T 36 (ship, 1944)

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history War Ensign of Germany (1938–1945) .svg
Class: Fleet torpedo boat 1939
Keel laying: June 10, 1943
Launch: February 5, 1944
Commissioning: December 9, 1944
Fate: Sunk on May 4, 1945
Technical specifications
Length:
  • over everything: 102.5 m
  • Water line: 97 m
Width: 10.0 m
Draft: 2.83 meters (medium)
Displacement:
  • Standard displacement: 1318 ts
  • Displacement: 1780 ts
Drive:
Speed: 32.5 kn (according to construction)
Range: 2400 nm at 19 kn (according to design)
Crew: planned: 206 men
Armament:
  • 4 × 10.5 cm SK C / 32 gun
  • up to 10 × 3.7 cm, up to 12 × 2 cm tubes with "Barbara" armament
  • 6 × 53.3 cm torpedo tubes in sets of three
  • 32 depth charges
  • up to 50 sea mines

T 36 was a 1939 fleet torpedo boat of the Kriegsmarine . As the last boat in its class, it entered service in December 1944 and was only used in the Baltic Sea until the end of World War II . There it was involved in the rescue of survivors of the Wilhelm Gustloff .

After a mine hit and air raids, the T 36 sank just four days before the end of the war on May 4, 1945.

history

Construction and commissioning

The construction contract for the T 36 was issued together with those for the structurally identical boats T 31 to T 35 on January 20, 1941 to the Schichau shipyard in Elbing , which put the boat with the construction number 1518 on Kiel on June 10, 1943 . The launch took place on February 5, 1944. A preliminary test drive took place on December 2, 1944. The commissioning took place on December 9, 1944 in Danzig for the 5th torpedo boat flotilla . The boat's commanding officer was Lieutenant Captain Robert Hering (1918–2012).

The basic training of the crew took place in December and January while sailing in the Bay of Danzig and in the port of Gotenhafen . On December 24, there was a fire on the upper deck in the area of ​​the rear funnel and in the 3.7 cm guns when the boat moored to the tanker Wikinger to take over fuel. The rear torpedo tube assembly was then removed and not replaced. After the final test and measurement runs, the T 36 was released from the trial relationship on January 26, 1945.

Sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff

On January 30th, the boat was supposed to go as a safety escort for the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper . At 9:45 p.m., distress signals were seen. A minute later, the T 36 received the radio message about a torpedo hit on the Wilhelm Gustloff , whereupon the boat drove at maximum speed to the scene of the accident. The rescue of castaways could begin at 10:30 p.m. The rescue operations had to be interrupted at 11:47 p.m. because a submerged enemy submarine was located. It was S-13 that the Wilhelm Gustloff had sunk. When searching for the submarine along with the torpedo boat lion between 23:47 and midnight only threw lion some depth charges until 00:22 sat T 36 , the anti-submarine continued. A torpedo runway was sighted three minutes later, whereupon T 36 took evasive courses. At 12:30 a.m., almost overloaded with the high number of those rescued, the site of the sinking was left and the course to the west was taken. A total of 564 survivors were on board the T 36 , including the captain of the Wilhelm Gustloff . At 1:55 p.m. the boat reached the port of Saßnitz , where the rescued were disembarked.

February and March 1945

In the following days the boat was in the Swinoujscie / Stettin area . So it was on February 4th in the port of Swinoujscie

Together with the destroyer Z 39 , the T 36 briefly moved to Copenhagen in late February and early March . In the years that followed, the T 36 mainly ran together with the Z 39 . On March 5, both boats and other ships were in the roadstead off Saßnitz . The following day, Group No. 5 of RAF Bomber Command 191 Lancaster -Bombern and seven Mosquito - fighter-bombers town, port and harbor of Sassnitz on. T 36 escaped the bombing raids. However, one crew member fell and two others were wounded.

Leader boat of the 5th T-Flotilla

On March 26th, the following was noted in the KTB of the FdZ : After completing his training, T 36 is fully certified and thus clearly used. The boat, the guide boat of the 5th T.Fl. will initially stay in Swinoujscie z.Vfg. Adm. western Baltic Sea ... The boss of the 5th TFl. and his staff came on board on March 30th. In the following days, the T 36 took over anti-aircraft and submarine security for Prinz Eugen and Lützow , who were shooting at land targets. T 36 had to repel air attacks on various occasions, and even land targets were under fire. Mission trips with the destroyer Z 34 followed .

Sinking

T 36 had been in the roadstead near Świnoujście since April 28 and did not leave it until May 3, despite multiple air raids, to travel to Copenhagen with 150 refugees on board. In the early evening of the same day, the boat took over the securing of the heavily damaged liner Silesia in the area of ​​the inner Pomeranian Bay, which had run into a mine .

At 10:13 p.m., a mine detonation in twelve meters of water under the forecastle severely damaged the boat. The forecastle buckled slightly, the 1st and 2nd guns, the 3.7 cm double flak, radio measuring system, anchor equipment and the boiler room failed, but the ship remained buoyant on a level keel. Nine crew members who were in the forecastle were killed and twelve were injured. Commander Hering was also seriously injured, so that the flotilla commander, Corvette Captain Jan Heinrich Hansen-Nootbar, took over command.

The next day the boat could be made ready to sail again so that the march to Copenhagen could begin at 4:30 p.m. At 6:58 p.m., 15 aircraft attacked the boat at low altitude with bombs and on-board weapons. Two bombs hit and a fire started on board. Bombing strikes made the ship leak so that it slowly began to sag. Of the crew, 63 men died and 44 were wounded. The surviving crew was taken over by KFK and R boats by the evening . Finally, at 8:20 p.m. on May 4, the T 36 was completely sunk after explosive charges were detonated on the boat. The lower transition point is 54 ° 12 '24 "  N , 14 ° 12' 36"  O .

Remarks

  1. ↑ The events are described differently (including in the Chronicle of the Naval War 1939–1945 ); here is the description of Harnack: The German fleet torpedo boats from 1942 to 1945. reproduced.
  2. ↑ The torpedo boat attack by L 3 listed here contradicts this information

literature

  • Wolfgang Harnack: The German fleet torpedo boats from 1942 to 1945. ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2004, ISBN 3-8132-0825-7 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Harnack: The German fleet torpedo boats from 1942 to 1945. ESMittler & Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2004, ISBN 3-8132-0825-7 , p. 174
  2. ^ Obituary notice for Robert Hering. Retrieved February 11, 2020 .
  3. ^ Wolfgang Harnack: The German Flottentorpedoboote from 1942 to 1945. ESMittler & Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2004, ISBN 3-8132-0825-7 , p. 175
  4. ^ Wolfgang Harnack: The German fleet torpedo boats from 1942 to 1945. ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2004, ISBN 3-8132-0825-7 , p. 180/181
  5. ↑ Wolfgang Harnack: The German Flottentorpedoboote from 1942 to 1945. ESMittler & Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2004, ISBN 3-8132-0825-7 , p. 17
  6. ^ Wolfgang Harnack: The German fleet torpedo boats from 1942 to 1945. ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2004, ISBN 3-8132-0825-7 , p. 184
  7. ↑ Wolfgang Harnack: The German Flottentorpedoboote from 1942 to 1945. ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2004, ISBN 3-8132-0825-7 , p. 184/185
  8. ^ Wolfgang Harnack: The German fleet torpedo boats from 1942 to 1945. Verlag ES Mittler & Sohn GmbH, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2004, ISBN 3-8132-0825-7 , p. 185
  9. ^ Wolfgang Harnack: The German Flottentorpedoboote from 1942 to 1945. ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2004, ISBN 3-8132-0825-7 , p. 189
  10. ↑ quoted from Wolfgang Harnack: Die deutschen Flottentorpedoboote from 1942 to 1945. , p. 193
  11. ↑ Wolfgang Harnack: The German Flottentorpedoboote from 1942 to 1945. ESMittler & Sohn, Hamburg / Berlin / Bonn 2004, ISBN 3-8132-0825-7 , p. 197/198