She spent much of the war in Arctic and Norwegian waters, taking part in the Battle of the Barents Sea on 31 December 1942.

[1] They were ordered as a part of Plan Z, which was a German naval rearmament plan, involving building ten battleships, four aircraft carriers, twelve battlecruisers, three pocket battleships, five heavy cruisers, forty-four light cruisers, sixty-eight destroyers, and 249 submarines.

On 19 September 1939, four destroyers (Z31–Z34) were re-ordered from the Deschimag consortium to be built at the AG Weser shipyard in Bremen on that day, with a further three ships (Z37–Z39) ordered from the Germaniawerft yard.

[18] After commissioning, the ship underwent a lengthy work up process, which was common for German destroyers during the Second World War.

[20] On 30 December 1942, Z31 left the Altafjord in northern Norway along with the heavy cruisers Admiral Hipper and Lützow and the destroyers Friedrich Eckoldt, Richard Beitzen, Theodor Riedel, Z29 and Z30 on Operation Regenbogen, an attempt to attack the Arctic convoy JW 51B.

[21][22] On 5–6 February 1943, Z31, Theodor Riedel and the minelayer Brummer laid a minefield off Kildin Island,[23] while on 10–11 March the two destroyers escorted Lützow from Kaafjord to Narvik.

[24] On 6 September 1943, Z31 set out from the Altafjord as part of a fleet consisting of the battleships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst and nine destroyers on Operation Zitronella, a raid on Allied-controlled Spitzbergen.

[20][25] In November, Z31 transferred to southern Norway, where she carried out patrol operations before laying defensive minefields in the entrance to the Skagerrak from 4–7 December.

[20] In October 1944, Z31 took part in escort operations as the Germans evacuated the 20th Mountain Army from northern Finland and Norway in response to the Soviet Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive.

After escaping, Z31 put into Bergen for temporary repairs, with further work being carried out at Horten and Oslo before the ship reached the Baltic.

Nevertheless, Z31 continued to support evacuation of German troops and civilians from Gotenhafen and Hela, until the ship was damaged by Soviet bombs, and withdrew westwards with Prinz Eugen and Lützow on 8 April.