to give a range of at a speed of , but they proved top-heavy in service and 30% of the fuel had to be retained as ballast low in the ship. The effective range proved to be only at 19 knots. The crew of the Type 34 class ships numbered 10 officers and 315 enlisted men, plus an additional four officers and 19 enlisted men if serving as a flotilla flagship. The Type 34s carried five SK C/34 guns in single mounts with gun shields, two each superimposed, fore and aft. The fifth gun was carried on top of the aft superstructure. The guns were numbered from one to five from front to rear. Their anti-aircraft armament consisted of four SK C/30 guns in a pair of twin mounts abreast the rear funnel and six C/30 guns in single mounts. The ships carried eight torpedo tubes in two power-operated mounts, to port and starboard of her after funnel. A pair of reload torpedoes was provided for each mount. Z2 Georg Thiele had four depth charge launchers mounted on the sides of her rear deckhouse, which was supplemented by six racks for individual depth charges on the sides of the stern, with either 32 or 64 charges carried. Mine rails could be fitted on the rear deck that had a maximum capacity of 60 mines. A system of passive hydrophones designated as 'GHG' (Gruppenhorchgerät) was fitted to detect submarines. Construction and career The ship was ordered on 7 July 1934 and laid down at Deutsche Werke, Kiel, on 2 January 1935 as yard number K244. She was launched on 30 November 1935 and completed on 8 April 1937. She was named after Max Schultz who commanded the torpedo boat and was killed in action in January 1917. Korvettenkapitän Martin Balzer was appointed as her first captain. Z3 Max Schultz was assigned to the 1st Destroyer Division on 26 October 1937, and made a port visit to Ulvik, Norway in April 1938, together with her sisters and . Upon her return she was taken in hand by Deutsche Werke to have her bow rebuilt to reduce the amount of water that came over it in head seas. This increased her length by . The ship participated in the August Fleet Review and the following fleet exercise. In December, Max Schultz, together with her sisters Z1 Leberecht Maass, Z2 Georg Thiele, and Z4