German destroyer Z24

Z24 was a Type 1936A-class destroyer built for the Kriegsmarine in the late 1930s.

Service history
On 23 October 1941, Z24 was assigned to the 8th Destroyer Flotilla in northern Norway. On 17 December 1941, Z24, along with Z23, Z25, and Z27, encountered the British minesweepers HMS Hazard (J02) and HMS Speedy (J17) north of Cape Gorodetski. In the short engagement that followed, Speedy was hit four times. Z24 was also part of the attack on Convoy PQ 13 in early April 1942, along with Z26 and Z25. The three destroyers encountered HMS Trinidad and HMS Fury ahead of the convoy. Z26 was sunk, and the other two ships jointly rescued 88 men from her as she sank. With Z24 and Z7 Hermann Schoemann, Z25 participated in the attack on Convoy QP 11 in April 1942. The three destroyers first attacked the convoy, but were driven off by the convoy's escorting destroyers after sinking one small freighter. The destroyers later engaged the light cruiser HMS Edinburgh and the destroyers HMS Forester and HMS Foresight. Edinburgh had been earlier damaged by the submarine U-456. In the battle, Hermann Schoemann was sunk, but Edinburgh was damaged to the point where she was abandoned and sunk after the battle, and both British destroyers were badly damaged. On the night of 9–10 April 1943 Z24 was part of a force trying to break the Italian blockade runner Himalaya out of Gironde. The force was attacked by British Beaufort bombers. Z24 suffered five dead and 31 wounded. On 25 August 1944, Z24 was attacked and destroyed by British bombers off Le Verdon.