The development of the torpedo speedboat Kobra goes back to the demand of the small combat units in the high command of the Navy to design a speedboat that could be transported by the cargo glider Go 242 to any place of action in order to extend its radius of action considerably. As a result of this demand, the first draft of the Kobra was presented by the chief engineer Docter in the summer of 1944 . His conception promised, in addition to the transportability by plane, also the use of larger ships, on whose deck or in tow the cobra could be brought into the operational area. The primary armament consisted of a single 45 cm diameter aircraft torpedo of the type F5b , which was housed amidships between the two engines in a specially designed tube. The torpedo was not fired in the direction of the bow as usual, but rather it was ejected at the rear. Two prototypes were built in cooperation with the Vertens shipyard in Berne .
In the winter of 1944/45 a scheduled comparison test was carried out between the torpedo high-speed boats Hydra , Kobra , Schlitten and the whale with the result that the Hydra won the test with regard to its sea behavior and sound absorption. For this reason the Kobra project was discontinued in favor of the Hydra .
Individual evidence
↑ Harald Fock: Naval small weapons. Manned torpedoes, small submarines, small speedboats, explosives yesterday - today - tomorrow. Nikol, Hamburg 1996, ISBN 3-930656-34-5 , p. 135.
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