Hamburg-class destroyer

The Type 101 Hamburg class was the only class of destroyers built in post-war Germany. They were specifically designed to operate in the Baltic Sea, where armament and speed are more important than seaworthiness. They were named after the "Bundesländer" (federated states) of West Germany.

The German shipyard Stülcken was contracted to design and build the ships. Stülcken was rather unexperienced with naval shipbuilding, but got the order, since the shipyards traditionally building warships for the German navies like Blohm + Voss, Howaldtswerke or Lürssen were all occupied constructing commercial vessels (no naval ship had been built in Germany since World War II).

Originally they had only barreled weapons, but from 1976 to 1978 they were upgraded with guided missiles to increase their effectiveness against modern surface warships and were redesignated Type 101A. One 100 mm gun was replaced by two Exocet missile launchers, the Bofors were replaced by Breda 40 mm, and the torpedo tubes were removed. Modifications were also made to the operations center, radar and bridge.

The design of the Hamburg class has been criticized for many of the same failures of the Kriegsmarine destroyers: too top-heavy and bad sea-keeping capabilities. This is in part due to the low freeboard on the hull. They were eventually replaced in the 1990s by the Brandenburg class frigates.



Ships

 * Hamburg (D181): Call-sign: DRAA. Laid down, 29 January 1959. Launched 26 March 1960. Commissioned 23 March 1964. Decommissioned 24 February 1994. Scrapped in Spain.
 * Schleswig-Holstein (D182): Call-sign: DRAB. Laid down, 20 August 1959. Launched 20 August 1960. Commissioned 12 October 1964. Decommissioned 15 December 1994. Scrapped in Belgium.
 * Bayern (D183): Call-sign: DRAC. Laid down, 15 February 1961. Launched 14 August 1962. Commissioned 6 July 1965. Decommissioned 16 December 1993. Scrapped in Denmark.
 * Hessen (D184):Call-sign: DRAD. Laid down, 5 February 1961. Launched 4 May 1963. Commissioned 8 October 1968. Decommissioned 29 March 1990. Scrapped in Portugal.

All ships were built by Stülcken and were based in Wilhelmshaven as the ''2. Zerstörergeschwader'' (second destroyer squadron) of the Bundesmarine/Deutsche Marine (German Navy).

Trivia

 * They were nicknamed Hochhäuser (tower blocks) in the German Navy because of their unusually high superstructures.