 Z12 Erich Giese was a Type 1934A @-@ class destroyer built for Nazi Germany 's Kriegsmarine in the late 1930s . At the beginning of World War II , the ship was used in the German Bight to lay minefields in German waters . In late 1939 the ship made one successful minelaying sortie off the English coast that claimed two merchant ships . While returning from that sortie , she torpedoed a British destroyer without being detected and continued on her way . During the early stages of the Norwegian Campaign , Erich Giese fought in both naval Battles of Narvik in mid @-@ April 1940 and was sunk by British destroyers during the Second Battle of Narvik . 
