S138-class torpedo boat


The S138 class was a group of sixty-five torpedo boats built for the German Kaiserliche Marine and the Ottoman Navy in the early 1900s. Almost all of the boats served with the German fleet, with only four being sold to the Ottoman Empire in 1910.

Design

General characteristics and machinery

The boats of the S138 class varied in dimensions, and they gradually increased in size as more vessels were built. The boats were long at the waterline and long overall. They had beam of and a draft of forward. The hull for each boat was divided into thirteen watertight compartments, though after, they were reduced to twelve compartments. They had a crew of three officers and seventy-seven enlisted men, though from V150 onward, they had larger crews, with eighty-one enlisted men aboard. When serving as half-flotilla flagships, the boats would have a flotilla leader's staff of four officers and nine enlisted men in addition to the standard crew. The vessels carried a yawl and a dinghy apiece, though later in their careers they carried up to three yawls and the dinghy.
The S138-class boats had a variety of different propulsion systems. The first group of boats, from to, were propelled by a pair of vertical, 3-cylinder triple expansion steam engines that drove a pair of three-bladed screw propellers. Steam was provided by three coal-fired water-tube boilers. The rest of the members of the class received direct steam turbines of various manufacturers, including AEG, Schichau-Werke, Zoelly, Germaniawerft, and Parsons. All of the boats used the same two-shaft arrangement as the other members of the class, with the exception of the boats through, which were equipped with six Parsons turbines driving three shafts. Steam for both the reciprocating and turbine engines was provided by four Scotch marine boilers; the boats from S138 through had four coal-fired models, while the remainder of the class had three such boilers and one oil-fired version.
The reciprocating engine-powered boats were rated at from. The two-shaft turbine boats were rated at and, while the three-shaft vessels were designed to reach and 32 knots, respectively. The boats had storage capacity for of coal and, for those boats with oil-fired boilers, of fuel oil. As a result, cruising radius varied significantly, from at. Each vessel was equipped with two 110-Volt generators for electrical power. Steering was controlled with a pair of rudders, one at the stern and the other in the bow, the latter being retractable.

Armament

The armament for the members of the S138 class changed as more vessels were built. The first eleven vessels, from S138 to were equipped with one SK L/35 gun and three SK L/55 guns in single gun mounts. They carried one hundred 8.8 cm shells and four hundred and fifty 5.2 cm rounds. The boats from V150 to only carried two 8.8 cm SK L/35 guns with two hundred rounds. The remainder of the class carried two 8.8 cm SK L/30 guns, also with two hundred shells. Both versions of the 8.8 cm gun fired a shell weighing ; the shorter-barreled L/30 gun had a muzzle velocity of, while the L/35 version had a velocity of. The L/30 gun could be elevated to 20 degrees, for a maximum range of, while the L/35 gun could be elevated to 25 degrees, for a maximum range of. The 5.2 cm guns fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of. The guns could elevate up to 20 degrees, at a maximum range of.
Throughout their careers, the boats had their armament modified. All of the first eleven vessels had their two of their 5.2 cm guns replaced with a second 8.8 cm SK L/35 gun, with the exception of and had all three of their 5.2 cm guns removed.,,,,,, G172 through,,, through,,, and through had their 8.8 cm guns replaced with newer 8.8 cm SK L/45 guns; these guns fired a shells at a muzzle velocity of. At an elevation of 25 degrees, they could engage targets out to. After World War I, many of the surviving vessels that still carried their older 8.8 cm guns had them replaced with the SK L/45 versions, and T185, T190, and T196 received two SK L/45 guns.
All members of the class carried three torpedo tubes as their primary offensive armament; the first half of the class's tubes were in diameter, and they carried four torpedoes. From onward, they were equipped with tubes with five torpedoes. All of these tubes were in single, deck-mounted launchers. In their postwar refit, T185, T190, and T196 had their original tubes replaced with four 50 cm tubes in double, deck-mounted launchers.

Ships

BoatProgramLaunchedCommissionedFate
190622 September 19067 May 1907Mined and sunk, 7 July 1918
190612 November 19066 July 1907Unknown
190622 December 19063 August 1907
19067 February 19079 September 1907Scrapped, 1933
19066 March 190720 September 1907
19066 April 190712 October 1907Scrapped, 1930
190627 April 19073 December 1907Scrapped, 1929
19068 June 190717 December 1907
190627 June 190720 November 1907Scrapped, 1929
19063 August 190710 April 1908Scrapped, 1921
190611 September 19078 March 1908Scrapped, 1935
190619 October 190727 July 1908Scrapped, 1927
19071 August 190720 November 1907Sunk, 18 May 1915
190714 September 190729 February 1908Scrapped, 1948
190711 October 190710 April 1908Scrapped, 1935
190713 November 19079 May 1908Scrapped, 1949
190719 December 19075 June 1908Scrapped, 1935
190728 January 190825 June 1908Scuttled, 22 April 1945
190729 February 190821 July 1908Scuttled, 3 May 1945
190729 May 190827 August 1908Mined and sunk, 22 October 1943
190723 June 19088 October 1908Scrapped, 1950
190718 July 19082 November 1908Scrapped, 1922
190712 September 190815 December 1908Scrapped, 1922
190721 April 190817 September 1908Scrapped, 1922
19089 May 190928 May 1909Mined and sunk, 15 August 1916
19082 May 190922 July 1909Scrapped, 1921
190827 May 190920 August 1909Scrapped, 1922
SMS S165190820 March 1909Sold to Turkey during construction, commissioned as Muâvenet-i MilliyeScrapped, 1921
SMS S166190824 April 1909Sold to Turkey during construction, commissioned as Yâdigâr-ı MilletSunk, 10 July 1917
SMS S16719083 July 1909Sold to Turkey during construction, commissioned as Nümune-i HamiyetScrapped, 1921
SMS S168190830 September 1909Sold to Turkey during construction, commissioned as Gayret-i VataniyeWrecked, 30 October 1916
1908 replacement ship26 November 191027 April 1911Scrapped, 1922
1908 replacement ship27 December 19107 July 1911Scrapped, 1922
1908 replacement ship15 February 191126 August 1911Scrapped, 1921
1908 replacement ship16 March 19111 September 1911Scrapped, 1927
190829 December 190829 April 1909Scrapped, 1922
19083 March 190914 September 1909Scrapped, 1921
190828 May 19094 January 1910Sunk, 14 September 1912
190810 July 19094 January 1910Mined and sunk, 7 July 1918
190828 July 190924 January 1910Scrapped, 1922
19098 January 19106 July 1910Scrapped, 1922
190924 February 19104 December 1910Scrapped, 1926
190912 April 191023 September 1910Scrapped, 1922
190921 May 191016 February 1911Mined and sunk, 23 December 1915
190914 July 19109 December 1910Scrapped, 1922
190927 August 19108 March 1911Scrapped, 1921
190915 October 19094 January 1910Scrapped, 1921
19096 November 190911 March 1910Scrapped, 1922
19091 December 19094 May 1910Scrapped, 1922
190923 December 190912 May 1910Scrapped, 1922
190926 February 191029 June 1910Scrapped, 1922
19099 April 191020 September 1910Soviet prize, 1945, fate unknown
191028 November 191021 April 1911Scrapped, 1922
191011 January 19114 May 1911Sunk, 26 July 1914
19108 February 191120 May 1911Sunk, 26 July 1915
191014 March 191120 June 1911Wrecked, December 1920
191012 April 19115 August 1911Scuttled, 1946
19102 June 191128 September 1911Mined and sunk, 17 December 1915
19105 November 19108 May 1911Scrapped, 1922
191010 December 191025 June 1911Scrapped, 1922
191012 January 19112 August 1911Sunk, 26 March 1916
19108 April 19118 September 1911Scrapped, 1922
191024 May 19112 October 1911Soviet prize, 1945, scrapped thereafter
191023 June 191110 November 1911Scrapped, 1921

Service history

Several members of the S138 class were lost during World War I in the North and Baltic Seas. was sunk during the Battle of Heligoland Bight on 26 August 1914, one of the first major naval actions of the war. accidentally collided with her sister ship while the pair were cruising in the Jade Bight shortly after midnight on 18 May 1915. V150 sank and 60 of her crew were killed in the accident. On 26 July 1915, was torpedoed and sunk by the British submarine in the North Sea. On 17 December 1915, and the light cruiser ran into a Russian minefield off Windau; both vessels struck mines and sank, with heavy loss of life. Nearly a third of V191s crew were killed, 25 men, along 250 out of Bremens crew of around 300. A week later, a British mine claimed on 23 December, though only seven men were killed in the sinking. While on patrol in the North Sea on 26 March 1916, encountered British naval forces, and the British light cruiser rammed and sank G194, killing 93 of her crew. Sank after striking a Russian mine in the Baltic on 15 August 1916; 15 of her crew were killed. Two boats struck mines and sank in the North Sea on 7 July 1918. T138 was lost shortly after 01:00 and 32 of her crew were killed, and was mined and sunk a little over three hours later, killing 16 of her crew.
In 1917 and 1918, the members of the class were all renamed to replace the builder prefix with a standardized "T" prefix. Following Germany's defeat, many of the members of the S138 class were scrapped, either after having been seized as war prizes by the victorious Allied powers or by Germany to comply with the naval disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles, which permitted Germany to retain only a small fleet that included just twelve destroyers and twelve torpedo boats. The older S138-class boats constituted the bulk of those vessels that Germany was permitted to retain, while the more modern, turbine-powered boats were seized. Britain received the bulk of the class members, taking control of,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and. became a Brazilian war prize in 1920, and Japan received. All of the boats were scrapped in the early 1920s, with the exception of T189, which ran aground off the English coast in December 1920. Among those stricken by the postwar Reichsmarine to comply with the Versailles Treaty were,,,, ; these boats were also scrapped in the early 1920s.
The boats that continued on in service with the German fleet were,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and. These boats served in a variety of roles in the 1920s and 1930s. Several of them were renamed and converted for training duties: T139 became Pfeil, T141 became the radio control ship Blitz, T153 became the range-finding training ship Eduard Jungmann. V151 was converted into a fast tugboat and she received the name Comet. T144, T149, T168, and T175 remained in active service and were scrapped in 1926–1927. Blitz, T143, T148, T152, T154 joined them at the breaker's yards between 1930 and 1935. Others, including T156 and T158, continued to serve with the fleet through the 1930s, while T196 became the flagship for the Minesweeper Command in 1938. In 1932, T185 was renamed Blitz and converted into a radio control ship to replace her sistership in that role. T190 was renamed Claus von Bevern in 1938 and was used in experiments.
By the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, only a handful of the class remained in service. T157 was mined and sunk in Neufahrwasser on 22 October 1943 and T156—which had been renamed Bremse in 1944—and T155 were scuttled in the final days of the war. V185 and V196 were taken as Soviet war prizes and were renamed Vystrel and Pronzitelnyy, respectively; their ultimate fate is unknown. Claus von Bevern was seized by the United States and was scuttled in the Skagerrak in 1946. T151 and T153 also became US prizes; they were scrapped in 1948–1949. T155, Bremse, and T157 were all raised after the war and scrapped as well. T139 was still in service with the 24th U-boat Flotilla as of 1944, but records of her ultimate fate have not survived.

Footnotes

Citations