German torpedo boat Möwe
Möwe was the lead ship of her class of six torpedo boats built for the German Navy (initially called the Reichsmarine and then renamed as the Kriegsmarine in 1935). The boat made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. During the Norwegian Campaign of 1940, she played a minor in the attack on Oslo, the capital of Norway. Möwe was torpedoed and badly damaged by a British submarine in May and did not return to active service until 1942 when she was transferred to France. The boat helped to escort blockade runners, commerce raiders and submarines through the Bay of Biscay. She also laid numerous minefields and attacked Allied ships during the Invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Möwe was sunk by British bombers that same month. Design and armament Derived from the World War I-era large torpedo boat , the Type 23 torpedo boat was slightly larger, but had a similar armament and speed. The first ship to be built, Möwe was slightly smaller than her sister ships and had an overall length of and was long at the waterline because she had a round, cruiser-style, stern rather than the transom stern of her