Flottentorpedoboot 39
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Following the Torpedoboot 1935 and 1937 classes Kriegsmarine changed the tactical design to a Flottentorpedoboot. No longer a Super S-Boot for hit and run but a larger vessel that could operate with the fleet and serve in attack and escort.
Speed was just 31 knots, not 33 as designed. Even at that the range was just 765 sea miles, at economic speed of 19 knots 2400. The reason was the use of the same engine the older type had on a vessel 65% bigger.
All had Funkmessgeräte / Radar and the AA was strong from the start. 4x 10,cm, 4x 3,7 cm barrels and 7x 2cm ones. Most got a 3,7 cm bow chaser in addition. 4 DC thrower and six 53,3 cm torpedo tubes. Mine capacity was 50 mines.
The first came to the front 1942, T 22. The type was built until end of war, the last getting ready was T 36. In Biscaya and Channel they became the main type, often encountered by the British MTB and other small attack craft. Often successfully fighting Destroyers and Cruisers, the cruiser HMS Charybdis being sunk by torpedoes.
In Biscaya they did long range escort work for U-Boote, like all German vessels up to cruiser size they had a limited minesweeping capacity. Being faster than Minensucher they could do that much deeper into the sea before the RN reacted. Escort for Blockade runners was a hard job that often failed, the merchant vessel returning-
Another main role was minelaying in Channel and Ostsee.
Normally the Flottentorpedoboote had to deal with much superior RN forces and a strong air force, so most in the West got lost. Post D-Day T 28 was the last doing service there.
Even today many British feel XXX that Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen had been able to go through the Channel. But that was at a time of strong Luftwaffe and hard hit RN. Fortunately few know about the much bigger humiliation by T 28. It went with 3 S-Boote through the gigantic fleet assembled there since D-Day and arrived safely in the East.
It was a lucky boat, one of the few surviving Flottentorpedoboote. Post 45 it served with French navy. Named Le Lorrain. Scrapped 1959.
T 23 became L’Alsacien and T 35 became US, used as spare parts for the French. And T 33 became the Soviet Primernyj, fate ?
The darkest day for the type was 18th August 1944, three ( T 22, T 30, T 32 )running onto a German Minefield in Ostsee at Narva Bay, all sinking. Bad navigation.
Hi,
I’m always fascinated by your Cruel Seas posts and very impressed by the extra detailing work you do to even the smallest vessels.
Could I ask you a general question, please? Starting with S-Boats, and working through R-Boats etc up to destroyers, could you just outline (a) what were the prime functions of each class of German vessel, (b) how many crew they usually had, and (c) what armament they typically carried? If you would prefer, we could transfer this question to a new thread, as I suspect I am not the only person on here who is slightly overwhelmed by the KM (I do read a little German, but it has mostly been honed researching AWI German Auxiliaries (not mercenaries!), and Napoleonic Bavarians and Brunswickers, and hence is not “modern”.
Thank you.
(And I agree with you wholeheartedly – it is a great shame that Warlord appears to have stopped making new models for this genre!!!)
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