German destroyer Z5 Paul Jacobi

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| Ship name = ''Z5 Paul Jacobi'' | Ship namesake = Paul Jacobi | Ship ordered = 9 January 1935 | Ship awarded = | Ship builder = DeSchiMAG, Bremen | Ship original cost = | Ship yard number = W899 | Ship way number = | Ship laid down = 15 July 1935 | Ship launched = 24 March 1936 | Ship sponsor = | Ship christened = | Ship completed = 29 June 1937 | Ship commissioned = | Ship decommissioned = 7 May 1945 | Ship motto = | Ship nickname = | Ship captured = 7 May 1945 | Ship fate = | Ship notes = | Ship badge = }}

| Ship name = ''Desaix'', 4 February 1946 | Ship namesake = Louis Desaix | Ship acquired = 4 February 1946 | Ship in service = September 1946 | Ship out of service = January 1949 | Ship renamed = ''Q02'', 17 February 1954 | Ship reclassified = | Ship struck = 17 February 1954 | Ship nickname = | Ship fate = Sold for scrap, June 1954 }} (standard) * (deep load) | Ship length = * o/a * w/l | Ship beam = | Ship draft = | Ship propulsion = 2 shafts, 2 × geared steam turbines | Ship speed = | Ship range = at | Ship power = * *6 × water-tube boilers | Ship complement = 325 | Ship armament = *5 × single guns *2 × twin AA guns *6 × single AA guns *2 × quadruple torpedo tubes *60 mines *32–64 depth charges, 4 throwers and 6 individual racks }} |} '''Z5 ''Paul Jacobi''''' was a Type 1934A destroyer built for the ''Kriegsmarine'' in the mid-1930s. The ship was being refitted when World War II began on 1 September 1939 and was tasked to inspect neutral shipping for contraband goods in the Kattegat until early 1940. She participated in the early stages of the Norwegian Campaign by transporting troops to the Trondheim area in early April 1940 and was transferred to France later that year where she made several attacks on British shipping. ''Paul Jacobi'' spent most of 1941 under repair and returned to France in early 1942 to successfully escort two German battleships and a heavy cruiser home through the English Channel (the Channel Dash). The following month, the ship helped to escort another German battleship to northern Norway and returned in May to begin another lengthy refit.

''Paul Jacobi'' spent most of 1943 inactive in the Arctic before returning to Germany in September for another refit. She was badly damaged by Allied air attacks on Kiel and was not operational again until late 1944. She spent most of the rest of the war escorting ships as the Germans evacuated East Prussia and bombarding Soviet forces. The ship was captured by the Allies in May 1945 and spent the rest of the year under British control as the Allies decided how to dispose of the captured German ships.

''Paul Jacobi'' was ultimately allotted to France in early 1946 and renamed ''Desaix''. She became operational later that year, but her service with the French Navy was fairly brief, with only cruises to French colonies in Africa during 1947 of note before she was paid off in late 1948 and placed in reserve in early 1949. The ship was used as a source of spare parts of the other ex-German ships in French service until she was condemned and sold for scrap in 1954. Provided by Wikipedia