T 11 The foolish 1935 Torpedobbot design
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The January UPS packet from Warlord is still in the claws of UPS, it left customs on Monday and is “in transit”. So ordering something from Cruel Seas range is no sane option.
But I was in the mood for another ship and so: Scratch again. I had a Warlord 10,5 cm German gun left and so a single gun vessel was chosen.
Amtsentwurf 1935 and 1937 produced two batches of Torpedoboote T 1 – T 21 that went into service between December 39 and summer 1942.
The idea behind the design was strange, a large Schnellboot. Better in bad weather and with longer range that seemed to be a good idea to some Torpedo fans among Kriegsmarine brass.
600 ts vessels did not count to the treaties so one wanted such. Unfortunately the result was 839 ts large. Well, nobody spoke about that and the other countries did not mind. Because the net result was a bad joke.
The 1940 finished boats had two triple torpedo sets. OK. And could reach 35 kts. If nothing in the delicate engine broke. (From T 11 on it became better, I decided to do T 11)
But the other armament was a bad joke, a single 10,5 cm aft, there a single 2 cm AA and two more in the bridge wings. The idea was that the boot would run following torpedo discharge and cover the run with the 10,5 cm gun.
In 1940 the F.d.T. (Führer der Torpedoboote) wrote a memo that they must be rated operative as big S-Boote. Oh wonder, seems nobody told him before what the design was for.
The boats had been lousy escorts but could carry 30 mines. So in 1940 they had a role.
T 11 did a bit of minelaying and in autumn 1 it was part of Westwind squadron, attacking the West of Ösel island with T 2, 5 and 8.
Later it became part of Baltenflotte, Tirpitz, Scheer, Nürnberg and Köln with DD Z 25,26 and 27 and T 2,5,7,8,and 11. And some S-Boote. .
The situation in the Channel became worse and so T2, 4, 5, 11 and 12 got sent to Le Havre as 2. T Flottille.
The weak AA caused some head shaking and a hard decision was found. Remove of aft TT and adding of a lot of AA. The RN did the same on some old destroyers but that nail new boats needed such a change was …
I did T 11 in late war configuration with Funkmessgerät / Radar. Thee boot kept the 10,5 cm and got a 4 cm Bofors at bow, double 2 cm in bridge wings and mid position, a quadruple 2 cm and two 3,7 cm aft.
The biggest job was Operation Cerberus in February 42, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen fleeing from Brest out of RAF range. Among the many escorts had been the boats from 2. T-Bt Fl from Le Havre.
In May the boat was among the escorts of Prinz Eugen from Trondheim to Kiel for repairs.
Now most 1935 boats stayed in Ostsee as school boats for torpedoes. So the aft set was fitted again in some. In 45 T 11 made some escort trips and in May 45 it was stricken at war’s end. It went to France and became Bir Hakeim, stricken in 1951 and brought up.
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The idea behind the big S-Boot was foolish from start. A 1935 Torpedoboot costed as much as 4 S-Boote and needed the crew of 5. It had 6 Torpedoes and no reloads, the 4 S-Boote of same price had 8 tubes and 8 more torpedoes that could be reloaded for action before leaving the operational area. The four could carry instead of spare torpedoes 32 mines.
And not all eggs I one basket.
The new type Flotten – Torpedoboote from T 22 on are very different calibers. Strongly armed they would have been Destroyers in RN. 1 – 2 kts slower than the 1935 they had a lot of firepower and served well.
In the game the late T 11 has a good chance with a lot of AA and high speed of 35 kts. But like in real world a group of S-Boote might do more.
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