German torpedo boat T19

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German Torpedo Boat T 21 at sea on 2 July 1946.jpg
Sister ship T21 at sea, 2 July 1946, en route to be scuttled with her load of poison gas
History
War ensign of Germany (1938-1945).svg Nazi Germany
NameT19
Ordered5 October 1938
Builder Schichau, Elbing, East Prussia
Yard number1446
Laid down23 September 1939
Launched20 July 1940
Completed18 December 1941
FateTransferred to the United States as war reparations, sold to Denmark, 1947, but never used, scrapped, 1950–1951
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type Type 37 torpedo boat
Displacement
Length85.2 m (279 ft 6 in) o/a
Beam8.87 m (29 ft 1 in)
Draft2.8 m (9 ft 2 in)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range1,600  nmi (3,000 km; 1,800 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Complement119
Armament

The German torpedo boat T19 was one of nine Type 37 torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) during World War II. Completed in late 1941, she served as a training ship in the Torpedo School until mid-1942 when she was transferred to France. There she laid minefields in the English Channel and escorted Axis blockade runners and U-boats through the Bay of Biscay into the Atlantic Ocean. T19 returned to Germany in late 1943 and became a training ship again for the Torpedo School. She returned to active duty a year later and supported German forces operating in the Baltic Sea. The boat was then assigned escort duties in the Skagerrak around the beginning of 1945, which included covering minelaying missions. In May T19 helped to evacuate troops and refugees from advancing Soviet forces. The boat was allocated to the United States after the war, but she was sold to Denmark a few years later. Unused by the Royal Danish Navy, T4 was scrapped in 1951–1952.

Contents

Design and description

The Type 37 torpedo boat was a slightly improved version of the preceding Type 35 with better range. [1] The boats had an overall length of 85.2 meters (279 ft 6 in) and were 82 meters (269 ft) long at the waterline. [2] The ships had a beam of 8.87 meters (29 ft 1 in), and a mean draft of 2.8 meters (9 ft 2 in) at deep load. They displaced 888 metric tons (874 long tons ) at standard load and 1,139 metric tons (1,121 long tons) at deep load. [3] Their crew numbered 119 officers and sailors. [4] Their pair of geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller shaft, were designed to produce 31,000 shaft horsepower (23,000  kW ) using steam from four high-pressure water-tube boilers [2] which was intended to give the boats a maximum speed of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). They carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 1,600 nautical miles (3,000 km; 1,800 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). [3]

As built, the Type 37s mounted a single 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK C/32 gun on the stern. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a single 3.7 cm (1.5 in) SK C/30 anti-aircraft gun superfiring over the 10.5 cm gun and a pair of 2 cm (0.8 in) C/30 guns on the bridge wings. They carried six above-water 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidships and could also carry 30 mines (or 60 if the weather was good). [5]

Modifications

Early-war modifications were limited to the conversion of the foremast into a tripod mast, installation of a FuM 28 [Note 1] radar with fixed antennas angled 45° to each side. Quadruple 2 cm gun mounts began slowly replacing the 3.7 cm gun beginning in May 1942 as the ships were refitted. In September, installation of a single 3.7 cm gun was ordered, either the Flak M42 or the Flak M43, in lieu of the aft torpedo tubes, in all surviving boats, but it is also uncertain if this was done. Another 3.7 cm mount had been fitted on the searchlight platform amidships in T19 by 1944. By war's end, T19 was armed with a mix of three 40-millimeter (1.6 in) Bofors or 3.7 cm guns, two quadruple 2 cm mounts and a pair of 2 cm twin-gun mounts on the bridge wings. [6]

Construction and career

T19 was ordered on 5 October 1938 from Schichau, laid down at their Elbing, East Prussia, shipyard on 23 September 1939 [7] as yard number 1446, [2] launched on 20 July 1940 and commissioned on 18 December 1941; construction was delayed by shortages of skilled labor and of raw materials. She was either working up or assigned to the Torpedo School until September 1942 when she was transferred to France. T19 and her sisters T13, T14, T18 and T21 were some of the escorts for Axis blockade runners sailing from ports in the Bay of Biscay en route to Japan in September and October. On 13–14 October T19, T14 and the torpedo boats T4 and T10, made an unsuccessful attempt to escort the commerce raider Komet through the Channel. They were intercepted by a British force of five escort destroyers and eight motor torpedo boats (MTBs) that sank the raider and severely damaged T10. T19, on the other hand, was struck by stray machine-gun fire from Komet that wounded several men. In June–August 1943, T19 returned to the Bay of Biscay to help escort U-boats through the Bay. Now assigned to the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, the boat helped to lay two minefields in the English Channel on 3–5 September together with the torpedo boats Kondor, Möwe, T25 and T27. The flotilla (Greif, Kondor, T19, T26 and T27) laid another minefield in the Channel on 29–30 September. [8]

T19 returned to Germany in October and began a refit in Bremen that lasted until February 1944 when she was reassigned to the Torpedo School. The boat returned to active duty in June and escorted the last evacuation convoy from Tallinn, Estonia, to Germany on 23 September with T13, T17, and T20. T19, T13 and T21 screened the heavy cruiser Lützow as she bombarded Soviet positions at Memel and Sworbe, on the Estonian island of Saaremaa, on 23–24 October. Escorted by the 2nd and 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotillas (T19, T5, T9, T12, T13, T16 and T21) the heavy cruisers Prinz Eugen and Admiral Scheer shelled Soviet positions during the evacuation of Sworbe, between 20 and 24 November. Afterwards, the 3rd Flotilla, including T19, was transferred to the Skagerrak for convoy escort duties. The boat helped to escort a minelaying mission in the North Sea on 13–14 January 1945. Together with T17 and T20, T19 escorted another minelaying mission there on 17–18 March. On 5 May, she helped to ferry 45,000 refugees from East Prussia to Copenhagen, Denmark, and returned to transport 20,000 more to Glücksburg, Germany, on the 9th. The boat was allocated to the Americans when the Allies divided the surviving ships of the Kriegsmarine amongst themselves in late 1945. The United States Navy had no interest in her and she was sold to Denmark in 1947 for $5,000. Intended for use as a flotilla leader for MTBs, she was never commissioned and was scrapped in 1950–1951. [9]

Notes

  1. ↑ German: Funkmess-Ortung (Radio-direction finder, active ranging)

Citations

  1. ↑ Whitley 1991, p. 50
  2. 1 2 3 Gröner, p. 193
  3. 1 2 Whitley 1991, p. 202
  4. ↑ Sieche, p. 238
  5. ↑ Whitley 1991, pp. 50–51; Whitley 2000, p. 71
  6. ↑ Whitley 2000, pp. 72–73
  7. ↑ Whitley 1991, p. 211
  8. ↑ Rohwer, pp. 198, 202, 256, 270, 279; Whitley 1991, pp. 121, 211
  9. ↑ Rohwer, pp. 359, 361, 373–374, 386, 401, 414; Whitley 1991, pp. 168, 171, 173, 180, 188–189, 191, 211

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The Type 37 torpedo boat was a class of nine torpedo boats built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. Completed in 1941–1942, one boat helped to escort a commerce raider passing through the English Channel into the Atlantic Ocean in late 1941, but their first major action was in early 1942 when they formed part of the escort for a pair of battleships and a heavy cruiser through the Channel back to Germany in the Channel Dash. Two pairs of boats were sent to France at different times in mid-1942 and were part of the escort during an unsuccessful attempt to pass a different commerce raider back through the Channel in October. One boat was assigned to the Torpedo School as a training ship in mid-1942 and the others followed in the next year.

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German torpedo boat <i>Kondor</i>

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German torpedo boat <i>Jaguar</i>

Jaguar was the sixth and last Type 24 torpedo boat 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 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.

German torpedo boat <i>T2</i> German torpedo boat of the Type 35 class (1935–1946)

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German torpedo boat <i>T4</i>

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German torpedo boat <i>T5</i>

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German torpedo boat <i>T10</i>

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German torpedo boat <i>T12</i>

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German torpedo boat <i>T13</i> German torpedo boat

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German torpedo boat <i>T14</i> German torpedo boat

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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>T18</i> German World War II torpedo boat

The German torpedo boat T18 was one of nine Type 37 torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine during World War II. Completed in mid-1941, she was later assigned to the Baltic Sea for convoy escort duties. The boat briefly became a training ship in 1942 before she was transferred to France where she laid minefields and escorted Axis blockade runners and U-boats through the Bay of Biscay into the Atlantic Ocean. T18 returned to Germany in mid-1943 and became a training ship again for the Torpedo School and U-boat Flotillas. The boat returned to active duty in mid-1944 and assigned to the Baltic where she was sunk by Soviet aircraft in September.

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>T27</i> German torpedo boat

The German torpedo boat T27 was one of fifteen Type 39 torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine during World War II. Completed in early 1943, the boat was transferred to France in August. T27 helped to lay a minefield in the English Channel the following month, and later escorted a blockade runner through the Bay of Biscay. She participated in the Battle of Sept-Îles in October and played a minor role in the Battle of the Bay of Biscay. The boat was lightly damaged during the action of 26 April 1944 off the coast of Brittany and ran aground during the subsequent battle two days later. Her wreck was destroyed shortly afterwards by the British.

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

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