Richard Beitzen, sailed to the area of Iceland to evaluate their seaworthiness in a North Atlantic winter with their new bows. On 23–24 March 1939, the ship was one of the destroyers that escorted Adolf Hitler aboard the pocket battleship to occupy Memel. She participated in the spring fleet exercise in the western Mediterranean, as the flagship of Rear Admiral Günther Lütjens, and made several visits to Spanish and Moroccan ports in April and May. Days before the outbreak of World War II, in the early morning hours of 27 August 1939, the destroyer accidentally collided with and sank the torpedo boat Tiger near Bornholm. Two men were killed and six were wounded aboard the torpedo boat, while no one was injured aboard Z3 Max Schultz. The latter's bow was severely damaged and she had to be towed, stern-first, by Z2 Georg Thiele. Two tugboats arrived a half-hour later and took over the tow to Swinemünde at a speed of . Z3 Max Schultz was under repair until late September and did not participate in the Polish Campaign. She patrolled the Skagerrak to inspect neutral shipping for contraband goods during October. While returning from one such patrol on 28 October, one of the ship's turbines exploded, causing boiler room No. 1 to flood and knocking out the ship's power. Attempts to tow her failed, but the ship eventually managed to restore power and she sailed to Kiel for repairs. Max Schultz, Beitzen and laid 110 magnetic mines in the Shipwash area, off Harwich, on 9/10 February 1940 that sank six ships of and damaged another. On 22 February, Z3 Max Schultz and five other destroyers, Z1 Leberecht Maass, Z4 Richard Beitzen, , and , sailed for the Dogger Bank to intercept British fishing vessels in "Operation Wikinger". En route, the flotilla was apparently attacked by a Heinkel He 111 bomber from Bomber Wing (Kampfgeschwader) 26. Z1 Leberecht Maass was hit by at least one bomb, lost steering, and broke in half, sinking with the loss of 280 of her crew. During the rescue effort, Z3 Max Schultz hit a mine and sank with the loss of her entire crew of 308. Hitler ordered a Court of Inquiry to be convened to investigate the cause of the losses and it concluded that both ships that been sunk by bombs from the He 111. The Kriegsmarine had failed to notify its destroyers