KM Z-51 (DD-1943)
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Technology advances came together on Germanic States destroyers with the completion of Z51 in mid-1943. The class had only two manual guns on the ship, two 20mm single mountings abreast the foremast. The rest of the armament was power operated automatic weapons. Twin 88mm/L70 automatic turrets were mounted one forward and two aft. While the rest of the automatic weapons were the triple 30mm belt fed anti-aircraft cannons, All of these weapons were tied to Radar for targeting and spotting.
The base ship was the same hull and superstructure layout with changes for armament as the prior Z-25 class ships. One set of torpedos was sacrificed to add to the anti-aircraft weaponry. The 30mm canons required a 'shell' room directly underneath the mounting for that is where the bins of the continuous belts of canon shells were found.
| Displacement | 1,950 tons std, 2,700 tons full load |
| Length | 374 ft |
| Breadth | 37 ft |
| Draught | 12 ft |
| Machinery | 2 shaft Diesel Engines 45,000bhp |
| Speed | 34 knots |
| Range | 8400 miles at 18 knots |
| Armour | nil |
| Armament | 6 x 3.5" (3x2) 88mm/L70 21 x 30mm (7x3) 2 x 20mm (2x1) |
| Torpedoes | 5 x 21" (1x5) |
| Complement | 235 |
| Notes | Z51 Z52 |