History Brief

The Z-38 was a Zerstörer 1936 A-class destroyer, also known as the Narvik class destroyer by the Allies. These ships carried only their hull number and were not named by the Germans. Constructed by F. Krupp Germaniawerft AG in Kiel, she was fitted with leftover parts intended for larger ships, including 155mm twin turrets and 5.9inch guns. Closer in size to a light cruiser, her wartime displacement weighed in at 3,691 tons and hosted a crew of 330 souls. She was launched on August 5th, 1941, and commissioned on March 20th, 1943. Soon after completion of her sea trials, she was selected for escort duties and found herself assigned to the battleship Scharnhorst. Her colorful wartime record was extensive and, nonetheless, just as honorable. After WWII, she was seized by the British and used as a test ship under the name Nonsuch. She was scrapped in 1950. A total of 15 Zerstörer 1936A-class destroyers were produced by Germany.

This large format publication on fine, heavy paper is almost entirely written in Japanese. It contains articles on ships present at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, both Japanese and American, but primarily American battleships. The articles, which I am unable to read, focus on models of these ships, both in plastic and in resin.

Even so, the photographs of the finished models, along with many photographs of the model builds in progress, are fascinating and I found that I really did not need to understand the text to get inspiration and information from this publication.

The Parabellum LMG 14 was introduced in 1914 by the German company Deutche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken, and was based on their MG 08 gun. Rather than using a belt feed system, the LMG 14 utilized an enclosed drum magazine to hold the same 7.92 mm ammunition as its predecessor. Other modifications for the LMG 14 included a lighter casing and the use of air instead of water for cooling the barrel. The gun had a rate of fire of 700 rounds per minute, and was used mostly on bombers, scout planes, and zeppelins. There were attempts to synchronize this particular gun with the propeller on initial Fokker E.1 planes, but this was later abandoned due to issues with the reliability of the LMG 14.