German torpedo boat T2
 Right elevation and plan of the Type 1935
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Nazi Germany | |
| Name | T2 |
| Ordered | 16 November 1935 |
| Builder | Elbing, East Prussia |
| Yard number | 1381 |
| Laid down | 14 November 1936 |
| Launched | 7 April 1938 |
| Completed | 2 December 1939 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 1946 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class and type | Type 35 torpedo boat |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 84.3 m (276 ft 7 in) o/a |
| Beam | 8.62 m (28 ft 3 in) |
| Draft | 2.83 m (9 ft 3 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines |
| Speed | 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph) |
| Range | 1,200 nmi (2,200 km; 1,400 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
| Complement | 119 |
| Armament |
|
The German torpedo boat T2 was one of a dozen
commerce raider through the English Channel. She then escorted a pair of battleships and a heavy cruiser through the Channel back to Germany in early 1942 in the Channel Dash. The boat was placed in reserve upon her return and was transferred back to France in 1943, where she helped to escort blockade runners through the Bay of Biscay. In mid-1943, she returned to the Baltic and briefly served as flagship of a submarine flotilla before being assigned to the Torpedo School. T2 was sunk in an air raid in July 1944, but was refloated several months later. She was never repaired and eventually scrapped
in 1946.
Design and description
The Type 35 was an unsuccessful attempt by the Kriegsmarine to design a fast, ocean-going
kW), using steam from four high-pressure water-tube boilers[2] which would propel the boats at 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). They carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 1,200 nautical miles (2,200 km; 1,400 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).[3]
As built, the Type 35 class mounted a single
minesweeping paravanes before completion.[5] While the full extent of any modifications to T2 are unknown, photographic evidence shows the ship was fitted with a quadruple mount for 2 cm guns in lieu of the single 3.7 cm gun and an additional 2 cm weapon positioned on the bow before her loss in mid-1944. She is not known have been fitted with radar.[6]
Construction and career
T2 was ordered on 16 November 1935 from
working up until June 1940, when she began convoy escort duties in German waters.[7] Now assigned to the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, T2, her sister ships T7 and T8, and the torpedo boats Kondor, Falke, and Jaguar escorted minelayers as they laid a minefield in the southwestern North Sea on 7–8 August and again on 14–15 August. Newly assigned to the 1st Torpedo Boat Flotilla with Kondor and her sisters T1 and T3, T2 escorted a minelaying mission in the English Channel on 6–7 September. Five days later, T2, the torpedo boat Seeadler, T1, and T3 were ordered to proceed to France. They were attacked enroute by a Bristol Blenheim light bomber that dropped a bomb 10 meters (33 ft) to one side of T2. Splinters from the bomb badly damaged the torpedo boat and wounded six men. She stopped in Vlissingen, Netherlands, for emergency repairs and then sailed to Wilhelmshaven, where she arrived on 25 September.[8]
Permanent repairs at Schichau's shipyard in Elbing lasted until May 1941, and T2 was working up until July, when she began escorting convoys in the
Atlantic.[9]
On the morning of 12 February 1942, the 2nd and 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotillas (with T2, T4, T5, T11, T12 and
Notes
- ^ Whitley 1991, pp. 47–49
- ^ a b c Gröner, p. 193
- ^ a b Whitley 1991, p. 202
- ^ Sieche, p. 237
- ^ Whitley 1991, pp. 49–51; Whitley 2000, p. 71
- ^ Whitley n.d., p. 20
- ^ a b Whitley 1991, p. 209
- ^ Rohwer, pp. 35–36, 39; Whitley 1991, p. 109; Whitley n.d., pp. 7–8
- ^ Rohwer, pp. 99, 102, 108; Whitley 1991, pp. 117, 209
- ^ Whitley n.d., p. 17
- ^ Rohwer, pp. 143, 241, 249; Whitley 1991, pp. 118, 209; Whitley n.d., p. 21
References
- ISBN 0-87021-790-9.
- 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.
- Whitley, M. J. (n.d.). The "Type 35" Torpedoboats of the Kriegsmarine. Kendal, UK: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-39-8.
