Z28 was one of fifteen Type 1936A destroyers built for the Kriegsmarine (Germany Navy) during World War II.

The ship briefly returned to Norway at the beginning of 1944, but was transferred to the Baltic shortly afterwards to support minelaying operations in the Gulf of Finland.

Her repairs took until February 1945 and, not long afterwards, she was sunk in port by British bombers on 6 March with heavy loss of life.

While en route to the rendezvous at the Altafjord, Lützow and three destroyers of Tirpitz's escort ran aground, forcing the entire group to abandon the operation.

She participated in Operation Zarin, a minelaying mission off the coast of the island of Novaya Zemlya from 24 to 28 September, together with Admiral Hipper, and her sisters Z23, Z29, and Z30.

[6] In early March 1943, she was one of the escorts of the battleship Scharnhorst on her voyage to Bogen Bay, the only one not to sustain weather damage.

[8] Shortly afterwards, the 6th Flotilla was transferred to the Gulf of Finland to support minelaying operations there, Z28 arriving at Reval, Estonia, on 21 February.

[10] On 30 July and 1 August Z28 and three other destroyers of the flotilla sailed into the Gulf of Riga to bombard Soviet positions inland.

Z28 and the destroyer Z36 escorted the troopship MV Monte Rosa, laden with refugees, from Baltischport, Estonia, to Gotenhafen, Germany, on 16 September.

They were completed on 25 February 1945 and Z28 escorted the ocean liner Deutschland from Gotenhafen to Sassnitz two days later as it evacuated Germans from the Polish Corridor as part of Operation Hannibal.

After repeating the mission on 4 March, the ship was sunk with heavy casualties in the latter port two days later by the Royal Air Force after being hit by two bombs amidships.