SMS G 42

G 42

Ship data flag  German Empire Ship type destroyer class Large torpedo boat 1913 Shipyard Germania shipyard , Kiel Build number 220 Keel laying 1914 Launch May 20, 1915 Commissioning November 10, 1915 Whereabouts Sunk April 21, 1917

Ship dimensions and crew length 83.0 m ( Lüa ) 82.2 m ( KWL ) width 8.36 m Draft Max. 3.5 m displacement Construction: 960 t Maximum: 1147 t   crew 87 men

Machine system machine 3 marine boilers 2 Germania turbines Machine performance 24,000 PS (17,652 kW) Top speed 33.5 kn (62 km / h) propeller 2

Armament 3 - 8.8 cm L / 45 C / 14 guns ° 1916 3-10.5 cm-L / 45-C / 16 Tk guns 2 × twin 50 cm torpedo tubes + 2 individual 50 cm torpedo tubes 24 mines possible

SMS G 42 was a large torpedo boat designed in 1913 for the German Imperial Navy . Built at the Germania shipyard in Kiel , it was part of the first G 37 to G 42 series manufactured at this shipyard . G 42 was delivered on November 10, 1915 as the sixth boat manufactured by the Germania shipyard according to the official draft of 1913. It was one of the first elongated boats in the class with a larger oil supply and a marching turbine.

G 42 took part in the Skagerrak Battle in 1916 . At the end of 1916 it was one of the large torpedo boats that were relocated to Flanders to take action against the Entente canal shipping and to carry out coastal bombardments.

On April 21, 1917, after the bombardment of Dover, G 42 and G 85 were lost in a skirmish with the British flotilla leaders Swift and Broke .

history

The large torpedo boats of the 1913 official draft were a departure from the 1911 preliminary draft and an attempt to procure smaller and inexpensive boats. The new design reached the size of the British destroyer, but had a lighter artillery armament with a stronger torpedo component. They were the first torpedo boats of the Imperial Navy whose boiler system was fired exclusively with oil. As with the procurement of torpedo boats for the Imperial Navy since the beginning of the century, the construction contracts went to the shipyard of Ferdinand Schichau in Elbing , the Kruppsche Germania shipyard in Kiel and to AG Vulcan in Stettin , after which the boats with the first letters of the shipyards (S, G, V) and consecutive numbers.

The Germania shipyard was only involved in the construction of the new boats in the budget year 1914, with G 37 to G 42 . After the outbreak of the First World War, an Ms (mobilization) order for G 85 to G 96 immediately followed . However, due to the construction delay, the last boat was completed as a modified type "1916Ms" after initial war experience with an extended forecastle.

The first four boats from Kiel displaced 822/1051 t and were 79.5 m long. G 41 and G 42 were 83 m long and displaced 960/1147 t, as was the follow-up order up to G 95 . Upon delivery, the boats were armed with three 8.8 cm L / 45-C 14 guns up to the G 91 delivered in July 1916 , and then with three 10.5 cm L / 45-C guns 16 Tk to change. The boats previously delivered have been retrofitted accordingly.

The G 42 launched on May 20, 1915 , was the sixth Germania boat of the 1913 type and was taken over by the Navy on November 10, 1915 and belonged to the 6th Torpedo Boat Half Flotilla (T-HFl), which together with the 5th T -HFl the III. Torpedo boat flotilla formed.

Calls

Under Lieutenant Bernd von Arnim , G 42 took part in the 6th T-Half Flotilla in the Skagerrak Battle . The III. Torpedo boat flotilla ran on the evening of May 31, 1916 at the head of the high seas fleet that wanted to relieve the battle cruisers of the First Reconnaissance Group under Admiral Hipper , when the first units of the Grand Fleet intervened on the British side . The lead boat of the semi-flotilla, V 48 , was badly hit in the unsuccessful torpedo attack on the newly arriving British units. The attempt by G 42 to tow V 48 had to be given up in the fire of the heavy British units. V 48 sank later. Only one man of his crew floating in the water was later rescued by a Danish fishing boat.

The Flirt sunk by the 6th Half Flotilla

In the fall, the Navy moved the large torpedo boats of the III. and IX. T-flotilla to Flanders . To the III. In addition to the G 42, the T-Flotilla also included the S 53 , S 54 , V 71 , V 73 , G 88 , the S 55 and V 70 , which were not available at the time of the battle due to docking times, and the newly assigned V 47 , V 67 , V 68 and the V 81 and G 91 that have just entered service .

On October 27, 1916, the German boats attacked the Dover Barrier for the first time and the first naval battle developed in the canal . Six small guard ships were sunk, four damaged. The 6th T-half flotilla with S 55 , S 53 , S 54 , G 42 , V 70 and G 91 also sank the old destroyer Flirt during this attack . Three other British destroyers were damaged by the 23 torpedo boats used.

The Broke

After this battle called the “1st Battle of Dover Strait” by the British, G 42 also took part in the so-called “Second Battle of Dover Strait” on the night of April 21, 1917, when the III. T-Flotilla ran into the Strait of Dover again and its semi-flotillas fired at Entente bases on the British and French sides. G 42 was assigned to the 5th T-Half Flotilla under Corvette Captain Theophil Gautier (1881–1953) for this attack and fired at Dover with V 71 , V 73 , V 81 , S 53 and G 85 . It was only after the bombardment that the British commander allowed his six destroyers to run out to pursue the Germans. To this end, he asked the flotilla leaders Swift and Broke, who were patrolling the street, about the whereabouts of the German boats and informed them about the departure of the standby units. The two flotilla leaders changed their course for a meeting with the standby division and ended up in the German torpedo boat association. According to the British representation, the Swift received a number of hits and hit a G 85 with a torpedo , the Broke under Commander Edward Evans rammed G 42 and only came free after a while to then follow the Swift and the remaining German boats. Due to the ramming and the hits received, the Broke had considerable problems and soon broke off the pursuit. She passed the two remaining German boats that fired again at the Broke . This returned fire, but her engines stopped for good and she drifted towards the severely damaged German boats. The ready destroyers Myngs , Miranda and Saracen , which then arrived on the battlefield and ordered back to Dover , took the Broke in tow and looked for castaways. The readiness destroyers Mentor , Lydiard and Lucifer , who later left the port, had already been ordered back immediately after leaving port. The Swift also broke off the pursuit of the Germans. The other four boats under Gautier and the six Calais attackers under Corvette Captain Conrad Albrecht escaped unhindered to their base in Zeebrugge . 36 sailors died on G 42 and 35 men on G 85 ; 21 men were killed on the Broke and one on the Swift .

Honors

The German Navy honored the fallen commander of the G 42 by naming its destroyer Bernd von Arnim .

literature

• Geoffrey Bennett: The Skagerrakschlacht , Wilhelm Heyne, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-453-00618-6
• John Campbell: Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting , Conway Maritime Press, London 1998, ISBN 0-85177-750-3
• Robert Gardiner, Randal Gray: Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921 , Conway Maritime Press, London (1985), ISBN 0-85177-245-5 .
• Bernd Langensiepen , Dirk Nottelmann : Evans of the Broke against Bernd von Arnim. An "eternal riddle" from the night of April 20th to 21st, 1917. In: Marine-Nachrichtenblatt 2010 No. 4 pp. 2–23
• Anthony Preston: Destroyer , Hamlyn, London (1977), ISBN 0-600-32955-0

Web links

• Large torpedo boat 1913
• Sharp naval battle in the canal - bombardment of Dover and Calais. Official war dispatch from the chief of the admiralty's staff of the Navy
• Sinking of G 42 in 1917
• Fall of G 85 in 1917
• German torpedo boats in the Battle of the Skagerrak

Footnotes

1. ↑ Campbell, pp. 161f.
2. ↑ Henry Newbolt. Naval Operations, Vol IV, History of the Great War, Longmans Green & Co., London 1928, p 52 ff.