Torpedo fishing boat class type A III

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Torpedo catch boat improved type A III
Type A III torpedo boat SMS A 59 from 1916
Type A III torpedo boat SMS A 59 from 1916
Ship data
flag German EmpireGerman Empire (Reichskriegsflagge) German Empire
Ship type Torpedo fishing boat
class improved type A III
Shipyard * Deutsche Werft , Hamburg
* Nederlandse Scheepsbouw Mij. , Amsterdam
* Rotterdamsche Droogdok Mij. , Rotterdam
* Wilton-Fijenoord , Rotterdam
* C. vd Giessen & Zn. , Krimpen ad IJssel
* Nederlandsche Dok Mij. , Amsterdam
Launch 1941-1944
Commissioning 1941-1944
Ship dimensions and crew
length
62.00 m ( Lüa )
width 6.66 m
Draft Max. 2.18-2.40 m
displacement Construction: 381 t
Maximum: 489 t
 
crew 1 officer
60 men
Machine system
machine 2 sets of turbines
Machine
performance 		6,000 hp
Top
speed 		23.5 kn (44 km / h)
propeller 2
Armament
  • 2 × 20 mm flak
  • Deck storage for 14 torpedoes

These boats were the only class of ships that were built specifically as torpedo catchers for the Navy during World War II. The design is based on the design of the A-III torpedo boats from 1916. From 1941 to 1944, 24 boats were built at German and Dutch shipyards. They were used in the training of submarine crews and had to absorb the fired exercise torpedoes. Some of the boats were still used in escort service in 1945.

Origin, construction and technical data

With the expansion of the submarine warfare and the increased training of submarine crews, the Navy needed additional auxiliary ships to support the training as torpedo boats. In addition to the small torpedo catching boats used until then, increasingly larger boats were used, in particular old torpedo boats and minesweepers from the First World War, the fleet escorts that were unsuitable for frontline use as well as captured torpedo boats and minesweepers from Poland (see Jaskółka class ), Denmark (see Dragen , Hvalen , Laxen ), Norway (see Sleipner class ) and the Netherlands (see Jan van Amstel class and Mr. Ms. G 16 ). In addition, additional boats were needed to meet the increasing demand.

The tried and tested design of the A III torpedo boat, a special smaller T-boat that was designed as an escort and minesweeper with offensive tasks, from the First World War was used. The A III draft was slightly modified in 1941: the dimensions and performance parameters remained roughly the same, only the boats were primarily used for the transport of torpedoes as part of training and no longer in naval warfare, as in World War I.

With the expansion of the submarine warfare in 1942, the naval command gave the naval command the highest priority for repairs and new constructions - together with the submarines and before other light naval forces.

A total of 24 boats were built, TF 1 to TF 8 were built in 1941 and 1942 at the German shipyard in Hamburg. Shipyards in the occupied Netherlands were used for the other newbuildings: TF9 to TF 12 at Nederlandse Scheepsbouw Mij. , Amsterdam, TF 13 , TF 14 , TF 19 and TF 20 at Rotterdamsche Droogdok Mij. , Rotterdam, TF 15 to TF 18 at Wilton-Fijenoord , Rotterdam, TF 21 and TF 22 at C. vd Giessen & Zn. , Krimpen ad IJssel and TF 23 and TF 24 at Nederlandsche Dok Mij. , Amsterdam.

The boats were 62.00 meters long, 6.66 meters wide and had a draft of 2.18 to 2.40 meters. The construction displacement was 386 tons, the maximum 489 tons. The boats TF 1 to TF 8 built in Hamburg had two sets of Schichau turbines with 6,000 hp, the following boats, built at Dutch shipyards, had two sets of Werkspoor turbines, also with 6,000 hp. These worked on two screws and achieved a top speed of 23.5 knots . The crew consisted of an officer and 60 men. Two 20 mm anti-aircraft guns were installed as armament, and 14 torpedoes could be accommodated on the deck warehouse.

Further enlarged boats of the type with the planned designations TF 25 to TF 39 were ordered from the Schichau shipyard in Königsberg , but canceled again. As part of the standardization of ship classes, the Kriegsmarine introduced a type limit in 1943. The new minesweeper in 1943, which was to be built in section, was to be used as a minesweeper in variants as well as tasks as a submarine hunter , as a torpedo carrier and as a torpedo intercepting boat and thus become the successor to these boats.

Use of the boats

From the end of 1941, the boats were assigned to the submarine school flotillas in the Baltic Sea and until shortly before the end of the war they performed their task of recovering fired exercise torpedoes.

Shortly before the end of the war, torpedo boats were also used for escort service. The boats TF 2 , TF 7 and TF 20 were combined with the fleet escorts F 2 , F 4 , F 7 , F 8 and F 10 in April 1945 in the 5th escort flotilla. Until May 1945, the repatriation of troops and civilian population from the east as well as Courland provided escort service in the Baltic Sea.

In addition, other boats were also used in the security service. Sun took over TF 10 together with the old torpedo boat T 196 from the First World War on 9 February 1945, escorts for the passenger steamer Steuben , the injured with 2,800 soldiers, 800 refugees and 667 other people pillau left and on the following day from the Soviet U- Boat S-13 was sunk.

Five of the 24 units sank before the end of the war. After the war, eight boats were used by the German mine clearance service and then - like other boats - went to the Soviet Union and the USA as spoils of war. The whereabouts of these boats is mostly unclear.

List of boats

Identifier Shipyard Launch Commissioning Notes, whereabouts
TF 1 German shipyard, Hamburg .. .. 1941 September 15, 1941 May 7, 1945 US booty, sunk in the Skagerrak May 2, 1946
TF 2 German shipyard, Hamburg .. .. 1941 November 4, 1941 May 1945 German mine clearance service, December 28, 1945 Soviet booty, as TL 7 in service, 1966 deleted
TF 3 German shipyard, Hamburg .. .. 1941 December 20, 1941 May 2, 1945 stranded north of Gaarder See, lifted and sunk near Stolpemünde
TF 4 German shipyard, Hamburg July 27, 1941 March 9, 1942 December 27, 1945 Soviet booty
TF 5 German shipyard, Hamburg .. .. 1941 March 30, 1942 June 20 after hitting 1,942 F 2 dropped
TF 6 German shipyard, Hamburg September 26, 1941 April 20, 1942 Sunk in an ammunition dump explosion on June 18, 1945
TF 7 German shipyard, Hamburg .. .. 1942 May 23, 1942 October 15, 1945 German mine clearance service, then scrapped
TF 8 German shipyard, Hamburg .. .. 1942 June 27, 1942 October 15, 1945 German mine clearance service, then scrapped
TF 9 Nederlandse Scheepsbouw Mij., Amsterdam June 5, 1943 October 26, 1943 September 17, 1945 German mine clearance service, March 16, 1946 Soviet booty, in service as TL 6 , canceled around 1965
TF 10 Nederlandse Scheepsbouw Mij., Amsterdam July 10, 1943 November 27, 1943 May 1945 sunk in tow near Pillau
TF 11 Nederlandse Scheepsbouw Mij., Amsterdam August 2, 1943 January 17, 1944 Sunk on August 13, 1944 in a Soviet air raid near Nidden
TF 12 Nederlandse Scheepsbouw Mij., Amsterdam October 2, 1943 March 22, 1944 Self-sunk in May 1945
TF 13 Rotterdamsche Droogdok Mij., Rotterdam September 18, 1943 January 8, 1944 Self-sunk in May 1945
TF 14 Rotterdamsche Droogdok Mij., Rotterdam November 10, 1943 March 4, 1944 Self-sunk in May 1945
TF 15 Wilton-Fijenoord, Rotterdam .. .. 1943 October 15, 1943 July 1945 German mine clearance service, December 17, 1945 Soviet booty, in service as TL 3 , around June 1965 deleted
TF 16 Wilton-Fijenoord, Rotterdam .. .. 1943 December 15, 1943 Self-sunk in May 1945
TF 17 Wilton-Fijenoord, Rotterdam .. .. 1943 February 24, 1944 July 1945 German mine clearance service, December 17, 1945 Soviet booty, in service as TL 4 , about 1965 canceled
TF 18 Wilton-Fijenoord, Rotterdam .. .. 1944 June 25, 1944 possibly sunk by mine in the Mecklenburg Bay on November 24, 1944, lifted and sunk again on November 30, 1944
TF 19 Rotterdamsche Droogdok Mij., Rotterdam May 27, 1943 October 9, 1943 Self-sunk in May 1945
TF 20 Rotterdamsche Droogdok Mij., Rotterdam July 29, 1943 November 19, 1943 1945 US booty, September 1945 German mine clearance service, November 14, 1947 US Navy, then sent to the Netherlands
TF 21 C. vd Giessen & Zn., Krimpen ad IJssel May 14, 1943 October 21, 1943 June 18, 1945 Explosion of the Flensburg ammunition depot, badly damaged, cannibalized and scrapped
TF 22 C. vd Giessen & Zn., Krimpen ad IJssel July 8, 1943 October 21, 1943 June 18, 1945 Explosion of the Flensburg ammunition depot, badly damaged, cannibalized and scrapped
TF 23 Nederlandsche Dok Mij., Amsterdam July 3, 1943 November 15, 1943 1945 US booty, further fate unclear
TF 24 Nederlandsche Dok Mij., Amsterdam August 14, 1943 February 5, 1944 1945 US booty, September 1945 German mine clearance service, December 12, 1945 Soviet booty

Remarks

  1. ↑ cf. Gröner, Vol. 5, pp. 161f.
  2. ↑ Gröner, Vol. 2, p. 38, Vol. 5, p. 158
  3. ↑ Schulze-Wegener, p. 44
  4. ↑ Gröner, Vol. 5, p. 158
  5. ↑ Gröner, Vol. 5, pp. 158-160
  6. ↑ Schulze-Wegener, p. 175, cf. Gröner, Vol. 2, p. 182
  7. ↑ Ciupa, p. 94, overview of submarine school flotillas: http://uboat.net/flotillas/
  8. ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/km/geleitflottillen.htm#Ostsee
  9. ↑ http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/45-02.htm
  10. ↑ cf. http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/minen/dmrl.htm
  11. ↑ Gröner Vol. 5, p. 158f., TF 7 and TF 8 in addition: Ciupa, p. 94, TF 2 , TF 9 , TF15 and TF17 in addition: Lemachko, Breyer, p. 43

Web links

literature

  • Erich Gröner , Dieter Jung, Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945, Vol. 2: Torpedo boats, destroyers, speed boats, minesweepers, mine clearance boats , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz 1983, ISBN 3-7637-4801-6 .
  • Erich Gröner, Dieter Jung, Martin Maass: The German warships 1815-1945, Vol. 5: Auxiliary ships II: Hospital ships, accommodation ships, training ships, research vehicles , port service vehicles , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz 1988, ISBN 3-7637-4804-0 .
  • Heinz Ciupa, The German Warships 1939–1945 , VPM Verlagsunion Pabel Moewig KG, undated, undated , ISBN 3-8118-1409-5 .
  • Boris V. Lemachko, Siegfried Breyer: German ships under the Red Star. The fate of the ships and boats of the former German navy taken over by the Soviet Union in 1945/46 , Marine-Arsenal special volume 4, Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, Friedberg 1992, ISBN 3-7909-0444-9 (with photo from TF 2).
  • HT Lenton: German Warships of the Second World War , Macdonald and Jane's, London 1976, ISBN 0-356-04661-3 .
  • Guntram Schulze-Wegener : The German Kriegsmarine armament 1942-1945 , Verlag ES Mittler, Hamburg 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0533-9 .