German destroyer gun choices and the morale cost of Narvik

German destroyers carried powerful 5-inch or 5.9-inch weapons because their design logic sought a single hit capable of stopping an opponent. Manual handling and a low rate of fire were poor matches for combat against roughly 2,000-ton destroyers maneuvering at high speed. British ships could put more shells into an engagement and accumulate disabling damage before the hoped-for decisive German hit arrived. The battles at Narvik had already cost Germany a core of experienced destroyer crews and forced survivors to abandon ships that had been their homes. Removing established ship names for propaganda reasons then weakened confidence and crew identity further by suggesting that losses mattered less than keeping recognizable names out of the newspapers.