Type 24 torpedo boat

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Type 1924 (Raubtier-class) torpedo boats
Class overview
Operators
Preceded byType 23 torpedo boat
Succeeded byType 35 torpedo boat
Built1927–1929
In commission1928–1944
Completed6
Lost6
General characteristics (as built)
TypeTorpedo boat
Displacement
  • 933 long tons (948 t) (standard)
  • 1,320 long tons (1,340 t) (
    deep load
    )
Length92.6 m (303 ft 10 in) o/a
Beam8.65 m (28 ft 5 in)
Draft3.52 m (11 ft 7 in)
Installed power
  • 3 ×
    water-tube boilers
  • 23,000 shp (17,000 kW)
Propulsion
Speed34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Range1,997 nmi (3,698 km; 2,298 mi) at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Complement127
Armament

The Type 24 torpedo boat (also known as the (

minefields in the English Channel
.

The surviving boats were refitted in early 1941 and were then transferred to the

invasion of Normandy
in June 1944, she was sunk by British bombers.

Design and description

The Type 24 torpedo boat was slightly larger than the preceding Type 23 and had some incremental improvements based on experience with the Type 23s. The boats 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 boats had an

double bottom that covered 96% of their length.[4] Their crew numbered 129 officers and sailors.[5]

The Type 24s had two sets of turbines, each driving a single three-bladed 2.35-meter (7 ft 9 in)

kW; 23,000 shp) for a speed of 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph). The ships carried a maximum of 338 metric tons (333 long tons) of fuel oil which was intended to give a range of 3,900 nautical miles (7,200 km; 4,500 mi) at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph).[1] The effective range proved to be only 1,997 nmi (3,698 km; 2,298 mi) at that speed.[5]

Armament and sensors

As built, the Type 24s mounted three 52-

Type 1934-class destroyers.[1][8]

Vessels of this class carried six above-water 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes in two triple mounts[3] 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. This torpedo 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, and a gun added in front of the bridge, all in single mounts. Around 1944 a FuMB 4 Sumatra radar detector was installed, as was radar.[11]

Ships

Tiger, Luchs, Jaguar, and Leopard at their launching ceremony
Construction data
Name Builder
Laid down[12]
 Launched[12] Completed[12] Fate[12]
Wolf
Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven, Wilhelmshaven
 8 March 1927 12 October 1927 15 November 1928 Mined, 8 January 1941
Iltis (Polecat) 8 March 1927 12 October 1927 1 October 1928 Sunk by British
MTBs during the action of 13 May 1942
Jaguar 4 May 1927 15 March 1928 15 August 1929 Bombed, 14 June 1944
Leopard 4 May 1927 15 March 1928 1 June 1929 Sunk in collision with the minelayer Preussen, 30 April 1940[13]
Luchs (Lynx) 2 April 1927 15 March 1928 15 April 1929 Torpedoed by HMS Thames, 26 July 1940
Tiger 2 April 1927 15 March 1928 15 January 1929 Wrecked in collision with destroyer Z3 Max Schultz, 27 August 1939[14]

Service

Most of the boats were initially assigned to the 3rd Torpedo Boat Half Flotilla. By the end of 1936, the Kriegsmarine had reorganized its torpedo boats into flotillas with Leopard and Luchs in the 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla and Wolf, Iltis, Jaguar and Tiger were assigned to the 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla. Both flotillas made several deployments to Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Around June 1938, the flotillas were again reorganized with Leopard and Luchs transferred to the 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla. The other boats were either refitting or in reserve. On 1 July the 3rd Flotilla was renumbered as the 6th. Shortly before the German declaration of war on Poland on 1 September 1939, Tiger was sunk by a German destroyer which accidentally rammed her during night training.[15]

World War II

Tiger (TG), Luchs (LU), Jaguar (JA) and Iltis (IT) at anchor, c. 1934

At the beginning the 4th Flotilla was disbanded and boats were transferred to the 5th and 6th Torpedo Boat Flotillas.

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, Jaguar and the torpedo boat Seeadler made contraband patrols in the Skaggerak, impounding six ships.[16]

Iltis was refitting, but all the other Type 24s played a minor role in the

minefield in the Skaggerak on 30 April with Wolf, Leopard was sunk when she was accidentally rammed by one of the minelayers.[13]

The 6th Flotilla was disbanded in April and all the torpedo boats were consolidated in the 5th Flotilla which continued to escort minelayers and damaged ships between Norway and Germany for the next several months. During one of these missions, Luchs was sunk by either a submarine or a floating mine on 26 July. The flotilla escorted minelaying missions in the North Sea in August and September before transferring to the English Channel in October. The first sortie in search of Allied shipping was unsuccessful, but another on 11–12 October sank four small ships. The flotilla's boats now started laying minefields themselves over the rest of the year and into early 1941. Wolf was sunk on one such mission on 8 January when she struck a mine herself.[18]

Iltis and Jaguar were now the only surviving boats of the class and they continued lay minefields and escorted two

North Atlantic raid. The sisters began refits the next month and were then transferred to the Skagerrak where they were on convoy escort duties until October. They were transferred to France in January 1942, rejoining the 5th Flotilla and were some of the escorts through the Channel for two battleships and a heavy cruiser during the Channel Dash in February. Both boats helped to screen a commerce raider through the Channel in March, but Iltis was sunk on 13 May when trying to escort another one. This left Jaguar as the sole surviving boat and she remained in France for the rest of the year, helping to escort German blockade runners sailing from ports in the Bay of Biscay en route to Japan.[19]

She was transferred to Norwegian waters for escort work in early 1943, but returned to France midway through the year to help escort U-boats through the Bay of Biscay and continued to do so into early August. The boat helped to lay a minefield in the Channel in March 1944. As the Allies began landing in Normandy on 6 June, the 5th Flotilla sortied several times from Le Havre over the next week in attempts to sink Allied shipping. They were generally unsuccessful, only sinking a single destroyer on 6 June. Jaguar was sunk during an air raid by the Royal Air Force on the night of 14/15 June.[20]

Notes

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

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Gröner, p. 191
  2. ^ Whitley 1991, p. 47
  3. ^ a b Sieche, p. 237
  4. ^ Gröner, pp. 191–192
  5. ^ a b c Whitley 1991, p. 202
  6. ^ Campbell, p. 219
  7. ^ Campbell, pp. 248–249
  8. ^ Campbell, p. 246
  9. ^ Campbell, p. 263
  10. ^ Campbell, p. 258
  11. ^ Whitley 1991, pp. 47, 202; Whitley 2000, pp. 57–58
  12. ^ a b c d Whitley 2000, p. 58
  13. ^ a b Rohwer, p. 22
  14. ^ a b Whitley 1991, p. 79
  15. ^ Whitley 1991, pp. 77–79, 82
  16. ^ Rohwer, pp. 2, 8–11
  17. ^ Haar 2009, pp. 80–81, 101–102, 201–206, 215, 255–256, 261–262, 270–272, 377–379, 382
  18. ^ Haarr 2010, pp. 364–366; Rohwer, 36, 38–39, 42–43, 45, 47, 51, 55; Whitley 1991, pp. 79, 109
  19. ^ Rohwer, pp. 57, 61–62, 64, 143, 151, 165, 198; Whitley 1991, pp. 119–121, 208
  20. ^ Rohwer, pp. 233, 236, 247, 249, 256, 312, 324, 331–332, 335; Whitley 1991, pp. 158, 165

References

  • Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
    ISBN 0-87021-459-4
    .
  • ISBN 0-87021-790-9
    .
  • Haarr, Geirr H. (2010). The Battle for Norway – April–June 1940. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing.
    ISBN 978-1-84832-057-4
    .
  • 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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