Z4 Richard Beitzen was accidentally rammed in the stern by the escort ship F9. When World War II began in September 1939, Z4 Richard Beitzen was initially deployed in the western Baltic to enforce a blockade of Poland, but she was soon transferred to the Kattegat to inspect neutral shipping for contraband goods, beginning in mid-September as one turbine was not operational. On the night of 12/13 December, German destroyers sortied to lay minefields off the British coast. Under the command of Commodore (Kommodore) Friedrich Bonte in his flagship Z19 Hermann Künne, Z4 Richard Beitzen, Z8 Bruno Heinemann, Z14 Friedrich Ihn and Z15 Erich Steinbrinck laid 240 mines off the mouth of the River Tyne, where the navigation lights were still lit. The British were unaware of the minefield and lost eleven ships totaling . En route home, the destroyers were ordered to escort the crippled light cruisers and which had been torpedoed by the submarine while covering the destroyers' withdrawal. Despite their escort, the submarine managed to sneak inside the anti-submarine screen and fired a salvo of six torpedoes at Leipzig in the Elbe estuary the following day. Two of the torpedoes struck F9 which sank three minutes later with heavy loss of life but the other torpedoes missed. Bonte led a destroyer minelaying sortie to the Newcastle area on the night of 10/11 January with Z14 Friedrich Ihn, Z21 Wilhelm Heidkamp, , Z22 Anton Schmitt, Z4 Richard Beitzen and Z20 Karl Galster. Ihn had problems with her boilers that reduced her maximum speed to and she had to be escorted back to Germany by Z4 Richard Beitzen. This minefield only claimed one fishing trawler of 251 tons. Z3 Max Schultz, Z4 Richard Beitzen and Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt laid 110 magnetic mines in the Shipwash area, off Harwich, on 9/10 February 1940 which sank six ships of 28,496 GRT and damaged another. Operation Wikinger On 22 February 1940, Z4 Richard Beitzen and the destroyers, Z3 Max Schultz, Z1 Leberecht Maass, , and Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt, sailed for the Dogger Bank to intercept British fishing vessels in Operation Wikinger. En route, the flotilla was erroneously attacked by a Heinkel He 111 bomber from Bomber Wing 26 (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