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German torpedo boatT17

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Sister shipT21at sea, 2 July 1946.
History
Nazi Germany
NameT17
Ordered18 September 1937
BuilderSchichau,Elbing,East Prussia
Yard number1405
Completed28 August 1941
FateTransferred to theSoviet Unionas war reparations, late 1945
Soviet Union
NameT17
Acquired15 January 1946
Renamed
  • Poryvisty,13 February 1946
  • UTS-6,7 September 1949
ReclassifiedTarget control ship, 25 June 1949
Stricken30 December 1959
FateScrappedafter 30 December 1959
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typeType 37 torpedo boat
Displacement
Length85.2 m (279 ft 6 in)o/a
Beam8.87 m (29 ft 1 in)
Draft2.8 m (9 ft 2 in)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed35knots(65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range1,600nmi(3,000 km; 1,800 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Complement119
Armament

TheGerman torpedo boatT17was one of nineType 37 torpedo boatsbuilt for theKriegsmarine(German Navy) duringWorld War II.Completed in mid-1941, the ship arrived in France in December. She helped to escort a pair ofbattleshipsand aheavy cruiserthrough theEnglish Channelback toGermanyin February 1942 in theChannel Dashand then was ordered toNorwayfor escort work. The ship returned to Germany in March for a refit before redeploying back to France.T17began another refit in Germany in early 1943 and was then assigned as atraining shipforU-boatflotillas.

She returned to active duty in August 1944 and supported German forces operating in theBaltic Sea.The boat was then assigned escort duties in theSkaggerakaround the beginning of 1945, which included coveringminelayingmissions. In MayT17helped to evacuate troops and refugees from advancing Soviet forces. The boat was allocated to theSoviet Unionafter the war and was renamedPoryvisty.She was assigned to theBaltic Fleetand was converted into a target control ship in 1949. Stricken from theNavy Lista decade later, she was subsequentlyscrapped.

Design and description

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The Type 37 torpedo boat was a slightly improved version of the precedingType 35with better range.[1]The boats had anoverall lengthof 85.2 meters (279 ft 6 in) and were 82 meters (269 ft 0 in)long at the waterline.[2]The ships had abeamof 8.87 meters (29 ft 1 in), and a meandraftof 2.8 meters (9 ft 2 in) atdeep loadand displaced 888metric tons(874long tons) atstandard loadand 1,139 metric tons (1,121 long tons) at deep load.[3]Their crew numbered 119 officers and sailors.[4]Their pair of gearedsteam turbinesets, each driving one propeller, were designed to produce 31,000shaft horsepower(23,000kW) using steam from four high-pressurewater-tube boilers[2]which would propel the boats at 35knots(65km/h;40mph). They carried enoughfuel oilto give them a range of 1,600nautical miles(3,000 km; 1,800 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).[3]

As built, the Type 37 class mounted a single10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK C/32gun on thestern.Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a single3.7 cm (1.5 in) SK C/30anti-aircraft gunsuperfiringover the 10.5 cm gun and a pair of2 cm (0.8 in) C/30guns on thebridge wings.They carried six above-water 533 mm (21 in)torpedo tubesin two triple mounts and could also carry 30mines(or 60 if the weather was good).[5]

Modifications

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Early-war modifications to the Type 37s were limited to the conversion of theforemastinto atripod mast,installation of a FuM 28[Note 1]radarwith fixed antennas angled 45° to each side. Boats participating in the Channel Dash in February 1942 were ordered to have their aft torpedo tube mount replaced by a quadruple 2 cm gun mount and a 3.7 cm gun added at thebow,but it is not certain if this was actually done. Quadruple mounts began slowly replacing the 3.7 cm gun beginning in May as the ships were refitted and that gun may have been repositioned to the bow. By 1944, another quadruple mount had been fitted on the searchlight platformamidships.In September, installation of a single 3.7 cm gun was ordered in all surviving boats, either theFlak M42or theFlak M43,in lieu of the aft torpedo tubes, but it is also uncertain if this was done. They all received twin 2 cm gun mounts that replaced the single mounts in the bridge wings.[6]T17had two 3.7 cm, a dozen 2 cm guns and all six torpedo tubes at war's end.[2]

Construction and career

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T17was ordered on 18 September 1937 fromSchichau,laid downat theirElbing,East Prussia,shipyard[7]asyard number1405,[2]launchedandcommissionedon 28 August 1941; construction was delayed by shortages of skilled labor and of raw materials. She wasworking upuntil October when she was transferred to the Baltic for convoy escort duties. The boat was transferred to France in early 1942. On the morning of 12 February, the2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla(withT2,T4,T5,T11,T12) and the3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla(withT17and her sistersT13,T15,andT16) rendezvoused with the battleshipsGneisenauandScharnhorstand the heavy cruiserPrinz Eugento escort them through the Channel to Germany in the Channel Dash. The following month,T17,T15,andT16were transferred to Norway where they formed part of the escort of the heavy cruiserAdmiral HippertoTrondheimon 19–21 March. Later that monthT17returned to Germany to begin a refit inKielthat lasted until September. On 1–3 October, the boat conducted exercises in the Baltic withScharnhorst,the light cruisersLeipzigandNürnberg,the destroyersZ25,Z31andZ37,her sistersT16,T20,T21and the torpedo boatsT22,FalkeandKondor.[8]

T17returned to France later that month and then began a refit in March 1943 in Kiel that lasted until July. Two months later, she was assigned to U-boat flotillas in the Baltic as atraining ship.In February 1944, the boat was transferred to the Torpedo School and began a machineryoverhaulat theOderwerkeshipyard inStettinin June.T17was reassigned to active duty in August and escorted the last evacuation convoy fromTallinn,Estonia,to Germany on 23 September withT13,T19andT20.T17was transferred to the Skaggerak for escort duties around the beginning of 1945. On 16 and 17 February, she was assigned to the escort force for two cancelled minelaying operations in theNorth Sea.Together withT19andT20,T17escorted a minelaying mission in the North Sea on 17–18 March. The boat accidentally sank theGerman submarineU-235withdepth chargeson 14 April. On 5 May, she helped to ferry 45,000 refugees fromEast PrussiatoCopenhagen,Denmark,and returned to transport 20,000 more toGlücksburg,Germany, on the 9th.[9]

The boat was allocated to the Soviets when the Allies divided the surviving ships of theKriegsmarineamongst themselves in late 1945, and was included on the Soviet Navy vessel list on 5 November, assigned to theBaltic Fleet.She was handed over to a Soviet crew in Germany on 15 January 1946, who raised the naval jack of the Soviet Navy aboard her two days later. She was renamedPoryvistyon 13 February before joining the North Baltic Fleet two days later. The boat was withdrawn from combat duty on 25 June 1949 and reclassified as a target control ship, before being renamedUTS-6on 7 September. The ship was struck on 30 December 1959 and transferred for scrapping, while her crew was disbanded on 6 February 1960.[10]

Notes

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  1. ^German:Funkmess-Ortung(Radio-direction finder, active ranging)

Citations

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  1. ^Whitley 1991, p. 50
  2. ^abcdGröner, p. 193
  3. ^abWhitley 1991, p. 202
  4. ^Sieche, p. 238
  5. ^Whitley 1991, pp. 50–51; Whitley 2000, p. 72
  6. ^Whitley 2000, pp. 72–73
  7. ^Whitley 1991, p. 211
  8. ^Rohwer, pp. 143, 152, 199; Whitley 1991, pp. 118, 211
  9. ^Rohwer, pp. 359, 394, 401, 409, 414; Whitley 1991, pp. 168, 171, 173, 180, 189, 211
  10. ^Berezhnoy, p. 19

References

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  • Berezhnoy, Sergey (1994).Трофеи и репарации ВМФ СССР[Trophies and Reparations of the Soviet Navy] (in Russian). Yakutsk: Sakhapoligrafizdat.OCLC33334505.
  • Gröner, Erich(1990).German Warships 1815–1945.Vol. 1: Major Surface Warships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN0-87021-790-9.
  • Rohwer, Jürgen(2005).Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two(Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN1-59114-119-2.
  • Sieche, Erwin (1980). "Germany". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.).Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946.London: Conway Maritime Press.ISBN0-85177-146-7.
  • Whitley, M. J.(2000).Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia.London: Cassell & Co.ISBN1-85409-521-8.
  • Whitley, M. J. (1991).German Destroyers of World War Two.Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN1-55750-302-8.
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