Trumpeter 05789 German Zerstorer Z-43 1944

The Z43 was a German destroyer, the keel of which was laid in 1942 and launched in September 1943. The destroyer entered the rope service in the German Navy (German Kriegsmarine) in March 1944. The ship was 127 meters long, 12 meters wide, and had a full displacement of 3,600 tons. The maximum speed of destroyer Z43 was 36.5 knots. The main armament at the time of the launch was 5 127 mm guns in single turrets, and the secondary armament was: 4 37 mm cannons and 8 533 mm torpedo tubes and mines.

The Z43 was the third and last completed ship of the 1936B type. These units were based on many of the solutions used on the Type 1936 destroyers, but they used weaker main artillery armament in favor of better anti-aircraft weapons. At the same time, they were to be predestined to operate in the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and in the coastal zone. Destroyer Z43's combat career was primarily related to the Baltic Sea, where it operated from the moment it entered service as part of the 6th Flotilla. From February 1945, he acted against the Soviet Baltic Fleet and supported the German troops with the fire of his guns in the coastal zone, including: in February fighting in Courland, and in March - in the defense of Kołobrzeg and in the Gulf of Gdańsk. In April 1945, the destroyer Z43 was first damaged in an air attack, and a few days later as a result of a mine explosion. On May 3, 1945, it was self-sunk by the crew in the Gulf of Flensburg.