z10 hans lody was a built for nazi germany's "kriegsmarine" in the mid-1930s. at the beginning of world war ii on 1 september 1939, the ship was initially deployed to blockade the polish coast, but she was quickly transferred to the north sea to lay defensive minefields. in late 1939 the ship laid multiple offensive minefields off the english coast that claimed nine merchant ships and she crippled a british destroyer during one of these missions.