German torpedo boat T24

The German torpedo boat "T24" was one of fifteen Type 39 torpedo boats built for the "Kriegsmarine" (German Navy) during World War II. Completed in 1942, the boat was briefly assigned to Norway in early 1943 before she was transferred to France in July. "T24" was unsuccessfully attacked by Allied motor torpedo boats and aircraft during her voyage down the English Channel and then came to the aid of a convoy being attacked by Allied destroyers. Later that year she escorted blockade runners and Axis submarines through the Bay of Biscay. The boat played a minor role in the Battle of the Bay of Biscay and was lightly damaged during the action of 26 April 1944. During the subsequent battle, "T24" sank a Canadian destroyer and was damaged when she later struck a mine. She played a minor role in the Battle of Ushant in June and was then damaged defending a convoy in August in the Bay of Biscay. "T24" was sunk off the French coast later that month by Allied fighter-bombers.
Design and description.
The Type 39 torpedo boat was conceived as a general-purpose design, much larger than preceding German torpedo boats. The boats had an overall length of and were long at the waterline. They had a beam of , a draft of at deep load and displaced at standard load and at deep load. Their crew numbered 206 officers and sailors. The Type 39s were fitted with a pair of geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller, using steam from four high-pressure water-tube boilers. The turbines were designed to produce which was intended give the ships a maximum speed of . They carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at .
As built, the Type 39 ships mounted four SK C/32 guns in single mounts protected by gun shields; one forward of the superstructure, one between the funnels, and two aft, one superfiring over the other. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by four SK C/30 AA guns in two twin-gun mounts on platforms abaft the rear funnel, six C/38 guns in one quadruple mount on the aft superstructure and a pair of single mounts on the bridge wings. They carried six above-water torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidships and could also carry 30 mines; the full complement of 60 mines made the ships top-heavy which could be dangerous in bad weather. For anti-submarine work the boats were fitted with a "S-Gerät" sonar and four depth charge launchers. The Type 39s were equipped with a FuMO 21 radar. In January–February 1944 the single 2 cm mounts in the bridge wings were replaced by quadruple mounts and FuMB7 "Naxos" and FuMB8 "Wanz G" radar detectors were installed.
Construction and career.
Originally ordered as a Type 37 torpedo boat on 30 March 1939, "T24" was reordered on 10 November 1939 from Schichau. The boat was laid down on 21 September 1940 at their Elbing, East Prussia, shipyard as yard number 1483, launched on 13 September 1941 and commissioned on 17 October 1942.
After working up until March 1943, she was briefly deployed to Norway for escort duties before returning to Germany for a brief refit at Kiel. On 3 July "T24" and her sister departed for Western France, via the English Channel. On the morning of 5 July, the sisters were unsuccessfully attacked by three Dutch-manned motor torpedo boats and shelled by British coastal artillery. After reaching Boulogne harbor, they were attacked by Hawker Typhoon fighters on 6 July which were equally unsuccessful. The boats sailed shortly after midnight on 7 July, bound for Le Havre where they arrived without being attacked. On the night of 9/10 July, on passage between Saint-Malo and Brest, they were tasked to provide distant cover for a convoy that was escorted by five minesweepers off Ushant. The convoy was attacked by the British destroyers , and the Norwegian-manned which sank one of the minesweepers and damaged another before "T24" and "T25" could arrive. The sisters heavily damaged "Melbreak" before the Allied ships disengaged. Now assigned to the 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, the torpedo boats were tasked to help escort U-boats through the Bay. On 2 August "T24", "T25" and their sister , responding to a distress call from another submarine, rescued survivors from the submarine . From 29 to 31 August, the same three boats escorted the through the Bay to Lorient.
Battle of the Bay of Biscay.
On 24–26 December "T24" was one of the escorts for the blockade runner through the Bay of Biscay. Another blockade runner, the refrigerated cargo ship , trailed "Osorno" by several days and four destroyers of the 8th Destroyer Flotilla and the six torpedo boats of the 4th Flotilla set sail on 27 December to escort her through the bay. The Allies were aware of these blockade runners through their Ultra code-breaking efforts and positioned cruisers and aircraft in the Western Atlantic to intercept them in Operation Stonewall. A Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber from No. 311 Squadron RAF sank "Alsterufer" later that afternoon.
The German ships were unaware of the sinking until the following afternoon and continued onward to the rendezvous point. They had been spotted by an American Liberator bomber on the morning of the 28th and the British light cruisers and , which were assigned to Stonewall, maneuvered to intercept them. By this time, the weather had gotten significantly worse and the German ships were steaming for home, hampered by the rough seas that threw spray over their forward guns which made them difficult to operate. In addition the spray severely reduced visibility and hampered the rangefinders and sights for the guns and torpedoes. Using her radar, "Glasgow" was the first to open fire at 13:46 at a range of with "Enterprise" following a few minutes later. About that time, the destroyers began firing back with guns and torpedoes; the latter all missed and one hit was made on "Glasgow" at 14:05. "Kapitän zur See" Hans Erdmenger, commander of the 8th Flotilla, decided to split his forces and ordered the destroyers , , and "T22", "T25" and "T26" to reverse course to the north at 14:18. The cruisers pursued the northern group and sank "Z27", "T25" and "T26". All of the ships in the southern group, including "T24", were able to successfully disengage.
Subsequent activities.
On the night of 21/22 April 1944, the 4th Flotilla, now consisting of "T24" and her sisters and , transferred from Cherbourg to Saint-Malo. After laying a minefield off the Sept-Îles on the north coast of Brittany on the night of 25/26 April, the flotilla was engaged by an Allied force that consisted of the light cruiser and the destroyers , , and off the Île de Batz. The Allied ships were engaged by German coastal artillery without effect and "Korvettenkapitän" Franz Kohlauf, the flotilla's commander, headed west in search of the Allied ships, but the Germans were spotted first by "Black Prince"s radar at a range of at 02:07. They detected the Allied ships shortly afterwards and reversed course. The Allied ships were faster than the torpedo boats and had closed the range to by 02:20 when "Black Prince" began firing star shells. The destroyers began firing at "T24" and "T27" at a range of as "Black Prince" hung back in support until one of her forward turrets jammed. The Allied fire was accurate and one shell struck "T27" at 02:31 and reduced her speed to ; Kohlauf ordered her into Morlaix Bay and the Allies lost her radar reflection amongst the rocks of the bay. "T24" had fruitlessly fired her aft torpedo tubes at her pursuers and was then hit by two shells in her superstructure that started fires that were quickly doused. She fired her remaining torpedoes to no effect at 02:54 and, about that same time, a shell disabled "T29"s rudder. "Ashanti" and "Huron" concentrated on "T29" while "Haida" and "Athabaskan" continued their pursuit of "T24". They disengaged before "T24" reached Saint-Malo, and returned to help sink "T29".
After emergency repairs, "T27" joined "T24" in Saint-Malo during the night of 26/27 April. The sisters departed Saint-Malo bound for Brest on the night of 28/29 April and were spotted by British coastal radar. They were intercepted by "Haida" and "Athabaskan" off Île Vierge. "Haida" opened the engagement by firing a star shell at 04:12; the Germans laid a smoke screen in response and turned away. The sisters fired all of their torpedoes as they turned, "T24" firing three off the wrong side of the boat, but one of the others hit "Athabaskan". Shortly afterwards, she blew up, probably from a magazine explosion, and sank at 04:42. "Haida" pursued "T27", badly damaging her. While maneuvering, "T27" accidentally ran aground and the Canadian destroyer continued to engage until she started a large fire and then returned to the site where "Athabaskan" had sunk to rescue survivors. "T24" and a pair of minesweepers failed in their attempt to pull "T27" off and then "T24" rescued 47 survivors from "Athabaskan" on the way to Brest. She struck a mine en route, but was only damaged. The 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla was then disbanded and the boat was assigned to the 8th Destroyer Flotilla. After repairs, "T24" was ordered to Cherbourg on 19 May, but struck another mine and was under repair for the next several weeks.
On the night of 8/9 June, the four ships of the 8th Flotilla set out from Brest for Cherbourg, but were intercepted by eight Allied destroyers of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla in the Battle of Ushant. The German ships had been spotted first and the British opened fire, with the Germans responding with a four-torpedo salvo from each destroyer that missed when the Allied ships turned to evade them; "T24", the trailing ship in the formation, did not fire because she had no visible targets. The British fire was extremely effective, with , immediately ahead of the torpedo boat, badly damaged only moments after firing her first salvo. The range was so close that both sides engaged with their or 3.7 cm anti-aircraft guns which appreciably added to the damaged suffered by "Z24". The Allied ships hit the German destroyer five times before she was able to lay smoke and disengage, followed by "T24". "Haida" and "Huron" pursued the pair until they passed over a British minefield and lost track of the German ships after the Canadian ships were forced to detour around it. After "Haida" and "Huron" broke off their pursuit, "Z24" and "T24" reversed course after hearing from the flotilla commander until they could see star shells bursting on the horizon and then "Z24"s captain received permission to return to Brest.
On the night of 14/15 August, "T24", two minesweepers and "Sperrbrecher 157" were escorting the aircraft repair ship "Richthofen" when they were attacked by the light cruiser and the destroyers and off Les Sables d'Olonne. The torpedo boat laid a smoke screen and near missed "Iroquois" with her torpedoes. She was hit once by "Iroquois", but the Allied ships sank "Sperrbrecher 157", set "Richthofen" on fire, badly damaged one minesweeper and forced the other one to beach herself. "Iroquois" was lightly damaged during the attack. Off Le Verdon-sur-Mer on 24 August, "T24" and "Z24" were attacked by rocket-firing Bristol Beaufighter fighter-bombers from No. 236 Squadron RAF and No. 404 Squadron RCAF. They sank "T24" with the loss of 18 dead at and so severely damaged "Z24" that she foundered the following day. The squadrons lost 17 aircraft to all causes during the attack.