German torpedo boat Kondor

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Kondor
Right elevation and plan of the Type 23
History
Germany
NameKondor
NamesakeCondor
Builder
Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven
Yard number106
Laid down17 November 1925
Launched22 September 1926
Commissioned15 July 1928
Decommissioned28 June 1944
Fate
Constructive total loss
, 31 July or 2 August 1944
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typeType 23 torpedo boat
Displacement
Length87.7 m (287 ft 9 in) (o/a)
Beam8.25 m (27 ft 1 in)
Draft3.65 m (12 ft)
Installed power
  • 3 ×
    water-tube boilers
  • 23,000 
    kW
    )
Propulsion2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbine sets
Speed32–34 knots (59–63 km/h; 37–39 mph)
Range1,800 nmi (3,300 km; 2,100 mi) at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Complement120
Armament

Kondor was the fifth of six

constructive total loss
.

Design and armament

Derived from the

kW) using steam from three water-tube boilers which would propel the ship at 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph).[4] The torpedo boats carried enough fuel oil to give them an intended range of 3,600 nautical miles (6,700 km; 4,100 mi) at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph),[1] but it proved to be only 1,800 nmi (3,300 km; 2,100 mi) at that speed in service. Their crew consisted of 4 officers and 116 sailors.[3]

As built, the Type 23s mounted three

bridge wings, all in single mounts. Around 1944 a FuMB 4 Sumatra radar detector was installed as was radar.[8]

Construction and career

Named after the

yard number 106,[9] launched on 22 September 1926 and commissioned on 15 July 1928.[4] The boat was initially assigned to the 4th Torpedo Boat Half Flotilla. By the end of 1936 Kondor was assigned to the 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla and the boat made several deployments to Spain during the Spanish Civil War.[10]

Second World War

Map of operations in the Oslofjord on the night of 8/9 April, showing how far the Germans had progressed at various times as well as their movements

Now assigned to the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, Kondor supported the North Sea mining operations that began on 3 September 1939.[11] During the Norwegian Campaign, the boat was assigned to Group 5 under Konteradmiral Oskar Kummetz on the heavy cruiser Blücher, tasked to capture Oslo. Kondor transported about 100 men of the invasion force and was one of the cruiser's escorts through the Baltic and Kattegat. At 02:30 the small motor minesweepers R17 and R21 and Kondor were detached to occupy the naval base at Karljohansvern, in the town of Horten. Her sister ship, Albatros, had become separated from the main body while crippling the Norwegian patrol boat HNoMS Pol III earlier that night and followed Kondor's group to Horten. [12]

Main article: Battle of Horten Harbour

The German force tasked to occupy Karljohansvern was scheduled to do so at dawn on 9 April, but Kondor's

captain, Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant) Hans Wilck, commander of the force, decided to assault the harbor directly since the Norwegians had already been alerted. About 140 soldiers were transferred to R17 and R21 and the former ship was in the lead as they steamed through the harbor entrance at 04:35 at high speed, slowly followed by Albatros, while Kondor was transferring her embarked troops to another ship. The minelayer HNoMS Olav Tryggvason engaged R17 ten minutes later and set her on fire, but not before she unloaded her troops. The minelayer was only able to get a few shots off at R21 before she steamed behind an island in the harbor. About this time, Albatros was approaching the harbor mouth and exchanged fire with Olav Tryggvason without effect. The torpedo boat, with only a single gun able to bear on the minelayer, withdrew behind one of the outer islands and started blindly bombarding the harbor. Albatros withdrew not long after she was hit by a shell around 06:30 and the German troops that had made it ashore bluffed the Norwegians into surrendering at 07:35, but not before Wilck had reloaded his troops and sailed to regain radio communication with the German cruisers to support the attack.[13]

Later that morning, Kondor and Albatros were ordered to land their troops at

coast-defense guns broke down, Kondor's crew occupied the island. After the heavy cruiser Lützow had been crippled by a British submarine off the Danish coast on 11 April, Kondor and her sister Möwe, among other ships, arrived later that morning to render assistance.[14]

Escorted by two destroyers, Kondor, Möwe, and the torpedo boat

St. Nazaire later that month and its ships laid a minefield off Dover on 3–4 December.[15]

Kondor was refitted in Rotterdam, Netherlands, from March to May 1941. She was transferred afterwards to the Skagerrak where she was on convoy escort duties. The boat was again refitted in Rotterdam from November to December.[16]

1941–1944

The flotilla joined the escort force for Gneisenau, Scharnhorst and the heavy cruiser

commerce raider Michel through the English Channel despite heavy British attacks, damaging the British destroyers HMS Walpole and Fernie. The flotilla escorted the commerce raider Stier through the English Channel from 12 to 19 May. In heavy fighting on the 13th, British motor torpedo boats (MTBs) sank Seeadler and the torpedo boat Iltis while losing one of their own boats. Falke and Kondor and the torpedo boats T22 and T23 escorted the Italian blockade runner, SS Cortellazzo, from Bordeaux through the Bay of Biscay on 29–30 November. Another Italian blockade runner, Himalaya, escorted by Kondor and the torpedo boats T2, T5, T22, and T23, failed in her attempt to break through the Bay of Biscay when she was spotted by British aircraft and forced to return by heavy aerial attacks on 9–11 April. Kondor, Greif, Falke, Möwe and T22 laid two minefields in the English Channel on 4–6 June. Later that month the ships returned to the Bay of Biscay to help escort U-boats through the Bay and continued to do so into early August. Möwe and Kondor helped to lay two minefields in the English Channel on 3–5 September. Kondor, Greif and the torpedo boats T19, T26, and T27 followed this with another minefield in the English Channel on 29–30 September.[17]

The 4th and 5th Torpedo Boat Flotillas, consisting Kondor, Greif, Möwe, and the torpedo boats

decommissioned on 28 June and was then declared a total loss after being hit by bombs on 31 July or 2 August.[18]

Notes

  1. Seiner Majestät Schiff
    " (German: His Majesty's Ship).
  2. quick firing, while the L/45 denotes the length of the gun. In this case, the L/45 gun is 45 caliber, meaning that the gun is 45 times as long as it is in diameter.[5]
  3. ^ In Kriegsmarine gun nomenclature, SK stands for Schiffskanone (ship's gun), C/30 stands for Constructionjahr (construction year) 1930.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Gröner, p. 191
  2. ^ a b Sieche, p. 237
  3. ^ a b Whitley 1991, p. 202
  4. ^ a b c Whitley 2000, p. 57
  5. ^ Friedman, pp. 130–131
  6. ^ Whitley 1991, p. 45
  7. ^ Campbell, p. 219
  8. ^ Whitley 1991, pp. 47, 202; Whitley 2000, pp. 57–58
  9. ^ Gröner, p. 192
  10. ^ Whitley 1991, pp. 77–79
  11. ^ Rohwer, p. 2
  12. ^ Haar, pp. 83–84, 121–123, 128–129
  13. ^ Haar, pp. 147–151
  14. ^ Haar, pp. 144, 153, 156, 163, 380, 382
  15. ^ Rohwer, pp. 20, 22, 29, 34–36, 39, 43, 45, 51; Whitley 1991, pp. 104, 109
  16. ^ Whitley 1991, p. 208
  17. ^ Rohwer, pp. 148, 151, 165, 215, 241, 254, 256, 270, 279; Whitley 1991, pp. 109–110, 118, 144
  18. ^ Rohwer, pp. 312, 317–318, 324, 345; Whitley 1991, p. 158

Bibliography

  • Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
    ISBN 978-0-87021-459-2
    .
  • ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7
    .
  • ISBN 0-87021-790-9
    .
  • Haarr, Geirr H. (2009). The German Invasion of Norway, April 1940. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
    ISBN 978-1-59114-310-9
    .
  • ISBN 1-59114-119-2
    .
  • Sieche, Erwin (1980). "Germany". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press.
    ISBN 0-85177-146-7
    .
  • ISBN 1-85409-521-8
    .
  • Whitley, M. J. (1991). German Destroyers of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
    ISBN 1-55750-302-8
    .
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