Type 23 torpedo boat

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Right elevation and plan of the Type 23
Class overview
Builders
Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven
Operators
Succeeded byType 24 torpedo boat
Built1925–1928
In commission1926–1944
Completed6
Lost6
General characteristics (as built)
TypeTorpedo boat
Displacement
  • 798 or 923 long tons (811 or 938 t) (standard)
  • 1,213 or 1,290 long tons (1,232 or 1,311 t) (
    deep load
    )
Length87 or 87.7 m (285 ft 5 in or 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
    )
Propulsion
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)
Complement127
Armament

The Type 23 torpedo boat (also known as the Raubvogel (

minefields and escorting ships before the ships were transferred to France around September. Möwe
was torpedoed during this time and did not return to service until 1942. They started laying minefields themselves in September and continued to do so for the rest of the war.

After refits in early 1941, the boats were transferred to the

commerce raiders and submarines through the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay throughout 1942 and 1943. Seeadler was sunk escorting a commerce raider in early 1942. Greif, however, was refitting through all of 1942 and was then assigned to escort duty in Norwegian waters before joining her sister ships
in France in mid-1943.

In 1944, the Type 23s were mostly occupied with laying mines. Greif was sunk by British aircraft and

Invasion of Normandy
in June with little success and they were sunk by British bombers later that month. Kondor, the last survivor, was wrecked by bombers at the end of July.

Design and description

Derived from the World War I-era large torpedo boat SMS H145,[Note 1] the Type 23 torpedo boat was slightly larger, but had a similar armament and speed. The boats were drier than the older design, but had a lot of weather helm so that they were "almost impossible to hold on course in wind and at low speed".[1] The design has been criticized for being equipped with too many torpedoes for the role that they were actually used during World War II.[2]

The first ship to be built, Möwe, was slightly smaller than her

double bottom that covered 96% of their length.[3] Their crew consisted of 4 officers and 116 sailors.[5]

The Type 1923s were the first German ships to use geared

kW; 23,000 shp) for a speed of 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph), although maximum speeds ranged from 33.69 to 31.65 knots (62.39 to 58.62 km/h; 38.77 to 36.42 mph) on the ships' sea trials. They carried a maximum of 321 tonnes (316 long tons) of fuel oil which gave a range of 1,800 nautical miles (3,300 km; 2,100 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). The effective range proved to be only 1,800 nmi (3,300 km; 2,100 mi) at that speed.[5]

Armament and sensors

As built, the Type 23s mounted three 42-caliber 10.5-centimeter (4.1 in) SK L/45[Note 2] guns, one forward and two aft of the superstructure; the aft superfiring gun was on an open mount while the others were protected by gun shields.[7][1] The mounts had a range of elevation from -10° to +50° and the guns fired 17.4-kilogram (38 lb) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 710 m/s (2,300 ft/s). Many guns were altered to use the ammunition of the SK C/32 gun which weighed 15.1 kilograms (33 lb) and increased the muzzle velocity to 785 m/s (2,580 ft/s). The new ammunition had a maximum range of 15,175 meters (16,596 yd) at an elevation of 44.4°.[8] Each gun was provided with 100 shells.[1]

The boats carried six above-water 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes in two triple mounts[4] (the first triple mounts in German service)[7] and could also carry up to 30 mines. After 1931, the torpedo tubes were replaced by 533-millimeter (21 in) tubes[1] which probably used the G7a torpedo. It had a 300-kilogram (660 lb) warhead and three speed/range settings: 14,000 meters (15,000 yd) at 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph); 8,000 meters (8,700 yd) at 40 knots (74 km/h; 46 mph) and 6,000 meters (6,600 yd) at 44 knots (81 km/h; 51 mph).[9]

A pair of

bridge wings, all in single mounts. Around 1944 a FuMB 4 Sumatra radar detector was installed as was radar.[12]

Ships

Construction data
Name Builder[13]
Laid down[13]
 Launched Completed Fate
Möwe (Seagull)
Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven, Wilhelmshaven
 2 March 1925 24 March 1926 1 October 1926 Sunk by aircraft, 16 June 1944
Falke (Falcon) 17 November 1925 29 September 1926 15 July 1928 Sunk by aircraft, 14/15 June 1944
Greif (Griffon) 5 October 1925 15 July 1926 15 July 1927 Sunk by aircraft, 24 May 1944
Kondor (Condor) 17 November 1925 22 September 1926 15 July 1928
constructive total loss
31 July or 2 August 1944
Albatros 5 October 1925 15 July 1926 15 May 1928 Ran aground and wrecked, 9 April 1940
Seeadler (Sea Eagle) 5 October 1925 15 July 1926 15 March 1927 Sunk by British
MTBs during the action of 13 May 1942

Service

Four Type 23 boats docked in Naples, Italy, in 1938. Möwe (the leftmost boat) can be recognized by her rounded stern. Deutschland is leaving port in the right background.

Most of the boats were initially assigned to the 4th Torpedo Boat Half Flotilla. By the end of 1936, the Kriegsmarine had reorganized its torpedo boats into flotillas with Albatros and Seeadler in the 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla and Falke, Greif, Kondor and Möwe were assigned to the 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla. Both flotillas made several deployments to Spain during the Spanish Civil War.[14] After the heavy cruiser Deutschland was bombed by Republican aircraft on 29 May 1938, Adolf Hitler ordered her sister ship, the Admiral Scheer to bombard the Republican-held city of Almería. Two days later the ship did so, accompanied by the four boats of the 2nd Flotilla,[15] including Seeadler and Albatros. Around June 1938, the flotillas were again reorganized with Seeadler going to the 4th Flotilla and Greif, Kondor and Möwe transferred to the newly formed 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla. The other boats were either refitting or in reserve.[16]

World War II

At the beginning of the war in September 1939, the 4th Flotilla was disbanded and Seeadler was transferred to the 6th Torpedo Boat Flotilla.

minelaying missions of the English coast. Two days later the flotilla patrolled the Skagerrak to inspect neutral shipping for contraband goods before returning to port on the 25th. From 14 to 16 December, Seeadler and the torpedo boat Jaguar made contraband patrols in the Skaggerak, impounding six ships.[17]

During the

scuttled by Greif with a pair of torpedoes. As the heavy cruiser Lützow was proceeding to Germany without an escort two days later, she too was crippled by a British submarine off the Danish coast and all five boats responded to render assistance.[18]

Later that month Greif, Kondor and Möwe were among the escorts for minelayers as they laid minefields in the Skaggerak and the latter was torpedoed by a British submarine on 8 May. The detonation blew her stern off and it was rebuilt in the same manner as her sisters during her lengthy repairs. For the next several months, they were also tasked to escort ships through the Skaggerak, Kattegat and Norwegian waters when not escorting minelayers.

St. Nazaire later that month and its ships laid two more minefields in the Channel in December.[20]

1941–1944

Falke was transferred to Norway at the beginning of the year and escorted minelayer over the next several months while Seeadler escorted a single minelaying mission in the Channel during that time. Kondor, Falke and Seeadler were all refitted at

commerce raider Michel through the Channel despite heavy British attacks, damaging two British destroyers. Möwe was not fully operational until early 1942 and was transferred to France in May of that year. The flotilla escorted the commerce raider Stier through the English Channel from 12 to 19 May, during which British motor torpedo boats (MTBs) sank Seeadler and another torpedo boat on the 13th. Falke was refitted in Wilhelmshaven from June to August and returned to France. In September and October, Möwe was one of the escorts for German blockade runners sailing from ports in the Bay of Biscay en route to Japan. Falke and Kondor helped to escort the Italian blockade runner, SS Cortellazzo, from Bordeaux through the Bay of Biscay on 29–30 November.[21]

Greif was working up through the first couple of months of 1943; in March, she helped to escort the battleships and other ships as they moved from Trondheim, Norway, to Altafjord. Another Italian blockade runner, Himalaya, escorted by Kondor and three other torpedo boats, 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. Greif screened a light cruiser from Harstad to Trondheim and then to Kiel between 27 April and 3 May. On 3–7 May, Greif, Möwe, and Jaguar escorted minelayers in the North Sea as they laid new minefields. All four surviving boats 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 and Greif followed this with another minefield there later that month.[22]

The 4th and 5th Torpedo Boat Flotillas, consisting Greif, Möwe, Kondor, Jaguar, and two other torpedo boats laid minefields in the Channel on 21 and 22 March 1944. A few days later, the flotilla laid a minefield on the night of 21/22 April. The following night the torpedo boats engaged British MTBs near

Cape Barfleur and sank one of them. Between 26 April and 1 May, the flotilla laid five minefields in the Channel. Three weeks later, they were ordered to transfer from Cherbourg to Le Havre and departed on the night of 23/24 May. Greif, Möwe, Falke, Kondor and Jaguar were attacked by Allied aircraft early the next day and Greif was struck by two bombs. She sank a few hours later after being towed by Möwe. About an hour later, Kondor struck a mine and had to be towed by Möwe for the remainder of the voyage. Kondor began a lengthy refit in Le Havre, but was cannibalized for spare parts after the Allies landed in Normandy on 6 June.[23]

As the Allies began landing in Normandy, the 5th Flotilla, now consisting of Möwe, Falke, Jaguar and the newly refitted torpedo boat

decommissioned on 28 June and was then declared a total loss after being hit by bombs on 31 July or 2 August.[24]

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.[6]
  3. ^ In Kriegsmarine gun nomenclature, SK stands for Schiffskanone (ship's gun), C/30 stands for Constructionjahr (construction year) 1930.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Gröner, p. 191
  2. ^ Whitley 1991, p. 47
  3. ^ a b Gröner, pp. 191–192
  4. ^ a b Sieche, p. 237
  5. ^ a b c d Whitley 1991, p. 202
  6. ^ Friedman, pp. 130–131
  7. ^ a b Whitley 1991, p. 45
  8. ^ Campbell, pp. 248–249
  9. ^ Campbell, p. 263
  10. ^ Campbell, p. 219
  11. ^ Campbell, p. 258
  12. ^ Whitley 1991, pp. 47, 202; Whitley 2000, pp. 57–58
  13. ^ a b Whitley 1991, pp. 207–208
  14. ^ Whitley 1991, pp. 77–79
  15. ^ Haar 2013, pp. 32–33
  16. ^ a b Whitley 1991, p. 79
  17. ^ Rohwer, pp. 2, 6, 8–11
  18. ^ Haar 2009, pp. 83–84, 119–123, 128–129, 147–151, 153, 155–157, 163, 207–214, 377–379, 382
  19. ^ Rohwer, pp. 20, 22; Whitley 1991, p. 104
  20. ^ Rohwer, pp. 43, 45, 51–52; Whitley 1991, pp. 109, 208
  21. ^ Rohwer, pp. 57–58, 143, 151, 165, 198, 215; Whitley 1991, pp. 119–121, 144, 208; Whitley 2000, p. 58
  22. ^ Rohwer, pp. 148, 241, 254, 256, 270, 279; Whitley 1991, p. 144
  23. ^ Rohwer, pp. 312, 317–318, 324; Whitley 1991, p. 158
  24. ^ Rohwer, pp. 324, 331–332, 335, 345; Whitley 1991, p. 158

Bibliography

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