The Type 1936A destroyers, also known as the Z23 class, were a group of fifteen destroyers built for the Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine from 1938 to 1943. They were known to the Allies as the Narvik class. In common with other German destroyers launched after the start of World War II, the Narviks were unnamed, known only by their hull numbers – Z23 to Z39. Design In terms of armament, they were closer to light cruisers than the typical destroyer. The use of guns was atypical of destroyers which tended to have guns around in calibre. They were intended to carry two forward guns in a twin turret, but as the twin turrets were not ready in time, early class 1936As carried a single mounted gun forward. Despite being powerful the ships were not without their flaws. There were problems with the reliability of the high pressure steam engines and seakeeping in rough seas due to the newly designed bow and heavy forward artillery. The eight ships of the Type 1936A design (Z23 to Z30) were all laid down between 1938 and 1940. The seven destroyers numbered from Z31 to Z39 were classed as Zerstörer 1936A (Mob); they were laid down in 1940 and 1941 and were slightly larger and had some internal modifications (including engines that caused less trouble than with their predecessors) from the original design to shorten construction times. Description The ships had an overall length of and were long at the waterline. They had a beam of , and a maximum draught of . They displaced at standard load and at deep load. The ship's hulls were divided into 16 watertight compartments and they were fitted with a double bottom that covered 47% of their length amidships. Their crew consisted of 11–15 officers and 305–20 sailors; when serving as a flagship an additional 4 officers and 19 sailors were assigned. The Type 1936As were powered by two Wagner geared steam turbine sets, each driving a single three-bladed propeller, using steam provided by six high-pressure Wagner water-tube boilers with superheaters that operated at a pressure of and a temperature of . The turbines were designed to produce for a speed of . The ships carried a maximum of of fuel oil which gave a range of at . Armament and sensors The main armament of the Type 1936A ships was intended to be five 45-calibre TbtsK C/36 guns