Destroyer type B 97
 The B 97
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The type B 97 destroyers were eight boats that were ordered by the Imperial Navy in 1914 after the outbreak of the First World War . The boats were made on the proposal of the Blohm & Voss shipyard , which proposed a replica of the large Russian destroyers of the Novik type using German supplies for Russian destroyers under construction.
The boats were in service with the deep-sea fleet from 1915 , took part in the Skagerrak Battle and the subsequent naval advances, and in 1918 some of them had to be delivered to Scapa Flow with the deep-sea fleet.
Only the B 97 was used after the end of the war. The boat delivered to Italy was used there as a destroyer and test ship and was not scrapped until 1939.
Building history
The history of the first German destroyer is closely linked to developments in German shipyards for other navies. In 1909, the Imperial Russian Navy requested a larger and heavier armed vehicle with turbine drive and a speed of over 30 knots for its torpedo formations. Corresponding offers were obtained from experienced shipyards abroad. The prototype selected was the design of a 1280 t vehicle that was to have oil firing and turbine drive and was offered by AG Vulcan in Stettin . The entire project including the associated drawings was purchased and AG Vulcan received the order to supply the boiler and turbine system. The necessary funds, which the Committee for Strengthening the Russian Fleet made available through voluntary contributions, ended up being over 2 million rubles. The boat was originally supposed to be built by AG Vulcan, but after violent protests and intensive lobbying work, the Putilow shipyard in St. Petersburg was awarded the contract, which explosively worked closely with the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg and also with Putilow was financially involved.
Based on the Nowik prototype , the Russian Navy ordered over 30 destroyers for the Baltic Fleet and over 15 for the Black Sea Fleet from 1912 onwards from various Russian shipyards based on similar plans . The German shipyards Blohm & Voss, Schichau and AG Vulcan were also involved in the detailed planning and the delivery of components, in particular machinery, and supported the Russian shipyards commissioned.
When the First World War broke out in 1914, Blohm & Voss had two propulsion systems each for destroyers of the Leitenant-Iljin class and two for the Gawriil class ready for delivery to the Putilow shipyard and the Russian-Baltic Works in Reval . Blohm & Voss suggested to the Imperial Navy to install these turbine sets in new destroyers to be built according to the Russian plans they helped to develop and believed that they could deliver such destroyers in six months. The State Secretary in the Reichsmarineamt , von Tirpitz , enforced this proposal and the appointment of four more units.
The new destroyers had a length of 98 m, a width of 9.35 m and a draft of 3.8 m. Under normal operating conditions they displaced 1,374 t (max. 1,843 t) and could run over 36 knots over two shafts with the 40,000 HP turbine system fed by four boilers. They had a pure oil firing, which gave them a range of 2600 nautical miles at 20 kn with the supply of 527 t. The armament consisted of four 8.8 cm L / 45 cannons for torpedo boats, which stood on the foredeck, between the funnels and at the stern on the center line of the boats. There were also six 50 cm torpedo tubes . Two individual rotatable pipes stood next to each other in front of the bridge house and their circles of rotation cut into the forecastle. Behind the three chimneys were two rotatable twin torpedo tube sets on the center line, the two tubes of which were at a fixed angle to each other. In addition, rails for the transport and dropping of up to 24 mines were available on the starboard side .
The new boats were the first three-chimney boats of the imperial torpedo weapon; they were bigger, faster, and more heavily armed than any other torpedo boat. For the first time, they and the Argentina boats G 101-104 built by the Germania shipyard also used the term "destroyer" in addition to the names "Torpedo boat 1914R (ussland) " and "Torpedo boat 1914A (rgentinien) ".
The most modern German "deep sea torpedo boat" V 25 in 1914 displaced only 812 (max. 975) t, was 78.5 m long, had 23,500 hp for 33.5 kn and had a range of 1080 nm at 20 kn. The boats of this type were armed with three 8.8 cm L / 45 cannons, six torpedo tubes and optionally 24 mines.
On December 15, 1914, the first boat of the class, the B 97, was launched, followed by the B 98 on January 2, 1915. On February 13, 1915, the B 97 was the first boat to enter service. B 98 followed in March. For the other two propulsion systems, the Hamburger Vulkanwerft was to build the destroyer hulls, which ultimately differed somewhat from the Blohm & Voss structures. The Vulkan boats V 99 and V 100 were only launched on February 9 and March 8, 1915, and were added to the fleet in April and June.
In June 1915 the first re-ordered boats B 109 and B 110 came into service, which was followed by the second re-order ( B 111 , B 112 ) in August and September. Together with the four somewhat smaller and slower Germania boats G 101-G 104 (1116 / 1734t) ordered by Argentina, the II. Torpedo boat flotilla was equipped with new ship material with them. This flotilla, under the command of Korvettenkapitän Heinrich Schuur and later Oskar Heinecke, was the most powerful unit of the Imperial German torpedo boat associations and was used accordingly.
In terms of their size, combat strength and seaworthiness and endurance, the boats were comparable to the British flotilla leaders of the same age - only that they were combined into an independent flotilla within the Imperial Navy and thus also represented an elite association - which was the case on the British side at that time did not exist.
Mission history
When the use of the boats by the Imperial Navy began in 1915, the first completed Blohm & Voss boats with the Germania buildings were used in the North Sea. The two volcano boats were made available to the commander of the reconnaissance forces of the Baltic Sea, Rear Admiral Hopman , for the advance into the Bay of Riga .
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On August 16, 1915, the attempt to penetrate the Riga Bay began. At dusk, the attempt to create a cleared alley through the mine barriers was postponed. The German command decided to use the destroyers V 99 and V 100 for a torpedo night attack on the Russian battleship Slawa . At 6:30 p.m. the boats entered the Irbenstrasse just below the Courland coast, past the Russian mine barriers, and at around 8 p.m. had a brief battle with two older Russian destroyers of the Okhotnik class , which broke off the battle and withdrew. Both boats continued to search the Slava and pushed it to the line island Runö - Peninsula Fettel on Saaremaa before. The return march took place across the Arensburg Bay from Ösel without discovering the Slava lying there because of the darkness . At around 2 a.m., the German boats south-east of Zerel encountered two Ukraina- class boats that were attacked with torpedoes. The torpedoes undermined the Russian boats.
At around 4:15 a.m., V 99 spotted a Russian destroyer and immediately attacked it. It was the Nowik , the lead ship of the German destroyers. She immediately received support from the three smaller boats Emir Bucharski , Finn and Dobrowolez of the Emir Bucharski class . V 99 received several hits and fires broke out in the forecastle and amidships. The German boat tried to escape through the well-known Russian minefields near the Courland coast and received two mine hits. At 5 o'clock, V 100 intervened and fogged the sister boat, which S 31 , S 34 and V 108 also rushed to help. The alarmed battleship Posen drove away the Russian boats with its heavy artillery. However, all rescue measures were in vain because the boat, which was sinking ever deeper, could not be stopped. At 8 a.m. on August 17, 1915 , V 99 sank at position 57 ° 37 ′ N , 21 ° 52 ′ E before Piss, losing 21 men. V 100 was able to save the rest of the crew including 22 wounded from the sinking sister boat.
The battle had made it clear that the armament of the German boats was inadequate, as the Russian boats consistently had 102 mm guns. Therefore, it was decided on the German side to retrofit all destroyers with 10.5 cm L / 45 guns in a newly developed carriage, which was completed by April 1916.
On August 17, 1915, when the V 99 sank in the Baltic Sea early in the morning , there was also a battle in the North Sea between the destroyers of the Second Torpedo Boat Flotilla, who were marching back from an advance to Horns Reef to the British auxiliary miner Princess Margaret (5,934 GRT) secured by destroyers of the 10th DF and 4th DF who wanted to lay a mine barrier near the Amrumbank . Only the B 98 fired torpedoes, missed the Princess Margaret in the very dark night in calm seas and hit the destroyer Mentor . The Mentor lost her bow but was able to run back to Harwich . The British canceled the operation after their discovery.
On February 10, 1916, during an advance of the II. Torpedo Boat Flotilla to the Dogger Bank, another collision with mine layers occurred , which was not recognized by the German side, as the Sloops of the Flower class were addressed as cruisers. Therefore, only the Arabis was sunk by a torpedo hit by a Germania boat.
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In the naval battle of the Skagerrak on May 31 / June 1, 1916, the eleven existing destroyers took part as II torpedo boat flotilla in the Association of Reconnaissance Forces under the II FdT on the Regensburg . B 109 and B 110 were running with the small cruiser Elbing (started as Russian Admiral Newelskoi ) on the left side of the German battle cruiser squadron when the two destroyers were discovered while the British cruiser Galatea was checking a Danish steamer . Galatea and Phaeton opened fire. The Elbing replied and scored the first hit of the following battle on the Galatea from maximum distance . The destroyers then ran for a long time on the side of the battle cruiser facing away from the battle. When the British 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron intervened, the destroyers also got into the action and shot at the light cruiser Chester and the destroyers Acasta and Shark . Also B 98 was hit, which destroyed the twin rear torpedo sentence, killing two men and injuring eleven more. None of the German destroyers was lost in the battle, which lost contact with the enemy, such as the deep-sea fleet, during the night and marched back to Kiel around Skagen .
In 1916 and 1917 further advances were made into the North Sea without contact with the enemy.
In October 1917, the deep-sea fleet gave up parts of the Baltic Sea in order to occupy the Baltic islands of Saaremaa (Ösel), Hiiumaa (Dagö) and Muhu (Moon) with the army in an amphibious landing operation . The units assigned to the “Special Association of the Baltic Sea” also included the II. Torpedo boat flotilla with the B 98 as a flotilla boat, the IV. Semi-flotilla with the remaining Blohm & Voss boats B 109 (guide boat), B 97, B 110, B 111, B 112 and III. Semi-flotilla with G 101 (guide boat), G 103, G 104 and V 100 . On October 12, 1917, the destroyers deployed the first assault companies at various locations on and around Tagga Bay on the north coast of Oesel to secure the landing of the main troops from the transporter fleet. The destroyers also gave artillery support to the first troops on land.
The Russian naval commander ordered an exploration of the Soelo Sound between Dagö and Ösel by the modern Nowik-class destroyers for the day after the landing and wanted to block the narrow sea strait with a block ship and a mine lock for the Germans. On the morning of October 13th, the Germans recognized the approach of eight Russian destroyers with the mine- layer Pripyat and the steamer Lavija, which had been prepared as a block ship . The Lavija ran onto a reef before reaching the sinking position and the Pripyat crew refused to carry out their mission. Nevertheless, the Russian destroyers attacked the German minesweepers , which were busy measuring the sound, but were forced to retreat by artillery fire from SMS Emden . On October 14, the German leadership decided to extend the attack on the island of Dagö and to accelerate the advance. Since heavy units could not pass the Soelo Sound, the battleship Kaiser and the small cruiser Emden were anchored in the entrance to cover the light units with their superior firepower during a planned advance into Kassar Wiek . Since that morning, four Russian destroyers anchored at the eastern exit of the Soelo Sound out of reach of the Emden . Around noon, the Kaiser reached their planned position and immediately opened fire on the Russian destroyers over 19 km away, which was covered with the second volley. A 12-inch shell penetrated the engine room of the Orfei-class Grom , but did not explode. Nevertheless, the Russian destroyers withdrew. The torpedo boats pushed into the sound under the protection of the large ships. Due to strong currents and unfavorable wind conditions, some boats got aground, but they still managed to clear the sound of mines and bring them into German hands. The destroyer G 103 suffered damage to a propeller shaft when it hit the ground.
In the Kassar Wiek, the German torpedo boats split into four groups and from 1:20 p.m. there was an ongoing battle with the Russian destroyers at a distance of 11,000 m, in which the G 103 was again slightly damaged. On the Russian side, Grom and Sabijaka suffered severe damage and Pobeditel of the Orfei class suffered slight damage, as did the Konstantin . After about 20 minutes, these destroyers were reinforced by the armored gunboats Chrabry and Chiwinez and another seven destroyers who came to the rescue from Moon Sound, in order to withdraw in an orderly manner. The Grom fell behind the other ships and was shot immobilized. The gunboat Chrabry tried to tow her, but the towline broke. In view of the approaching German ships, the gunboat took over the crew of the Grom and withdrew. The Germans boarded the burning destroyer and B 98 tried to tow it away. However, the damage turned out to be too severe and the Grom sank at 3:10 p.m. At 3:35 p.m. the German torpedo boats came under fire again from the battleship Graschdanin, which had meanwhile approached, and the armored cruiser Admiral Makarow, which had arrived from Reval . After ten minutes, however, the fire stopped again and nothing further happened until dark. During the night the shallow Russian mine- layer Pripyat , whose crew had been partially replaced , put a mine block in the Kassar Wiek, unnoticed by the Germans.
On October 15, the Germans secured the eastern exit of the Kassar Wiek with the fourteen boats of the II Flotilla and the XIII. Half-flotilla and gave the army units artillery support near the Moondamm by means of the small, flat-going torpedo boats of the A- class. The German units were shot at by twelve Russian destroyers and a number of other ships. When visibility was very poor, the Germans decided to run back west around noon in order to avoid the fire of the Russian heavy units. The flotilla boat B 98 ran into the Russian mine barrier that had been laid the night before and lost its forecastle. Since a large part of the crew was eating below deck at that time, 14 dead and five were wounded. The boat remained buoyant and was towed to Libau for repairs. The flotilla chief switched to V 100 . Some torpedo boats dodged into the shallow water in the northern part of the Kassar Wiek, where some ran aground and were damaged in the process, including the G 101 , B 110 and B 112 .
In the following two days the situation in Kassar Wiek remained calm and the German destroyers were able to take over new 10.5 cm artillery ammunition on the 17th. The battle taking place in Moon Sound was observed. The FdT, Commodore Paul Heinrich , on V 100 decided to make a nocturnal advance with torpedo boats into the southern Moon Sound. Four boats of the XIII. Semi-flotilla was supposed to carry out this because the destroyers were only partially operational. Shortly after noon on October 18, 1917, the B 111 ran into a mine in the Kassar Wiek and, like the B 98, lost its forecastle. This boat also remained buoyant and could be towed to Libau. The mine hit left five dead and sixteen injured. The B 98 and B 111 received a makeshift wooden bow in Libau and then ran into the shipyard on their own. Only six fully operational destroyers of the Second Flotilla accompanied the return march of the command cruiser Emden on October 23 via Libau and Kiel into the North Sea.
A mission on 11./12. December 1917 then led to a success off the Norwegian coast when the 3rd half flotilla with G 101 , G 103 , G 104 and V 100 put a British escort in front of Bergen and destroyed the escort up to the destroyer Pellew . The destroyer Partridge , four security trawlers and six merchant ships were sunk . The operational Blohm & Voss boats of the 4th Semi-Flotilla had advanced to the British coast at the same time without encountering an enemy. The command cruiser Emden had stayed with another half flotilla at Hornsriff. On December 14th, the Emden returned to Wilhelmshaven with all boats.
Further advances, such as the one on April 13, 1918 with the Graudenz in the Skagerrak up to the heights of Hanstholm , remained without enemy contact.
Final fate
Five boats of the class were interned with the deep sea fleet in Scapa Flow from November 22, 1918 and were sunk there on June 21, 1919, which only failed with V 100 . This boat was given to France in 1921 and canceled in 1921. B 109 , B 110 , B 111 and B 112 were lifted in the winter of 1925/26 and then scrapped.
The B 97 and B 98 served as mail ships to Scapa Flow in 1918/19. B 98 arrived in Scapa Flow shortly after it was submerged. The boat should be relocated the following day. The tow rope broke, the ship ran open and sank in Lopness Bay on the island of Sanday, where remains can still be seen today. B 97 was delivered to Italy and used there as Esploartori Cesare Rossarol until 1939 after it was converted .
| Surname | Launch | Commissioning | Whereabouts |
|---|---|---|---|
| SMS B 97 | December 15, 1914 | February 13, 1915 | Extradited to Italy in May 1920: Cesare Rossarol , deleted in January 1939 |
| SMS B 98 | January 2, 1915 | March 24, 1915 | Delivered to Great Britain in 1920, sunk while attempting to tow in Lopness Bay, Sanday |
| SMS V 99 | February 9, 1915 | April 20, 1915 | Sunk on August 17, 1915 after a battle with Russian destroyers and mines |
| SMS V 100 | March 8, 1915 | June 17, 1915 | Interned in November 1918, unsuccessful self-immersion in 1919, abandoned in France in 1921 |
| SMS B 109 | March 11, 1915 | June 8, 1915 | Interned November 1918, self-sunk June 21, 1919, lifted and scrapped in March 1926 |
| SMS B 110 | March 31, 1915 | June 26, 1915 | Interned November 1918, self-sunk June 21, 1919, lifted and scrapped in December 1925 |
| SMS B 111 | June 8, 1915 | August 10, 1915 | Interned November 1918, self-sunk June 21, 1919, lifted and scrapped in March 1926 |
| SMS B 112 | June 17, 1915 | September 3, 1915 | Interned November 1918, self-sunk June 21, 1919, lifted and scrapped in February 1926 |
The Cesare Rossarol
The B 97 are needed after the events of Scapa Flow to the Royal Navy given that they, together with the 1920 V 116 , later RN Premuda (1800 t / max. 2,555 t, 34.5 kn), and S 63 , later RN Ardimentoso (840 t / max. 1170 t, 34 kn), given to Italy as part of the spoils of war. The destroyer B 97 was converted into an "esploratore" in the arsenal of Pola and renamed Cesare Rossarol . The name of the Italian freedom fighter Cesare Rosaroll-Scorza (1809-1849) took over the boat from the destroyer and flotilla leader RN Cesare Rossarol (1915 Ansaldo , 1028 ts) of the Poerio class of the Italian Navy , who was on the way from Pola shortly after the end of the war to Rijeka was lost by a mine hit. When the first Cesare Rossarol went down , 100 men were killed. In 1924 the converted boat was put into service by the Regia Marina . The displacement was now 1163 (max. 1774) t. and was armed with a 120-mm twin gun on the forecastle and a 120-mm single cannon at the stern as well as two 76-mm L / 40 Ansaldo cannons and two machine guns. By converting the fore ship with the double carriage, the individual torpedo tubes were no longer there. The two 50 cm double torpedo tubes on the aft deck were preserved. Mine capacity has been increased to 29. The Rossarol was assigned to the “Gruppi Esploratori” of the fleet. After the influx of new "Esploratori" of the Navigatori class , the Rossarol was downgraded to a destroyer ( Cacciatorpediniere ) in 1929 [1].
In 1931 the Rossarol was converted into a test ship. One of the boilers was removed, which sank engine power to 30,000 hp and maximum speed was reduced to 32 knots. The two remaining German twin torpedo tube sets were replaced by two Italian 450 mm tube sets. The boat was used by the La Spezia arsenal for experiments from 1932 to 1935. In January 1939, the second Cesare Rosaroll was decommissioned and then scrapped.
literature
- Hans H. Hildebrand, Albert Röhr, Hans-Otto Steinmetz: The German warships: Biographies - a mirror of naval history from 1815 to the present. Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft, Herford.
- Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I. ISBN 1-85170-378-0 .
- Anthony Preston: Destroyers. Bison Books Ltd., 1977, ISBN 0-600-32955-0 .
- Gary Staff: Battle for the Baltic Islands 1917. Triumph of the Imperial German Navy. Pen & Sword Maritime, Barnsley 2008, ISBN 978-1-84415-787-7 .
Web links
- B 97 destroyers on navypedia (accessed February 1, 2015)
- V 99 destroyers on navypedia (accessed February 1, 2015)
- CESARE ROSSAROL flotilla leader (accessed February 2, 2015)
- SMS B 97 | Italian Cesare Rossarol on L. Kosour, ww2@warshipsww2.eu, (accessed on February 2, 2015)
- Entry on Type B 97 destroyer in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland database
Individual evidence
- ↑ 88 mm-L / 45 (January 30, 2015)
- ↑ 10.5 cm-Tbts-L / 45 (Eng., January 30, 2015)
- ↑ 120 mm / 45 models 1918, 1918/19
- ↑ 76.2 mm / 40 Ansaldo 1916, 1917
- ↑ Construction list of the Hamburger Vulcan
- ↑ Hildebrandt: The German warships. Vol. V, p. 52
- ↑ Hildebrandt, Vol. II, p. 61
- ↑ Staff: Battle for the Baltic Islands 1917. Triumph of the Imperial German Navy , p. 51 ff.
- ↑ On the Russian side, with the Nowik and eleven other large destroyers, all completed boats of the Baltic fleet were in use
- ↑ Staff, pp. 55-59.
- ↑ Staff, p. 85 f.
- ↑ Hildebrandt, Vol. II, p. 70
- ↑ Hildebrandt, Vol. II, p. 71
- ↑ Hildebrandt, Vol. III, p. 29
- ↑ a b https://archaeologyorkney.com/2016/06/08/visiting-the-wreck-of-german-destroyer-b98/ (accessed on: October 8, 2018).
- ↑ Premuda Esploratore leggero free to drop. website Marina Militare (it)
- ↑ Ardimentoso (cacciatorpediniere 1925) (Italian WP)
- ↑ Cesare Rossariol Esploratore leggero offz. website Marina Militare (it)