Destroyer type G 101
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The destroyers of the type G 101 were four boats in 1912 by the Argentine Navy in the Germania shipyard in Kiel were ordered. When the First World War broke out, the large destroyers ordered were still on the Helgen and were confiscated by the German Reich for the Imperial Navy . The boats were in service with the deep-sea fleet from 1915 , took part in the Skagerrak Battle , successfully fought a trade war in 1917 and had to be delivered to Scapa Flow in 1918 with the deep-sea fleet.
Building history
The Argentine Navy ordered twelve large destroyers in Europe in 1910. Four orders each went to Great Britain, France and Germany. All boats were about 90 m long and should run 32 knots with turbine propulsion. The propulsion systems were different. The armament should consist of four American-made 102 mm rapid-fire guns and four 533 mm torpedo tubes.
The boats commissioned in Great Britain were all ordered from Cammell Laird in Birkenhead and launched between February and July 1911. The tests revealed significant shortcomings in terms of the required speed and the Argentine government refused to pay the negotiated price and ultimately refused to accept the boats. With the mediation of the British government, the shipyard managed to sell the four boats for £ 148,000 to Greece on September 12, 1912, where they were named after wild animals and were very popular. The boats were modernized in Great Britain in the 1920s. Three survived the Second World War, in which a boat was lost.
After this sale, Argentina ordered four new boats in Germany, all of which were to be built at the Germania shipyard, which had already built two boats from the original order.
The Catamarca and Jujuy built by Germania displaced 995 and 1357 t respectively. They were 88.1 m long, 8.2 m wide and had a draft of 2.6 m. Launched in January and March 1911 and taken over by the Argentine Navy in April 1912, the La Plata and Córdoba, built at Schichau, were transferred to Buenos Aires on July 5, 1912. The four German boats remained the only destroyers in the Argentine fleet from the pre-war orders it had awarded.
The replacement buildings for the boats originally ordered in Great Britain should be a little larger. The new boats were ordered from Germaniawerft in April 1913, were 95.3 m long, 9.5 m wide and had a draft of 3.8 m with a displacement of 1,116 t (maximum 1,734 t). With turbines made by the shipyard and pure oil firing, the boats should develop up to 28,000 hp and reach a top speed of 33.5 knots. In addition, they should get two marching engines of 900 hp each. Four 102 mm guns from Bethlehem Steel were again provided as armament . The torpedo armament was to be reinforced and, in addition to the two twin torpedo tubes on the stern, two individual tubes were to be installed further forward. A facility for 24 sea mines has also been prepared on the boats. When the First World War broke out, none of the new boats had yet been launched. They were confiscated by the German Reich on August 6, 1914 and completed and taken over as a large torpedo boat with the identifications G 101-G 104 , dispensing with the engine system, but were also officially designated as destroyers in some cases. They were launched between August 12 and November 28, 1914 and were in service with the Imperial Fleet between March 4 and June 5, 1915.
Mission history
When the former Argentine destroyers came to the fleet, they were assigned to the II torpedo boat flotilla. In addition to the Germania ships, six destroyers (V 99/100) manufactured by Blohm & Voss ( B 97/98 ; B 109-B 112 ) and two destroyers (V 99/100) manufactured by AG Vulkan in Hamburg were added to this flotilla. The first four ships were built using the propulsion systems that Blohm & Voss manufactured for Russian newbuildings, based on the model of Russian destroyers that Blohm & Voss had planned. The first operational destroyer was the B 97 , completed in February 1915 , which was followed by the rest of the boats by September. However, the V 99 was lost in the Baltic Sea on August 17, 1915. The sinking of the V 99 after being hit by mines was preceded by a skirmish with the Novik and older Russian destroyers (all with 102 mm main guns), which showed the inferiority of the artillery of the German boats. Therefore, the boats of the II. T-Flotilla - as the most powerful torpedo boat association of the Imperial Navy - were converted to 10.5 cm cannons by April 1916.
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On February 10, 1916, during an advance of the II. Torpedo Boat Flotilla with the Pillau and other torpedo boats to the Dogger Bank , a collision with British ships occurred , which, however, was not correctly assessed by the German side, as four Sloops of the Flower class were addressed as cruisers . Three of the Germania boats fired 19 torpedoes at the supposedly stronger enemy, but only the Arabis received a torpedo hit and sank with 56 men from its 79-man crew.
In the naval battle on the Skagerrak on May 31 / June 1, 1916, the eleven existing destroyers took part as the II. Torpedo boat flotilla in the Association of Reconnaissance Forces under the II. Fuehrer of the Torpedo Boats (FdT) on the Regensburg . B 109 and B 110 were discovered during the inspection of the Danish steamer UB Fjord by the British cruiser Galathea . The subsequent reports to the associated security cruisers ultimately involved the opposing fleets in the battle that followed. None of the boats were lost in the battle. However, they lost contact with the fleet in the course of the battle and returned to Kiel with other torpedo boats around Skagen.
Further forays into the North Sea were made in 1916 and 1917 without any contact with the enemy.
In October 1917, the deep sea fleet released parts of the Baltic Sea in order to occupy the Baltic islands of Saaremaa (Ösel), Hiiumaa (Dagö) and Muhu (Moon) with the army in the amphibious landing operation Operation Albion . The units delegated to the "Sonderverband Ostsee" also included the II. Torpedo Boat Flotilla with B 98 as a flotilla boat, the 4th T-Half-Flotilla with the remaining Blohm & Voss-Boats and the 3rd T-Half-Flotilla with G 101 (driver's 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.
On October 14th, German torpedo boats and destroyers broke into the Kassar Wiek through the Soelo Sound , which is impassable for heavy units . 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. After they had left the protection of the heavy units in front of the sound, there was an ongoing battle with the Russian destroyers at a distance of 11,000 m, in which G 103 was again slightly damaged and released from the formation to repair the damage. On the Russian side, Grom and Sabijaka suffered severe damage and Pobeditel of the Orfei class suffered slight damage, as did the Konstantin . On October 15, the boats of the 2nd Flotilla and the 13th Semi-Flotilla led an artillery battle with the superior Russian units at the eastern exit of the Kassar Wiek. When visibility was very poor, the Germans withdrew to the west around noon and dodged into the shallow water in the northern part of the Kassar Wiek, where some ran aground and sustained damage, including G 101 .
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 Half Flotilla had pushed forward to the British coast at the same time and were able to sink two steamers and two trawlers off the mouth of the Tyne. The command cruiser Emden remained behind with the 11th T-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
All four Argentina boats were interned with the deep sea fleet in Scapa Flow on November 22, 1918 and were sunk there on June 21, 1919, which only failed with G 102 . This boat was awarded to the US Navy as booty in 1920 and the G 102 was sunk on July 13, 1921 as a target ship for bombing at Cape Henry . The other three boats were lifted in the winter of 1925/26 and then scrapped
| Surname | then | Launch | in service | Final fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santiago | G 101 | 08/12/1914 | 4.03.1915 | Interned November 1918, self-scuttled June 21, 1919 |
| San Luis | G 102 | 09/16/1914 | April 8, 1915 | Interned November 1918, prevented from sinking, |
| Santa Fe | G 103 | 11/14/1914 | May 15, 1915 | Interned November 1918, self-scuttled June 21, 1919 |
| Tucuman | G 104 | 11/28/1914 | June 5, 1915 | Interned November 1918, self-scuttled June 21, 1919 |
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 .
- Erich Gröner: The German warships 1815-1945. Volume 2: Torpedo Boats, Destroyers, Speed Boats. Bernard & Graefe, 1983, ISBN 3-7637-4801-6 .
Web links
- The sinking of HMS Partridge , December 12th, 1917
- Greek Aetos class
- The torpedo cruisers “Catamarca” and “Jujuy” of the Argentine Navy
- G 101 destroyers on navypedia (accessed February 1, 2015)
- TYPE 1914A (G 101) on L. Kosour, ww2@warshipsww2.eu, (accessed December 30, 2015)
Individual evidence
- ↑ 88 mm L / 45 (January 30, 2015)
- ↑ 10.5 cm Tbts L / 45 (English, January 30, 2015)
- ↑ Aetos class destroyer
- ^ Preston: Destroyers. P. 42.
- ↑ 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. 51ff.
- ↑ Staff, pp. 85f.
- ↑ Hildebrandt, Vol. II, p. 70
- ↑ Hildebrandt, Vol. II, p. 71.
- ↑ Hildebrandt, Vol. III, p. 29.