.jpg) Z6 Theodor Riedel in 1939
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| History | |
|---|---|
 Nazi Germany | |
| Name | Z6 Theodor Riedel |
| Namesake | Theodor Riedel |
| Ordered | 9 January 1935 |
| Builder | DeSchiMAG, Bremen |
| Yard number | W900 |
| Laid down | 18 July 1935 |
| Launched | 22 April 1936 |
| Completed | 2 July 1937 |
| Captured | 10 May 1945 |
 France | |
| Name | Kléber, 4 February 1946 |
| Namesake | Jean Baptiste Kléber |
| Acquired | 4 February 1946 |
| In service | September 1946 |
| Out of service | 20 December 1953 |
| Renamed | Q85, 10 April 1957 |
| Reclassified | Hulked, 10 April 1957 |
| Stricken | 10 April 1957 |
| Identification | Pennant number: T03 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 1958 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class and type | Type 1934A-class destroyer |
| Displacement | |
| Length | |
| Beam | 11.30 m (37 ft 1 in) |
| Draft | 4.23 m (13 ft 11 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | 2 shafts, 2 × geared steam turbines |
| Speed | 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph) |
| Range | 1,530 nmi (2,830 km; 1,760 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
| Complement | 325 |
| Armament |
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The German destroyer Z6 Theodor Riedel was a Type 1934A-class destroyer built for the Kriegsmarine during the mid-1930s. At the beginning of World War II in September 1939, the ship laid defensive minefields to the North Sea. She covered her sister ships over the next few months as they laid offensive minefields in English waters in late 1939–early 1940. She participated in the early stages of the Norwegian Campaign by transporting troops to the Trondheim area in early April 1940 and was transferred to France later that year where the ship covered another minelaying sortie before engine problems caused her to return to Germany in November for repairs. Theodor Riedel was badly damaged when she ran aground three days after her repairs were completed and was out of action until May 1942.
The ship was transferred to Norway in 1942 and ran aground yet again as she prepared to attack one of the convoys to Russia in July. Repairs were completed in December and Theodor Riedel participated in the Battle of the Barents Sea at the end of the year and in the German attack on Spitzbergen in mid-1943. After another lengthy refit, the ship began escorting ships between Denmark and Norway in mid-1944 and continued to do so until May 1945 when she made several trips to rescue refugees from East Prussia before the end of the war on 8 May.
Theodor Riedel spent the rest of the year under British control as the Allies decided how to dispose of the captured German ships and was ultimately allotted to France in early 1946 and renamed Kléber. She became operational later that year, but she was reconstructed and modernized in Cherbourg in 1948–51. After its completion, the ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron for several years. Kléber was placed in reserve in late 1953, but was not condemned until 1957 and scrapped the next year.