1:700 Destroyer Z - 17 Dieter von Roeder Germany 1940

The Type 1936 destroyer and her end off Narvik

The six ships of Type 1936 were built at the end of the 1930s as an answer to the weaknesses of the earlier German destroyers. The designers gave them a higher, so-called clipper bow, which took the sea better, and kept both the heavy guns and the numerous torpedo armament. The vessel with the pennant number seventeen was completed by the yards in 1938 and spent most of the following period training.

In the spring of 1939 she took part in the occupation of Memel; after war broke out she laid mines off the German coast and then moved into the Skagerrak. April 1940 meant taking part in the landings at Narvik and in both naval battles there. During the first of them British destroyers badly damaged the ship, and in the end her crew had to destroy her so that she would not fall into enemy hands. The model thus represents the vessel exactly at the moment of her last action.

Things to think about before building

The Narvik destroyers tend to be popular precisely because of their particular story, and that invites building them as a scene. The water surface in a narrow fjord can be suggested with a darker color near the shores and a lighter band in the middle. The hull numbers on these ships changed, so before applying the markings it is worth checking a period photograph from April 1940. The fine barrels and torpedo tubes will take only a thin coat, otherwise the molded texture is lost. Anyone who wants to go further can add signs of damage: a sooted patch where a hit landed, bent guard rails or a list to the hull are entirely in place on a ship with such an end. A small hint is enough, though; overdone weathering tends to swamp a small model.