German torpedo boat Jaguar

Last updated
Jaguar
Jaguar (Schiff, 1928) in See.jpg
Jaguar at sea, 1934–1935
History
War Ensign of Germany (1921-1933).svgWar ensign of Germany (1938-1945).svg Germany
NameJaguar
Namesake Jaguar
Builder Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven
Yard number113
Laid down4 May 1927
Launched15 March 1928
Commissioned15 August 1929
FateBombed, 14 June 1944
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type Type 24 torpedo boat
Displacement
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
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)
Complement129
Armament
Service record
Commanders:

Jaguar was the sixth and last Type 24 torpedo boat built for the German Navy (initially called the Reichsmarine and then renamed as the Kriegsmarine in 1935) during the 1920s. The boat made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. During World War II, she played a minor role in the Norwegian Campaign of 1940. Jaguar spent the next several months escorting minelayers as they laid minefields and damaged heavy ships back to Germany before she was transferred to France around September. She started laying minefields herself that month and continued to do so for the rest of the war. After a refit in early 1941, the boat was transferred to the Skaggerak where she was assigned escort duties. Jaguar returned to France in 1942 and was one of the escorts for the capital ships sailing from France to Germany through the English Channel in the Channel Dash. She helped to escort blockade runners, commerce raiders and submarines through the Channel and the Bay of Biscay, as well as Norwegian waters, for the next several years. The boat attacked Allied ships during the Invasion of Normandy in June 1944, but was sunk by British bombers that same month.

Contents

Design and armament

Derived from the preceding Type 23 torpedo boat, the Type 24 was slightly larger and faster, but had a similar armament. [1] The boats had an overall length of 92.6 meters (303 ft 10 in) and were 89 meters (292 ft) long at the waterline. [2] They had a beam of 8.65 meters (28 ft 5 in), and a mean draft of 3.52 meters (11 ft 7 in). The Type 24s displaced 932 long tons (947  t ) at standard load and 1,319 long tons (1,340 t) at deep load. Wolf's pair of Brown-Boveri geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller, were designed to produce 23,000 metric horsepower (17,000  kW ; 23,000  shp ) using steam from three water-tube boilers which would propel the ship at 34 knots (63  km/h ; 39  mph ). [3] The boats carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 1,997 nmi (3,698 km; 2,298 mi) at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph). Their crew numbered 129 officers and sailors. [4]

As built, the Type 24s mounted three 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK C/28 [Note 1] guns, one forward and two aft of the superstructure, numbered one through three from bow to stern. They carried six above-water 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidships [2] and could also carry up to 30 mines. After 1931, the torpedo tubes were replaced by 533 mm (21 in) tubes [1] and a pair of 2 cm (0.8 in) C/30 anti-aircraft guns were added. During the war a quadruple 2 cm mount was added just forward of No. 2 gun, three 2 cm guns were positioned around the aft funnel, another pair were mounted on the bridge wings, and a gun was added in front of the bridge, all in single mounts. Around 1944 a FuMB 4 Sumatra radar detector was installed as was radar. [6]

Construction and career

Jaguar underway, 1934 Bundesarchiv DVM 10 Bild-23-63-36, Torpedoboot "Jaguar".jpg
Jaguar underway, 1934

Jaguar was laid down at the Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven (Navy Yard) on 4 May 1927 [3] as yard number 113, [7] launched on 15 March 1928 and commissioned on 15 August 1929. [3] The boat was initially assigned to the 3rd Torpedo Boat Half-Flotilla and by the end of 1936 she was assigned to the 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla. She made several deployments to Spain during the Spanish Civil War. [8]

Second World War

Together with the torpedo boat Falke, Jaguar impounded six ships in the Skaggerak during an anti-contraband patrol in 14–16 December. [9] She began a refit later that month at Wesermünde that lasted until March 1940. [10] During the Norwegian Campaign, Jaguar and Falke, among other ships, briefly rendered assistance to the torpedoed heavy cruiser Lützow before continuing onwards to Kristiansand on 11 April with reinforcements. [11] On 4–5 June Falke and Jaguar provided the anti-submarine screen from Kiel, Germany, to the Skaggerak for an unsuccessful attempt to intercept the Allied convoys evacuating Northern Norway by the battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst and the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. From 21–23 June, Jaguar was one of the escorts for the badly damaged Scharnhorst from Norway to Kiel. Now assigned to the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, Jaguar, and the torpedo boats Kondor, Falke, T2, T7 and T8 escorted minelayers as they laid a minefield in the southwestern North Sea on 7–8 August. The flotilla escorted other minelaying missions in the same area on 14–15 August, 31 August – 2 September and 6–7 September. Reinforced by her sister Wolf, the flotilla made an unsuccessful sortie off the Isle of Wight on 8–9 October. Jaguar and her sister Iltis laid a minefield off Dover on 29–30 October and then again on 2–3 December. [12]

1941–1944

Jaguar and Iltis laid a minefield off Eastbourne on 25–26 February and then again on 5–6 March. The pair escorted Scharnhorst and Gneisenau into Brest, France on 22 March after their North Atlantic raid. Jaguar began a refit the following month in Rotterdam, Netherlands, that lasted until May. She was transferred afterwards to the Skagerrak where she was on convoy escort duties until October. The ship rejoined the 5th Flotilla in France by February 1942. The flotilla joined the escort force for Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen on 12 February off Cap Gris-Nez during the Channel Dash. From 12 March to 2 April, the flotilla escorted the commerce raider Michel through the Channel despite heavy British attacks, damaging the British destroyers HMS Walpole and Fernie. In September and October, Jaguar was one of the escorts for German blockade runners sailing from ports in the Bay of Biscay en route to Japan. [13]

On 11 March 1943, Jaguar and the torpedo boat Greif were among the escorts for the battleships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst as they moved from Trondheim, Norway, to Bogen Bay, and continued onward to Altafjord with Lützow and the light cruiser Nürnberg from 22 to 24 March. Jaguar, Greif, and the destroyer Z4 Richard Beitzen screened Nürnberg from Harstad to Trondheim and then to Kiel between 27 April and 3 May. On 3–7 May, Jaguar, Greif, the torpedo boat Möwe escorted minelayers in the North Sea as they laid new minefields. In June the boats returned to the Bay of Biscay to help escort U-boats through the Bay and continued to do so into early August. [14]

The 4th and 5th Torpedo Boat Flotillas, consisting Jaguar, Möwe, Greif, Kondor, and the torpedo boats T27 and T29 laid minefields off Le Havre and Fécamp, France, on 21 and 22 March 1944. The flotilla was ordered to transfer from Cherbourg to Le Havre and departed on the night of 23/24 May. Jaguar, Greif, Falke, Kondor and Möwe were attacked by Allied aircraft early the next day and Greif was struck by two bombs and later sank. As the Allies began landing in Normandy on 6 June, the 5th Flotilla, now consisting of Jaguar, Falke, Möwe and T28, sortied multiple times from Le Havre over the next week in attempts to sink Allied shipping. Despite the expenditure of over 50 torpedoes and large quantities of ammunition, they were generally unsuccessful, only sinking the destroyer HNoMS Svenner on 6 June. During an air raid by heavy bombers of RAF Bomber Command on the night of 14/15 June against the harbour and the German warships there, Jaguar and Falke were sunk by bombs. [15]

Notes

  1. ↑ In Kriegsmarine gun nomenclature, SK stands for Schiffskanone (ship's gun), C/30 stands for Constructionjahr (construction year) 1930. [5]

Citations

  1. 1 2 Gröner, p. 191
  2. 1 2 Sieche, p. 237
  3. 1 2 3 Whitley 2000, p. 58
  4. ↑ Whitley 1991, p. 202
  5. ↑ Campbell, p. 219
  6. ↑ Whitley 1991, pp. 47, 202; Whitley 2000, pp. 57–58
  7. ↑ Gröner, p. 192
  8. ↑ Whitley 1991, p. 77
  9. ↑ Rohwer, p. 11
  10. ↑ Whitley 1991, p. 208
  11. ↑ Haarr 2009, pp. 215, 382
  12. ↑ Haarr 2010, pp. 352, 359; Rohwer, pp. 29, 35–36, 38–39, 43, 47, 51
  13. ↑ Rohwer, pp. 61–62, 64, 143, 151, 198; Whitley 1991, pp. 119, 208
  14. ↑ Rohwer, pp. 198, 233, 236, 247, 249, 256; Whitley 1991, p. 165
  15. ↑ Rohwer, pp. 312, 324, 331–332, 335; Whitley 1991, p. 158

Related Research Articles

Z15 Erich Steinbrinck was a Type 1934A-class destroyer built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine in the mid-1930s. The ship was named after the First World War German naval officer Erich Steinbrinck. At the beginning of World War II on 1 September 1939, the ship was initially deployed to blockade the Polish coast, but she was quickly transferred to the North Sea to lay defensive minefields. In late 1939 and 1940 the ship laid multiple offensive minefields off the English coast that claimed 24 merchant ships and a destroyer. Steinbrinck was under repair for most of the Norwegian Campaign of early 1940 and was transferred to France later that year.

Type 23 torpedo boat Ship class

The Type 23 torpedo boat was a group of six torpedo boats built for the Reichsmarine during the 1920s. As part of the renamed Kriegsmarine, the boats made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. During World War II, they played a minor role in the Norwegian Campaign of 1940, Albatros being lost when she ran aground. The Type 23s spent the next several months escorting minelayers as they laid 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.

Type 24 torpedo boat

The Type 24 torpedo boat (also known as the was a group of six torpedo boats built for the Reichsmarine during the 1920s. As part of the renamed Kriegsmarine, the boats made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. One was sunk in an accidental collision shortly before the start of World War II in September 1939 and the others escorted ships and searched for contraband for several months of the war. They played a minor role in the Norwegian Campaign of April 1940 and resumed their escort duties. After being transferred to France late in the year, the Type 24s started laying their own minefields in the English Channel.

German torpedo boat <i>Albatros</i> 1927 torpedo boat

Albatros was the fourth of six Type 23 torpedo boats built for the German Navy. Completed in 1927, Albatros often served as a flagship of torpedo boat units. The ship made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. After an attack by aircraft of the Spanish Republican Air Force killed German sailors in 1937, she participated in the retaliatory bombardment of Almería.

German torpedo boat <i>Seeadler</i> Type 23 torpedo boat of the German Navy

Seeadler was the second of six Type 23 torpedo boats built for the German Navy. The boat made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. During World War II, she played a minor role in the Battle of Kristiansand during the Norwegian Campaign of 1940. Seeadler spent the next couple of years escorting minelayers as they laid minefields and laying minefields herself. She also spent the latter half of 1941 escorting convoys through the Skaggerak. The boat returned to France in 1942 and was one of the escorts for the capital ships sailing from France to Germany through the English Channel in the Channel Dash. Seeadler then helped to escort one commerce raider through the Channel and was sunk by British forces while escorting another blockade runner in May.

German torpedo boat <i>Greif</i>

Greif was the third of six Type 23 torpedo boats built for the German Navy. The boat made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. During World War II, she played a minor role in the Norwegian Campaign of 1940 by transporting troops that captured Arendal. Greif spent the next couple of years escorting minelayers as they laid minefields and laying minefields herself. She also spent the latter half of 1941 escorting convoys through the Skagerrak. The boat had a lengthy refit that lasted all of 1942 and then spent March–April 1943 escorting ships in Norwegian waters before returning to France. While deployed there Greif laid numerous minefields and escorted U-boats through the Bay of Biscay. The boat was sunk by Allied aircraft in May 1944.

German torpedo boat <i>Kondor</i>

Kondor was the fifth of six Type 23 torpedo boats built for the German Navy. The boat made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. During World War II, she played a minor role in the attack on Oslo, the capital of Norway, during the Norwegian Campaign of 1940. Kondor spent the next several months escorting minelayers as they laid minefields and damaged heavy ships back to Germany before she was transferred to France around September. She started laying minefields herself that month and continued to do so for the rest of the war. The boat returned to France in 1942 and helped to escort blockade runners, commerce raiders and submarines through the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay. Damaged by a mine shortly before the Allied Invasion of Normandy in June 1944, Kondor was under repair on the day of the landings. Recognizing that she could not be repaired quickly, the boat was decommissioned later that month and was then further damaged by British bombers so that she was declared a constructive total loss.

German torpedo boat <i>Falke</i>

Falke was the sixth and last Type 23 torpedo boat built for the German Navy. The boat made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. During World War II, she played a minor role in the Norwegian Campaign of 1940. Falke spent the next several months escorting minelayers as they laid minefields and damaged heavy ships back to Germany before she was transferred to France around September. She started laying minefields herself that month and continued to do so for the rest of the war. After a refit in early 1941, the boat was transferred to the Skaggerak where she was assigned escort duties. Falke returned to France in 1942 and was one of the escorts for the capital ships sailing from France to Germany through the English Channel in the Channel Dash. She helped to escort blockade runners, commerce raiders and submarines through the Channel and the Bay of Biscay for the next several years. The boat attacked Allied ships during the Invasion of Normandy in June 1944, but was sunk by British bombers that same month.

German torpedo boat <i>Möwe</i>

Möwe was the lead ship of the her class of six torpedo boats built for the German Navy. The boat made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. During the Norwegian Campaign of 1940, she played a minor in the attack on Oslo, the capital of Norway. Möwe was torpedoed and badly damaged by a British submarine in May and did not return to active service until 1942 when she was transferred to France. The boat helped to escort blockade runners, commerce raiders and submarines through the Bay of Biscay. She also laid numerous minefields and attacked Allied ships during the Invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Möwe was sunk by British bombers that same month.

German torpedo boat <i>Wolf</i>

Wolf was the second of six Type 24 torpedo boats built for the German Navy during the 1920s. The boat made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. During World War II, she played a minor role in the occupation of Bergen during the Norwegian Campaign of April 1940. Wolf escorted minelayers once as they laid minefields in late April before beginning a refit that lasted until August. She was transferred to France around September and conducted offensive patrols in the English Channel as well as laying minefields herself. The ship struck a mine and was sunk returning from one such mission in January 1941.

German torpedo boat <i>Iltis</i> Type 24 torpedo boat

Iltis was the lead ship of her class of six torpedo boats built for the German Navy during the 1920s. The boat made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. During World War II, she did not participate in the Norwegian Campaign of 1940 as she was under repair after having accidentally rammed and sunk a U-boat. Iltis spent the next couple of years escorting minelayers as they laid minefields and laying minefields herself. She also spent the latter half of 1941 escorting convoys through the Skaggerak. The boat returned to France in 1942 and was one of the escorts for the capital ships sailing from France to Germany through the English Channel in the Channel Dash. Iltis then helped to escort one commerce raider through the Channel and was sunk by British forces while escorting another blockade runner in May.

German torpedo boat <i>Luchs</i>

Luchs was the fourth of six Type 24 torpedo boats built for the German Navy during the 1920s. The boat made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. During World War II, she played a minor role in the Battle of Kristiansand during the Norwegian Campaign of 1940. Luchs was sunk in Norwegian waters in July by either a British submarine or a floating mine.

German torpedo boat <i>T2</i>

The German torpedo boat T2 was one of a dozen Type 35 torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine during the late 1930s. Completed in 1939, she was not combat ready until mid-1940 when she spent several months escorting minelayers as they laid minefields. The boat returned to Germany after being damaged and supported operations in the Baltic Sea after the start of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941. T2 returned to France at the end of the year, escorting a commerce raider through the English Channel en route, and then escorted a pair of battleships and a heavy cruiser through the Channel back to Germany in early 1942 in the Channel Dash. The boat was placed in reserve upon her return and was transferred back to France in 1943 where she helped to escort blockade runners through the Bay of Biscay. In mid-1943 she returned to the Baltic and briefly served as a flagship of a submarine flotilla before being assigned to the Torpedo School. T2 was sunk in an air raid in July 1944, but was refloated several months later. She was never repaired and was scrapped in 1946.

German torpedo boat <i>T3</i>

The German torpedo boat T3 was one of a dozen Type 35 torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine during the late 1930s. Completed in 1940, she was assigned to escort minelayers as they laid their minefields in the North Sea and English Channel in July. The boat was sunk in France by British bombers in September and was refloated the following year. T3 was assigned to the Torpedo School when her repairs were completed in 1943. She returned to active duty a year later and escorted German ships as they bombarded Soviet positions. The boat sank a Soviet submarine in early 1944 and she struck a mine in March 1945 and sank with heavy loss of life.

German torpedo boat <i>T5</i>

The German torpedo boat T5 was one of a dozen Type 35 torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine during the late 1930s. Completed in 1940, she was assigned escort duties in June–July before she was tasked to escort minelayers as they laid their minefields in the North Sea and English Channel in August and September. T5 was transferred to Norway by November and escorted minelaying missions and supported operations in the Baltic Sea after the start of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941. T5 returned to France at the end of the year and then escorted a pair of battleships and a heavy cruiser through the Channel back to Germany in early 1942 in the Channel Dash.

German torpedo boat <i>T16</i> German torpedo boat

The German torpedo boat T16 was one of nine Type 37 torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine during World War II. Completed in mid-1941, the ship arrived in France in January 1942. She helped to escort a pair of battleships and a heavy cruiser through the English Channel back to Germany in February in the Channel Dash and then was ordered to Norway for escort work. T16 returned to Germany in May to begin a lengthy refit and briefly returned to Norway in May 1943 before going back to Germany. She was assigned to a U-boat Flotilla as a training ship in September. The ship was damaged by a mine in February 1944 and completed her repairs in August. T16 was then assigned to the Baltic Sea where she screened German ships as they bombarded Soviet positions for the rest of the year. The torpedo boat was assigned convoy escort duties in the Skagerrak around the beginning of 1945. During one such mission in April, T16 was badly damaged by British bombers and was deemed a constructive total loss. The ship was scrapped in Denmark beginning in September 1946.

German torpedo boat <i>T17</i> German torpedo boat

The German torpedo boat T17 was one of nine Type 37 torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine during World War II. Completed in mid-1941, the ship arrived in France in December. She helped to escort a pair of battleships and a heavy cruiser through the English Channel back to Germany in February 1942 in the Channel Dash and then was ordered to Norway for escort work. The ship returned to Germany in March for a refit before redeploying back to France. T17 began another refit in Germany in early 1943 and was then assigned as a training ship for U-boat flotillas.

German torpedo boat <i>T20</i> German torpedo boat

The German torpedo boat T20 was one of nine Type 37 torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine during World War II. Completed in mid-1942, she was transferred to Norway in March 1943 for escort duties. The ship returned to Germany in October and was assigned to the Torpedo School. T20 returned to active duty a year later and supported German forces operating in the Baltic Sea. She was then assigned escort duties in the Skagerrak around the beginning of 1945, which included covering minelaying missions. The ship was allocated to the British after the war, but she was transferred to France in 1946. Unused by the French Navy, she was stricken from the Navy List in 1951 and subsequently scrapped.

German torpedo boat <i>T21</i> German torpedo boat

The German torpedo boat T21 was one of nine Type 37 torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine during World War II. Completed in mid-1942, she was transferred to Norway in March 1943 for escort duties. The ship returned to Germany in October and was assigned to the Torpedo School. T21 returned to active duty in May 1944 and supported German forces operating in the Baltic Sea. The boat began a major refit in December which had not been completed when the war ended in May 1945. She was allocated to the United States after the war, but was only used to dispose of gas munitions by scuttling her in deep water in 1946.

German torpedo boat <i>T22</i> German World War II torpedo boat

The German torpedo boat T22 was one of fifteen Type 39 torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine during World War II. Completed in early 1942, the ship was transferred to France later that year where she escorted blockade runners and Axis submarines through the Bay of Biscay. T22 also laid minefields in the English Channel in mid-1943. She participated in the Battle of Sept-Îles, where she crippled a British destroyer, and the Battle of the Bay of Biscay later that year. After returning to Germany in early 1944, T22 struck a pair of mines in Narva Bay in August and blew up, with the loss of 143 men.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.