Elbing class torpedo boat
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| Flottentorpedoboot 1939 |  |
|---|---|
| General Characteristics | |
| Type: | Fleet Torpedo Boat |
| Displacement: | 1,755 tons (maximum) |
| Length: | 102.50 metres (overall); 97 metres (waterline) |
| Beam: | 10 metres |
| Draught: | 3.22 metres |
| Propulsion: | 2 Wagner geared turbines driving 2 shafts, 32,560 shp |
| Speed: | 32.5 knots |
| Range: | 2,400 sea miles at 19 knots |
| Complement: | 205 |
| Armament: | 4 x 105 mm 4 x 37 mm 9 x 20 mm 6 x 533 mm torpedo tubes 50 mines |
| Armour: | |
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 by the Germans, in most respects - displacement, weaponry, usage - they were comparable to contemporary British destroyers.
Service was either in the Baltic or western France.
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 escort destroyer HMS Limbourne by torpedos, off Brittany in late 1943. The 4th TorpedoBoat Flotilla (T22, T23, T25, T25 and T26) had been protecting an important blockade runner.
Construction of the class took place in the Schichau shipyards in Elbing (now Elbląg). 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 Feb 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 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 |
| T26 | 1941 | 18.02.1942 | 27.02.1943 | sunk 28.12.1943, by British cruisers HMS Glasgow and HMS Enterprise in the Bay of Biscay |
| T27 | 1941 | 20.08.1942 | 17.04.1943 | sunk 04.05.1944, sunk by Canadian destroyers off Brittany |
| T28 | 1941 | 24.06.1942 | 19.06.1943 | escaped from western France after D day, scrapped 1959, after serving in the French Navy as the Lorraine |
| T29 | 1942 | 16.01.1943 | 21.08.1943 | sunk 26.04.1944, by Canadian Destroyers near Brittany |
| T30 | 1942 | 13 March1943 | 24 October 1943 | sunk 18.08.1944 - mined in the Gulf of Finland |
| T31 | 1942 | 22.05.1943 | 5 February 1944 | sunk 20.06.1944 by Soviet Navy MTB |
| T32 | 1942 | 17 July1943 | 8 May 1944 | sunk 18.08.1944 - mined in the Gulf of Finland |
| T33 | 1942 | 04.09.1943 | 15.06.1944 | scrapped 1957-1958 after serving in the Soviet Navy as the Primerniy |
| T34 | 1942 | 23.10.1943 | 12 August 1944 | sunk 24.11.1944 - 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 | 09.12.1944 | sunk 05.05.1945, damaged by a mine near Swinemunde and sunk by bombing |
[edit] See also
German torpedoboats of World War II
[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 October 17, 2006.
- M.J Whitley, Destroyers of World War 2, 1988 Cassell Publishing ISBN 1 85409 521 8
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