Bird of prey class
 Raptor class rift
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The bird of prey class consisted of six torpedo boats of the Imperial Navy, which were allowed to be built under the Versailles Treaty . According to the year it was drafted, the official name was Torpedo Boat 1923 . The boats built from 1925 to 1927 at the Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven were all lost in the Second World War .
draft
As the first new torpedo boat design after the First World War , the boats were intended to replace the obsolete pre-war boats from 1907 to 1913 that had remained in the Imperial Navy. The need to procure replacements quickly and the requirements of the Versailles Treaty greatly restricted the freedom of design, which is why they largely corresponded in appearance and technology to their predecessors from the war years, the last torpedo boats of the Imperial Navy H 145 - H 147 , and thus lagged behind contemporary Allied designs in terms of performance alone due to the limited displacement.
The Versailles Treaty contained a limitation of the tonnage for destroyers to 800 ts as standard displacement, operational and maximum displacement were allowed to be higher. The increase in armament and size and thus also the displacement that this type of ship had experienced in other navies in recent years could therefore not flow into a new design if it wanted to adhere to this specification. Longitudinal frame and longitudinal beam construction as well as the use of the new electrical welding technology instead of conventional riveting reduced the weight of the hull, but the standard displacement of 923 ts was above the specified limits. Officially, it was still given as 800 ts.
history
The design work began in 1923. The first new torpedo boat building was financed in the 1924 budget year. The later seagull served as a prototype for the other buildings in its class. These were approved in the 1925 budget. With the commissioning of the Möwe , the old torpedo boat T 175 could be retired on September 23, 1926; the remaining five boats replaced the T 139 , T 141 , T 143 , T 149 and T 168 in 1927 .
technical description
Hull and drive
The boats had a type displacement of 924 ts and a construction displacement of 998 t . In use they displaced 1,290 t. The fuselage was created in a transverse rib longitudinal band construction using torpedo boat steel. The hull was partially welded and divided into 13 watertight compartments with an extensive double floor. The bunker capacity was 321 m³ of oil for a range of 2,000 nautical miles at 20 knots (kn). The drive power of the geared turbine system was 23,000 PSw , which allowed a top speed of 33 knots. The achievable speed with Möwe was one knot lower, i.e. only 32 knots, also because the drive system provided less power with 22,000 PSw. The fastest boat drove a maximum of 33.6 knots with 24,829 hpw.
The length was 88.5 meters above all and 85.7 meters in the waterline. The width was 8.3 meters and the mean draft 3.65 meters. The type boat Möwe had slightly smaller dimensions as a prototype, and only the prototype received a round stern; the stern of the other boats was designed to be more resistant than transom stern.
Conversions
Due to the general change in caliber in the fleet, all boats from 1931 were given 53.3 cm diameter instead of the six 50 cm torpedo tubes .
During the Second World War , two additional 2 cm guns were installed in front of the middle 10.5 cm gun to reinforce the anti-aircraft armament. In 1942 they were again replaced by a 2 cm quadruple mount, in the same year a further 2 cm single gun replaced the optical range finder aft. In 1943 the boats were equipped with the FuMB Ant. 4 “Sumatra” ( Fu nk M eß B eobachtungsgerät, passive locating device for displaying enemy radar location), on the front mast, in 1944 antennas for active radar location (FuMO devices: Fu nk M ess O rtungsgeräte) added to the front and aft mast. The height of the bridge and masts were reduced to improve seaworthiness.
units
| Surname | Keel laying | Launch | Commissioning | fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| gull | May 2, 1925 | March 24, 1926 | October 1, 1926 | sunk in the port of Le Havre on June 15, 1944 in an air raid |
| Gripping | October 5, 1925 | July 15, 1926 | March 15, 1927 | sunk on May 23, 1944 |
| White-tailed eagle | October 5, 1925 | July 15, 1926 | May 1, 1927 | Hit by British torpedo on May 13, 1942 and sunk |
| Albatross | October 5, 1925 | July 15, 1926 | May 5, 1927 | stranded in Norway on April 10, 1940 |
| condor | November 17, 1925 | September 22, 1926 | July 15, 1927 | destroyed on July 31, 1944 |
| Falcon | November 17, 1925 | September 22, 1926 | August 1, 1927 | sunk in the port of Le Havre on June 15, 1944 in an air raid |
Web links
- Raptor class boats. deutschekriegsmarine.de
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