S-100 Schnellboot Late war
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Yesterday I bought at my local shop the Cruel Sea range Schnellboot box. In the evening I built the first “Kalottenboot” with some IO add on stuff.
I decided for a late war one with the typical post 43 armament of 1 x 40mm, a twin 2 cm and a single 2cm.
I added the mine rails at back, some antennas, the gun Abweiser” rails that prevented the guns from hitting the boat, some surface detail and naturally the “garden fence”.A bit lunatic. 😉
The color is typical Kriegsmarine sides grey and top surfaces darker grey.
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Original 1940/ 41 gun armament was a 40 mm Bofors aft and one 2 cm each in bow and mid positions.Autumn 1943 three armament versions became regulation. All had the single 20 mm AA in the bow “Brunnen” compartment and a twin 20mm in mid. The rear gun was the difference, most had a 40mm Flak 28 ( = Bofors). Some had a 2 cm Vierling. A few had a 3,7 cm LM 42 AA instead.
A newly designed 3 cm was intended to replace all guns but no boat got it.
The S-Boot had two 53,3 cm Torpedo launchers and could carry two torpedoes for reload. Under ideal conditions they could be loaded in 3 minutes. In winter the reloads got had to be left at home because of ice.
Early war standard was the G7a with a range between 5000 and 12.00 meter, depending on speed set. 44 kn or 30 kn. It left a trace of bubbles in water.
Until 42 the Zündpistole / contact fuse made problems.June 44 boats in Normandie used T3d “Dackel” electrical torpedoes. They had a range of 30 nautical miles and followed a preset search course. They had been intended for use against harbors with a speed of just 7 Kn.
Another mid 44 introduction was the T5a “Zaunkönig” electrical Torpedo with acoustic homing device. Range over 4000 meter at 22 Kn.
At the back two launching rails could be carried for mines or up to 8 depth charges.
Mine types used are: Einheitsmine Typ C (EMC), Torpedomine Typ A (TMA), Torpedomine Typ B (TMB), Luftmine Typ A (LMA) and Luftmine Typ B (LMB), U-Bootabwehrmine Typ A (UMA), U-Bootabwehrmine Typ B (UMB).Instead a larger number of Sprengboje Typ D (SprBD) or Reißboje (RB) could be carried. These are smaller explosives that destroyed the gear of minesweepers.
Between the rails and the gun two 120 Liter Nebelkannen (smoke dischargers) had been situated (In the model small studs)Schnellboote often operated under control of land based Funkmessgeräte / Radar. Active radar was not introduced on S-Boote until 1943. The FuMO 71 (Funkmeßortung) “Lichtenstein B/C” had a range of 2 – 6 km. FuMo 72 had a matress antenna at a turning mast that was often hit and got the nickname “Granatenempfänger” (Grenade receiver) for that reason.
March 1944 FuMo 62 Hohentwiel S was tested. The 1,2 x 1,2 meter antenna caused problems but the range was 10 Km.
Many types of FuMB got used. Passive they gave warning from enemy radar and later had been able to range it. My model has the mast for them behind the bridge.The kit is a nice representation of a S-100 type. With wargaming style model sturdiness. So the 2 cm are far too big, I cut a lot away from the bow one’s mount but still….
The shields of the 2cm and 40 mm are too large and so I did some cutting. The twin 2cm one had been asymmetric.
The omission of the mine rails is a ???.The Kriegsmarine flags in the kit show the Iron Cross in centre, not the swastika. May be for legal reasons?
I do not know why the data sheets and the box cover state 37 mm guns instead of the common 40mm. Tactical that will make no difference in game.
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Thank you . Well, it’s a bit lunatic to do them that way.
My second S-100 Panzerkalottenboot is the version with 1x 2cm at bow, twin 2 cm in mid and 2cm Flakvierling aft.
I decided to do it with mine armament so added the rails and 6 mines. (Small balls from Miliput on square mine anchors).
Mining boats did not carry the spare Torpedoes for weight reasons.A problem with the kit is that the designer included no twin 2 cm. One can use the lower part of the quadruple with minimal conversion (like I did on first boat) but if you use that in aft position you have a problem. So I scratched a twin 2cm for the second boat.
The game designers did it correct, the data Card has the twin 2cm.
The Schnellboot mine warfare was a standard tactic. It was possible to put the mine more accurate into position than by plane. In the first years with little radar it was done with small risk.
In the 1941/42 mine offensive against Malta the 3rd S-Boot Flotilla laid 557 mines. 133 TMA, 8 LMF, 4 UMA, 196 FMC and 216 UMB. In addition 416 Sperrschutzmittel (Anti mine sweeping explosives) got laid.
Malta was only saved from starvation by the “help” of bad design (and perhaps making) of the TMA anti ship mine. Up to 50% laid before La Valetta exploded minutes after laying. They had a safety device that self destroyed them if the mine anchor was not working correctly. The crews saw with horror that the mines laid with high risk at the harbor entry went “Boom”.
So after some missions they changed to the small Anti submarine mine UMB and River mine FMC. These worked but most ships running on them survived. In the June 42 convoy all ships entering La Valetta got hit but the small mines sank only a Polish Destroyer.
The Flotilla lost 2 S-Boote in these 24 mining raids. S-31 sank on a mine 10.5.42 and S-34 was sunk by coastal artillery. Strangely the RN did not notice the mining done by S-Boote, thinking it be done by planes or submarines. The raids had been teamed with air raids on Malta to disguise the noise from the boats.
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Thank you.
Now the third and last S-100 from the Flotilla box is finished. Another version, the one with 3,7 cm aft.
Many S-Boote had canvas on the railing to protect the crew a bit from spray water. On boats with camo painting the canvas was painted in same style.
So I added a canvass made from metal foil. I did small modification on the 3,7 cm that looks as casted more like a Bofors.
I did this one without rails aft to represent one on a fast late war torpedo run, saving weight. And with less risk of explosion if hit.
It got my usual antennas and other small details. All three models lack the rescue rafts carried by all late war boats. May be I will add them later.
The best weapon of the S-Boot was darkness. They rarely operated in daylight and avoided nights with bright moonlight. 44/45 radar destroyed the night advantage. Now allied destroyers could “see” the S-Boot before it could see them. Short summer nights added to that so the chance to attack the D-Day fleet successful was small. But against the odds 4th and 9th flotillas attacked and sank LST 314 and 376, LCI 105 and LCT 875. In the following days they sank and damaged more vessels. But the losses had been high.
For the S-Boote the war went on.As late as 6//7th April 45 six boats laid mines at the Humber, on way home they met RN units. Two MTB and 2 S-Boote collided, all four sank. Next night two S-Boote collided and had to be sunk in mid of a fight with MGB.
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And a close up of all three.
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