Type 35 torpedo boat
Right elevation and plan of the Type 1935
| |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Operators | |
Preceded by | Type 24 torpedo boat |
Succeeded by | Type 37 torpedo boat |
Built | 1938–1940 |
In commission | 1939–1957 |
Completed | 12 |
Lost | 8 |
Scrapped | 4 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Type | 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 Type 35 torpedo boat was a
They were all refitted in early 1941 and nearly half the class was deployed afterwards in the
In early 1943 three boats returned to France where they were twice unsuccessful in escorting an Italian
Design and description
The 1930
The boats had an
The Type 35s had two sets of Wagner geared
Armament
As built, the Type 35 class mounted a single 42-caliber 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK C/32[Note 1] gun on the stern. Its mount had a range of elevation from -10° to +50° and the gun fired 15.1-kilogram (33 lb) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 785 m/s (2,580 ft/s). It had a range of 15,175 meters (16,596 yd) at an elevation of +44.4°.[7]
Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a single 80-caliber
The boats were also equipped with six above-water 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes in two triple rotating mounts and could also carry 30 mines (or 60 if the weather was good). The boats used the G7a torpedo which 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).[10]
Many boats exchanged the 3.7 cm gun for another 2 cm gun,
Ships
Ship | Builder[13] | Laid down[13]
|
Launched[13] | Commissioned[13] | Fate[14] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
T1 | Elbing
|
14 November 1936 | 17 February 1938 | 1 December 1939 | Sunk by aircraft, 10 April 1945 |
T2 | 7 April 1938 | 2 December 1939 | Sunk by aircraft, 29 July 1944 | ||
T3 | 23 June 1938 | 3 February 1940 | Sunk by aircraft, 19 September 1940, but raised and repaired. Sunk by mines, 14 March 1945 | ||
T4 | 29 December 1936 | 15 September 1938 | 27 May 1940 | Transferred to US, 1945, then Denmark, 1948; scrapped, 1951 | |
T5 | Deschimag, Bremen
|
30 December 1936 | 22 November 1937 | 23 January 1940 | Sunk by mines, 14 March 1945 |
T6 | 3 January 1937 | 16 December 1937 | 30 April 1940 | Sunk by mines, 7 November 1940 | |
T7 | 20 August 1937 | 18 June 1938 | 20 December 1939 | Sunk by aircraft, 29 July 1944 | |
T8 | 28 August 1937 | 10 August 1938 | 8 October 1939 | Sunk by aircraft, 3 May 1945[15] | |
T9 | Schichau | 24 November 1936 | 3 November 1938 | 4 July 1940 | |
T10 | 19 January 1939 | 5 August 1940 | Sunk by aircraft, 19 December 1944 | ||
T11 | Deschimag | 1 July 1938 | 1 March 1939 | 24 May 1940 | Transferred to UK, 1946, then France; scrapped, 1951 |
T12 | 20 August 1938 | 12 April 1939 | 3 July 1940 | Transferred to USSR, 1946; converted into a test ship and scuttled, 1959[16]
|
Service
Although the first few boats were completed at the end of 1939, maintenance problems with the boilers and modifications to the
After completing their refits, T2, T5, T8 and T11 supported German forces invading the
On the morning of 12 February 1942, the 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla (with T2, T4, T5, T11 and T12) rendezvoused with the battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen to help escort them through the Channel to Germany in the Channel Dash. After their arrival, T4, T5, T11 and T12 were transferred to Norway for escort duties and were joined by T7 in April while T2 was reduced to reserve, followed by T11. T1 and T8 were reactivated and assigned to the Torpedo School as training ships in mid-1942. T4 returned to France in June, followed shortly afterwards by T10, and were assigned to 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla. The flotilla made an unsuccessful attempt to escort Komet through the Channel in October. They were intercepted by a British force of five escort destroyers and eight MTBs that sank the raider and severely damaged T10 which subsequently returned home and was paid off into reserve. T7 was briefly put in reserve in October before being assigned to the Torpedo School in January 1943.[19]
T4 and T10 returned to Germany in January and then joined T1, T7, T8 and T11 in the Torpedo School. T2 was activated and joined T9 and T12 in France in March 1943 while T5 arrived there that same month. T2, T9 and T12, all assigned to the 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla, were some of the escorts in late March for the Italian blockade runner, Himalaya, in her attempt to breakout through the Bay of Biscay, but the Italian ship turned back when she was spotted by a British reconnaissance aircraft. Another attempt was made several weeks later, but failed when she was spotted by British aircraft and forced to return by heavy aerial attacks. T9 and T12 sailed to Germany in May for a refit and were then assigned to the Torpedo School while T2 was transferred to the Baltic in July and was assigned to the Torpedo School in October together with T5. T3 completed her repairs in December and was then assigned to the Torpedo School.[20]
Beginning in March 1944, the boats began to return to active duty with the 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla escorting ships in the Baltic and supporting Axis forces against advancing Soviet troops. T8 and T10, together with the torpedo boat
T1 and T12 were among the escorts for Prinz Eugen as she supported a German counterattack against advancing Soviet forces near
Notes
Citations
- ^ Whitley 1991, pp. 48–49
- ^ a b c d Gröner, p. 193
- ^ Whitley 1991, pp. 49, 202
- ^ Sieche, p. 237
- ^ Whitley 1991, p. 202
- ^ Campbell, p. 219
- ^ Campbell, p. 246
- ^ Campbell, p. 256
- ^ Campbell, p. 258
- ^ Campbell, p. 263
- ^ Whitley 1991, pp. 49–51; Whitley 2000, p. 71
- ^ Whitley n.d., p. 21
- ^ a b c d Whitley 1991, pp. 209–210
- ^ Whitley 2000, p. 70
- ^ Rohwer, p. 414
- ^ Sources differ on the boat's fate. Possibly served until stricken in 1957 and then scrapped or served until the 1960s and scuttled, 1991
- ^ Gröner, p. 194; Rohwer, pp. 35–36, 38–41; Whitley 1991, pp. 109, 114, 209–210
- ^ Rohwer, pp. 99, 102, 108; Whitley 1991, pp. 116–117, 209–210
- ^ Rohwer, pp. 143, 181, 202; Whitley 1991, pp. 118, 121, 209–210
- ^ Rohwer, pp. 143, 188, 241, 249; Whitley 1991, pp. 118, 168, 188, 209–210
- ^ Rohwer, pp. 338, 343, 374, 387, 414; Whitley 1991, pp. 117, 168, 173, 180, 209
- ^ Roche, p. 76; Rohwer, pp. 387, 398, 408, 414; Whitley 1991, pp. 168, 173, 180, 188–189, 191, 199, 209–210
- ^ Berezhnoy, pp. 18–19
- ^ Tarasov, Oleg (10–12 April 1991). "Чёрная быль Ладоги" [The Dark Past of Ladoga]. Leningradskaya Pravda (in Russian). Retrieved 14 September 2018.
References
- Berezhnoy, Sergey (1994). Трофеи и репарации ВМФ СССР [Trophies and Reparations of the Soviet Navy] (in Russian). Yakutsk: Sakhapoligrafizdat. OCLC 33334505.
- Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
- Dodson, Aidan & Cant, Serena (2020). Spoils of War: The Fate of Enemy Fleets after Two World Wars. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-4198-1.
- ISBN 0-87021-790-9.
- Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la Flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. Vol. II: 1879–2006. Toulon, France: J.-M. Roche. ISBN 2952591717.
- 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.