 Z39 underway under American control, 1945
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Nazi Germany | |
| Name | Z39 |
| Ordered | 26 June 1939 |
| Builder | Germaniawerft, Kiel |
| Yard number | G629 |
| Laid down | 15 August 1940 |
| Launched | 2 December 1941 |
| Completed | 7 January 1944 |
| Commissioned | 21 August 1943 |
| Fate | Transferred to the United States Navy in 1945 |
| History | |
 United States | |
| Name | DD-939 |
| Commissioned | 14 September 1945 |
| Fate | Transferred to the French Navy |
| History | |
 France | |
| Name | Q-128 |
| Fate | Broken up in 1964. |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class and type | Type 1936A (Mob) destroyer |
| Displacement |
|
| Length |
|
| Beam | 12 m (39 ft 4 in) |
| Draught | 4 m (13 ft 1 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbine sets |
| Speed | 38.5 knots (71.3 km/h; 44.3 mph) |
| Range | 2,239 nmi (4,147 km; 2,577 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
| Complement | 332 |
| Armament |
|
The Z39 was a Type 1936A (Mob) destroyer built for Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was laid down in August 1940 and completed three years later. Her anti-aircraft armament was increased extensively during the war. Z39 served with the 6th Destroyer Flotilla her entire German career, which she spent escorting transports in the Baltic Sea, laying mines, and bombarding land forces. The destroyer served the navies of a total of three different countries: from 1943 to 1945 with the Kriegsmarine as Z39, from 1945 to 1947 with the US Navy as DD-939, and from 1948 to 1964 with the French Navy as Q-128.
Throughout her German service, the ship laid numerous barrages (explosives concentrated over a wide area) of mines in the Baltic Sea and bombarded Soviet forces several times. In the last months of the war, Z39 helped escort steamships that were evacuating German soldiers and civilians from Eastern Europe to Denmark. Z39 was damaged twice, once by Soviet planes while in Paldiski and then by British planes while in Kiel. At the end of the war, the destroyer was transferred to the United States Navy. It conducted experiments testing her equipment—her high-pressure steam propulsion plant in particular. After the US Navy deemed her obsolete, the ship was transferred to the French Navy, where she was cannibalized for parts, and made into a pontoon boat for minesweepers.