Elbing class torpedo boat
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Flottentorpedoboot 1939 |
| Builders: | Schichau |
| In commission: | 1941–1944 |
| Completed: | 15 |
| Lost: | 11 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1,295 tons (standard) 1,755 tons (maximum) |
| Length: | 102.5 m (336 ft 3 in) (overall) 97 m (318 ft 3 in) (waterline) |
| Beam: | 10 m (32 ft 10 in) |
| Draft: | 3.22 m (10 ft 7 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × Wagner geared turbines driving 2 shafts, 32,560 shp |
| Speed: | 32.5 kn (60.2 km/h) |
| Range: | 2,400 nmi (4,400 km) at 19 kn (35 km/h) |
| Complement: | 205 |
| Armament: | 4 × 105 mm (4.1 in) guns 4 × 37 mm (1.5 in) guns 9 × 20 mm (0.79 in) guns 6 × 533 mm (21.0 in) torpedo tubes 50 × mines |
The Elbing class torpedo boats (or Flottentorpedoboot 1939) were a class of fifteen small warships that served in the Kriegsmarine in World War II. Although classed as Flottentorpedoboot ("Fleet torpedo boat") by the Germans, in most respects - displacement, weaponry, usage - they were comparable to contemporary British medium-size destroyers. The most notable difference was the in the amarment with the Elbings being fewer in number and of a slightly smaller calibre - 105 mm compared to the 4.5 inch (114 mm) of contemporary British destroyers such as the L and M class.
Service was either in western France from late 1942 until August 1944 or in the Baltic Sea from March 1944 until the end of the war.
The design and weapons mix resulted from experience of earlier, more specialised classes such as the Torpedo boat type 35. The Elbings were a radical change to an all-purpose vessel capable of torpedo attacks, anti-aircraft defence and escort duties. These ships adopted unit machinery with two separate engine rooms and two boiler rooms. Their machinery was however relatively unreliable.
They were effective fighting vessels, a notable success being the sinking of the British cruiser HMS Charybdis and the escort destroyer Limbourne by torpedoes, off Brittany in late 1943 and HMCS Athabaskan in 1944. The 4th TorpedoBoat Flotilla (T22, T23, T25, T25 and T26) had been protecting an important blockade runner though despite their success it ran aground and was lost. Three ships (T22, T30, T32) were accidentally lost on 18 August 1943 on the German minefield in the Gulf of Finland.
Construction of the class took place in the Schichau shipyards in Elbing (now Elbląg), hence the Allied codename for the class. The first examples were commissioned in late 1942 and the last in late 1944.
[edit] The ships
The ships were unnamed, but numbered T22 to T36.
| Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Fate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T22 | 1940 | 1941 | 28 February 1942 | sunk 18 August 1944 - mined in the Baltic |
| T23 | 1940 | 14 June 1941 | 14 June 1942 | scrapped February 1955, after serving in the French Navy as the Alsacien |
| T24 | 1940 | 13 September 1941 | 17 October 1942 | sunk 24 August 1944, by aircraft launched rockets near Bordeaux |
| T25 | 1940 | 1 December 1941 | 12 December 1942 | sunk 28 December 1943, by British cruisers HMS Glasgow and HMS Enterprise in the Bay of Biscay (Operation Stonewall) |
| T26 | 1941 | 18 February 1942 | 27 February 1943 | sunk 28 December 1943, by British cruisers HMS Glasgow and HMS Enterprise in the Bay of Biscay (Operation Stonewall) |
| T27 | 1941 | 20 August 1942 | 17 April 1943 | sunk 4 May 1944, driven aground by HMCS Haida (G63) and sunk by aircraft the following day |
| T28 | 1941 | 24 June 1942 | 19 June 1943 | escaped from western France after D-Day, scrapped 1959, after serving in the French Navy as the Lorraine |
| T29 | 1942 | 16 January 1943 | 21 August 1943 | sunk 26 April 1944, by HMCS Haida (G63) and other Canadian destroyers near Brittany |
| T30 | 1942 | 13 March 1943 | 24 October 1943 | sunk 18 August 1944 - mined in the Gulf of Finland |
| T31 | 1942 | 22 May 1943 | 5 February 1944 | sunk 20 June 1944 by Soviet Navy MTB |
| T32 | 1942 | 17 July 1943 | 8 May 1944 | sunk 18 August 1944 - mined in the Gulf of Finland |
| T33 | 1942 | 4 September 1943 | 15 June 1944 | scrapped 1957-1958 after serving in the Soviet Navy as the Primerniy |
| T34 | 1942 | 23 October 1943 | 12 August 1944 | sunk 24 November 1944 - mined near Arkona |
| T35 | 1942 | 11 December 1943 | 7 October 1944 | scrapped 3 October 1952 - transferred to France and used for spare parts |
| T36 | 1942 | 5 February 1944 | 9 December 1944 | sunk 5 May 1945, damaged by a mine near Swinemünde and sunk by bombing |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Jackson, Robert (2001). Kriegsmarine The llustrated history of the German Navy in WWII. London: Aurum Press, pp163-164. ISBN 1-85410-746-1.
- Kriegsmarine Flottentorpedoboot 1939. Retrieved on 2006-10-17.
- M.J Whitley, Destroyers of World War 2, 1988 Cassell Publishing ISBN 1 85409 521 8
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