SMS H 147
 The torpedo boat H 147 shortly before delivery to France in 1920
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H 147 was a large torpedo boat of the improved official draft 1916Ms of the German Imperial Navy , which, however, was still in the test driverelationshiptowards the end of the war in 1918. In 1920 it flew under the German flag for a short time before it had to be delivered to France. There the boat was used as Marcel Delage until 1933.
history
The large torpedo boats of the official draft 1916Ms were a modified version of the (Mobilization) -type 1913Ms ( S 49 - G 96 ) from 1914. Some innovations that were already implemented in the G 96 , the last boat of the previous series , due to its construction delay realized: This primarily included the elimination of the cooler in front of the bridge and a continuous foredeck in its place, which significantly improved seaworthiness. The armament with 10.5 cm guns was standard. The sailing area, which was viewed as inadequate by the predecessor boats, was increased by using empty wall corridor cells for additional bunker space and by changing the internal subdivision. Overall, a vehicle was created that was adapted to the first war experiences. In the end, the boats from the G 96 onwards could already be visually distinguished from their immediate predecessors by the raised foredeck and from the V 125 by the high foremast .
As usual in the Imperial Navy, the boat was named after the first letter of the shipyard, in this case H for Howaldt, and the serial number. In 1926, the H 145 was the initial model for the torpedo boats of the bird of prey class of the Reichsmarine .
The boat
The building contract for the H 147 and the sister boats H 145 and H 146 was awarded to Howaldtswerke in Kiel on November 5, 1916. Until then, the shipyard had only built two small cruisers and capital ships for the Imperial Navy. The reason for the allocation was capacity problems at the neighboring Germania shipyard , which had to concentrate on the submarine construction on the instructions of the RMA . Howaldt had not built any modern torpedo boats to date and had no current experience in building such small and complex vehicles. In order to avoid a construction standstill, Howaldt took over the plans of the Germania shipyard for his own constructions and the three boats were created as licensed products from Germania. The drive system was obtained from the licensor, who was able to use his own capacities for turbine production. The Howaldt boats were originally supposed to have a marching turbine with gear reduction on the starboard shaft to enlarge their sailing range, but this was revoked by instructions from the RMA in April 1917. In view of a lack of capacities and a shortage of raw materials and workers, the RMA placed more emphasis on accelerated completion. The strained material situation of the Reich allowed until the end of the war to get only the two sister boats H 145 and H 146 into motion and to include them in the 14th torpedo boat semi-flotilla of the VII torpedo boat flotilla. On the other hand, H 147 was shipbuilding finished and completed the shipyard test drives, but was no longer officially put into service and remained at the shipyard after the armistice of Compiègne .
Service in the French Navy
After the self-sinking of the Imperial High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow on June 21, 1919 in the Bay of Scapa Flow and the conclusion of the Versailles Treaty, H 147 was part of the French spoils of war. This stipulated that the remaining modern warships were to be delivered to the victorious powers. For this purpose, the boat was officially put into service on July 13, 1920 for the Provisional Reichsmarine and was transferred to Cherbourg with other ships on July 20 . There the French Navy took over the boat, which was still unarmed. It was only through repeated pressure and threats and under the influence of the London ultimatum that the missing spare parts and equipment were obtained from Germany. For this reason, the French Navy was only able to officially commission H 147 as Marcel Delage in 1922 . It was named after Capitaine de Vaisseau Marcel Delage (1862-1917), the commander of the French battleship Danton , sunk by the German submarine U 64 in 1917 , who was killed when his ship sank . It belonged with seven other formerly German large torpedo boats to the 4th French destroyer flotilla in the Mediterranean .
At the end of 1929 Marcel Delage (ex H 147 ) formed the 10th semi- flotilla with the sister boat Rageot de la Touche (ex H 146 ), the Pierre Durand (ex V 79 ) and the newer Vulcan boat Buino (ex V 130 ). Due to the influx of more modern ships, all four boats were decommissioned on February 15, 1933 and the two Vulcan boats were then scrapped. The two Howaldt boats were kept as reserve boats until 1935 and then scrapped in Toulon .
Buino ex V 130
Deligny ex S 139
Pierre Durand ex V 79
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ms stands for mobilization type. Both Köppen and Gröner use this official abbreviation, while Fock writes of Mob-Typ, although this abbreviation was first used for vehicles of the Kriegsmarine .
- ↑ Köppen p. 38 note 7
- ↑ ibid. P. 60
- ↑ Jib. Z-before! Vol. 1 p. 64
- ↑ See ibid. P. 161
- ↑ http://ecole.nav.traditions.free.fr/officiers_delage_joseph.htm
- ↑ See: Overview of the former German torpedo boats of the French Navy .
Web links
literature
- Harald Fock: Z-before! Vol. 1 International development and war missions of destroyers and torpedo boats 1914 to 1939. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Herford 1998, ISBN 3-7822-0207-4 .
- Robert Gardiner, Randal Gray: Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921 , Conway Maritime Press, London (1985), ISBN 0-85177-245-5 .
- Erich Gröner : The German warships 1815-1945 Volume 2: Torpedo boats, destroyers, speed boats, minesweepers, mine clearance boats , Bernard & Graefe, Bonn 1998, ISBN 3-7637-4801-6 .
- Paul Köppen: The Wars at Sea 1914–1918. The surface forces and their technology. ES Mittler & Sohn 1930.