Z15 Erich Steinbrinck
Contents
Description
The Type 1934A-class, Z15 Erich Steinbrinck, project was a German Type 1934A destroyer. Z15 was named after the WWI German naval officer Erich Steinbrinck. She was laid down on 30th May 1935 and commissioned on 8th June 1938. Her main armament as built was five 12.8 cm SK C/34 cannons in single mounts, with secondary armament being two twin 3.7 cm C/30 cannons as well as six 2 cm C/30 autocannons. Torpedo armament was supplied by two quadruple 533 mm launchers located amidships. After the breakout of WWII, she laid minefields in the North Sea. She underwent refit and repairs during the Norwegian campaign, and was thus spared from being sunk by British unlike most Kriegsmarine destroyers. From early 1941, Z15 conducted escort duties in the Bay of Biscay and along the French coast before being transferred to Norway in 1942. In mid-1943, she took part in the German attack on the Spitzbergen Islands. After returning to Germany for refit, she was damaged by Allied bombers while in dock, becoming unservicable for the remainder of war. She was given to the Soviets as war reparations where she served as a training ship and later a floating barracks before being sold for scrap in 1958.
The Z15 was introduced in Update 1.93 "Shark Attack". Like other German destroyers, the Z15 is fast, responsive, and manoeuvrable. Armed with 12.8 cm guns with a fire rate of 18 rounds/min using the ten ready-use rounds and later decreasing to a still impressive 16 rounds/min, she is a force to be reckoned with. The anti-air protection is quite strong with six 2 cm autocannons for short-range and seven twin 3.7 cm autocannons for mid to long-range protection. The Z15 unfortunately inherited another design feature of her German sisters, the unprotected magazines on waterline, making the vessel susceptible to fatal magazine explosions.
General info
Survivability and armour
Similar to other destroyers at its rank, the Type 1934A (1944) has very little armour to shield itself from incoming fire except from small-calibre machine guns. However, the ship is quite survivable thanks to its 8-section hull and high crew count. This allows the Type 1934A (1944) to last longer in a trading firefight.
Mobility
| Mobility Characteristics | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | Turn Time (s) | Turn Radius (m) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||||
| AB | Stock | 63 | 23 | ~128.6 | ~250.16 |
| Upgraded | 86 | 31 | ___ | ___ | |
| RB/SB | |||||
| Upgraded | 70 | 25 | ___ | ___ | |
The Type 1934A (1944) is fast and manoeuvrable, which can help the ship to survive longer via evasive manoeuvring.
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
Similar to most German destroyers prior to rank III, the Type 1934A (1944) is equipped with basic 128 mm naval cannons, two at the front of the ship and the other two at the back. These cannons' damage per shot is not bad against targets at its BR range, but not that good either, requiring you to hit the enemy several times (usually 20 - 30 hits for destroyers) to sink them (thus somewhat inadequate at long ranges due to lack of stopping power). Fortunately, the gun has a very good reload time of just 4 seconds with ace crew, coupled with good shell velocity and accuracy. This makes the Type 1934A (1944) capable of continuously lobbing its shells into its target within a mid-to-close range (within 7 km) into submission.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 1,000 m | 2,500 m | 5,000 m | 7,500 m | 10,000 m | 15,000 m | ||
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Kpf.Z | HE | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 |
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Bd.Z | HE | 59 | 50 | 38 | 30 | 24 | 18 |
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Zt.Z | HE-TF | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (s) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Kpf.Z | HE | 830 | 28 | 0 | 0.1 | 1.91 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Bd.Z | HE | 830 | 28 | 0.015 | 5 | 1.4 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| Sprgr. L/4.4 Zt.Z | HE-TF | 830 | 28 | 0 | 0.1 | 1.91 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
Secondary armament
The secondary battery consists of seven dual 37 mm AA gun mounts (14 barrels total), two at the bridge, two at the second smokestack and three on the aft of the ship before the rear two turrets. These guns provide deadly firepower at close range against destroyers and coastal vessels, and good anti-air coverage.
- Universal: AP-T · HEF-I
- 37 mm HE clips: HEF-I · HEF-I · HEF-I · HEF-I · AP-T
- 37 mm APT clips: AP-T · AP-T · AP-T · AP-T · HEF-I
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | ||||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| HEF-I | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| AP-T | 67 | 64 | 53 | 42 | 33 | 26 | |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| HEF-I | 845 | 0.62 | 0 | 0.1 | 44.03 | 79° | 80° | 81° | ||||
| AP-T | 815 | 0.7 | - | - | - | 47° | 60° | 65° | ||||
Anti-aircraft armament
In addition, the Type 1934A (1944) also features two twin 20 mm anti-aircraft mounts, one at the bow and the other at the rear compartment.
Additional armament
As with other German destroyers, the Type 1934A (1944) comes equipped with G7a torpedoes in two quadruple launchers. These torpedoes remain very deadly against any target the ship may face.
Usage in battles
The Type 1934A (1944) is a potent support and brawling ship that excels at mid-to-close range combat. Although its 128 mm guns is somewhat inadequate against long-range targets, it is quite deadly at closer range thanks to its rapid rate of fire and good accuracy. This allows the ship to pick off important modules on the enemy ships (turrets, engines, bridge) and slowly killing them.
To complement its primary armament, the Type 1934A (1944) is also equipped with fourteen 37 mm guns as secondary armaments. These guns are very useful for occasionally setting enemy ships on fire, depleting the crew, and finishing them off. This gun is also useful for anti-air purposes, although it's advised to man the guns yourself when an enemy plane is getting close.
Due to its gun placement, the Type 1934A is able to aim and shoot two main guns with greater accuracy and still pack enough firepower to pick off critical modules, moving in this position can make the ship more survivable, since not only the ship's profile is much smaller and harder to hit when bow on, this also prevent most enemies from damaging its unprotected engines and transmission.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- High survivability due to high crew count and section layout
- Good top speed and agility
- Main guns is very accurate and has very good rate of fire
- Powerful secondary armaments
- Good anti-air coverage
- Equipped with deadly G7a torpedoes
Cons:
- Average (but adequate) damage per shot for its BR
- Lacks armour to shield off small-calibre cannons at close range
- Engines and transmissions is exposed to any incoming shots from the sides
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ship in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the ship and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Ship-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the ship's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).
Media
- Skins
See also
- Z12 Erich Giese - a Type 1934A-class prior refit
External links
| Blohm & Voss | |
|---|---|
| Destroyers | |
| Type 1934A | Z15 Erich Steinbrinck |
| Heavy Cruisers | |
| Admiral Hipper-class | Admiral Hipper |
| Battlecruisers | |
| Unique Ships | SMS Von der Tann · SMS Derfflinger |
| See Also | Blohm & Voss Aircraft Division |
| Germany destroyers | |
|---|---|
| Torpedo boats | |
| Type 1924 | Jaguar · Leopard · Luchs |
| Type 1939 | T22 · T31 |
| Destoyers | |
| Type 1934A | Z12 Erich Giese · Z15 Erich Steinbrinck |
| Type 1936 | Z20 Karl Galster · Z22 Anton Schmitt |
| Type 1936A | Z25 · Z32 |
| Type 1936B | Z43 |
| Type 1936C | Z46 · Z47 |
