissioned were all lost . Zerstörer 1936C . Five ships of this class were ordered in 1942 and 1943 ( " Z . 46 " - " Z . 50 " ) , all from A . G . Weser at Bremen ; none were launched , just two were started - " Z . 46 " and " Z . 47 " - and both were bombed by Allied aircraft while under construction and were scrapped on the slipways in 1945 . This design was a response to the vulnerability to air attack of early German destroyers and would have used six new 128 mm Flak 40 guns ( originally designed for the Luftwaffe ) as dual purpose weapons in twin mountings . The number of smaller caliber anti - aircraft guns would have also been increased . Zerstörer 1938A / Ac . In order to provide support for larger German warships operating far from their bases , the development of large ocean going destroyers started in the late 1930s . They would have had dual power systems to enable long endurance cruises . Twenty - four of these were planned under Plan Z but were not actually ordered - the concept was developed further into the " Spähkreuzer " ( see Type 1936B above ) . Zerstörer 1938B . Ships of this class would have been small destroyers designed to patrol and operate in Baltic and coastal waters , but would have had quite big operational range for such purpose , and could have also been used in high seas . Twelve ships were ordered in the summer of 1939 , but after the start of World War II , all were cancelled . Zerstörer 1942 . Experimental test - bed destroyer powered by diesel engines for long - range operations . Based on design of unbuilt Type 1938B destroyer , with six diesels driving three shafts , with an estimated speed of and an operating radius of . One example ( " Z . 51 " ) was laid down in 1943 and launched in 1944 , but was sunk by Allied bombers on 21 March 1945 while fitting out . Zerstörer 1942C . While " Z . 51 " was a testbed for diesel propulsion , the Type 1942C destroyer was a production class of large , diesel powered destroyers . They were planned to have a revised armament , with six 128 mm C / 41M dual purpose main guns , and an all - new anti - aircraft armament , with three 5 . 5 cm Gerät 58 intermediate calibre anti - aircraft guns and a close - in armament of 14 30 - mm cannon in seven twin mounts , with eight torpedo tubes . Five of these ships ( " Z . 52 " – " Z . 56 " ) were ordered from A . G . Weser at Bremen and were laid down in 1943 , but none were completed , being cancelled in July 1944 and broken up on the slips . A further two ships ( " Z . 57 " and " Z . 58 " ) were ordered from Germania Werft at Kiel , but were cancelled before construction started . Zerstörer 1945 . Project for high - speed design reverting to steam - turbine propulsion . Unbuilt . Destroyer sized craft . The German Navy had several torpedo boat classes with displacements between 1 , 000 and 1 , 300 tons ( for example the " Mowe " - class Fleet Torpedo boats and Torpedo boat type 35 ) . They sat between torpedo - equipped fast attack boats ( known to the Allies as E - boats ) and the destroyers . In 1939 , the Germans started work on new designs that were a response to the weaknesses of earlier designs . These " Fleet Torpedo Boats " ( " Flottentorpedoboot " ) were large , 1 , 755 tons , and more able as escorts and for anti - aircraft defence as well as torpedo attacks and they were comparable in most respects to some of the British destroyer classes . They were all laid down during the war . Flottentorpedoboot 1939 ( " Elbing " class ) . The first of the fleet vessels , they were comparable in most respects - size , armament , and use - to standard British destroyer types . Fifteen were laid down between 1940 and 1942 , in the Schichau shipyard in Elbing ( now Elbląg ) and from that the Allies referred to them as the " Elbing " - class . The last was commissioned at the end of 1944 ; three survived the war and served in Allied navies . The ships were numbered T22 to T36 . Flottentorpedoboot 1940 . Following the capitualation of the Netherlands , Dutch shipyards were contracted to build 24 boats based on a Dutch design . Only three of these 2 , 600 ton vessels were launched . The three that were launched were moved to the Baltic in 1944 for work but none were completed . Flottentorpedoboot 1941 . This was a development of the 1939 class , with bigger engines and more anti - aircraft weapons . Fifteen were laid down or launched from 1942 but by the end of the war none had been completed . Flottentorpedoboot 1944 . These were to have been ocean - going vessels , as opposed to North Sea or coastal vessels , capable of operating with the fleet , with greater range and an emphasis on anti - aircraft weaponry . Nine were ordered in March 1944 , the order was subsequently cancelled without any building having started . Torpedoboot Ausland . Several destroyer sized ships were captured by the Germans and put into service as " Torpedoboot Ausland " Captured ships . Some destroyers were captured and used by the Germans . ZH1 . The Dutch destroyer Hr . Ms . " Gerard Callenburgh " was built by RDM Rotterdam and launched 12 October 1939 . The Dutch attempted to scuttle this ship during the German invasion but the destroyer was salvaged and completed under German control with technical guidance from Blohm & Voss . Commissioned as the ZH1 on 11 October 1942 . The Germans retained most of the Dutch armament and equipment . The ZH1 spent most of its life on trials in the Baltic but transferred to Western France via the English Channel in November 1943 . When the western allies invaded Normandy in 1944 the German destroyers based in western France attempted to interdict the invasion armada . The German squadron was intercepted by an Allied force - the 10th Destroyer Flotilla ( HMS " Tartar " , " Ashanti " , " Eskimo " , " Javelin " , HMCS " Haida " , " Huron " , and ORP " Błyskawica " , " Piorun " ) . In the night action ZH1 was torpedoed and sunk by " Ashanti " on 9 June 1944 , 33 men were lost . ZF2 . The hull of the French " Le Hardi " - class destroyer " L ' Opiniatre " was captured intact and 16 % complete in Bordeaux and the Kriegsmarine intended to complete her for service . Since French armament was not available and for standardisation with the rest of the German Navy , 12 . 7mm guns and German pattern torpedo tubes were ordered . Work proceeded tardily until all progress was abandoned in July 1943 . The hull was eventually broken up on the slip ZG3 ( Hermes ) . The Greek destroyer " Vasilefs Georgios " was captured in damaged condition after the fall of Greece , then repaired in Greece with assistance from the Germaniawerft and commissioned by the Kriegsmarine as the ZG3 or the " Hermes " . She was the only major Kriegsmarine surface ship in the Mediterranean Sea during World War II , and she was involved in escorting convoys to North Africa and the Aegean Islands . " Hermes " detected and depth charged the Royal Navy submarine HMS " Splendid " off Capri , Italy , on 21 April 1943 forcing it to surrender ; " Splendid " was scuttled by her crew . " Hermes " was damaged by air attack s off Tunisia . " Hermes " had to be scuttled in La Goulette , Tunis on 7 May 1943 .