German torpedo boat T15

The Type 37 torpedo boat was a slightly improved version of the preceding Type 35 with better range.[1] The boats had an overall length of 85.2 meters (279 ft 6 in) and were 82 meters (269 ft 0 in) long at the waterline.[2] The ships had a beam of 8.87 meters (29 ft 1 in), and a mean draft of 2.8 meters (9 ft 2 in) at deep load and displaced 888 metric tons (874 long tons) at standard load and 1,139 metric tons (1,121 long tons) at deep load.[3] Their crew numbered 119 officers and sailors.[4] The Type 37s were equipped with a pair of geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller, that were designed to produce 31,000 shaft horsepower (23,000 kW) using steam from four high-pressure water-tube boilers[2] which would give them a speed of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 1,600 nautical miles (3,000 km; 1,800 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).[3]

As built, the Type 37 class mounted a single 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK C/32 gun on the stern. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a single 3.7 cm (1.5 in) SK C/30 anti-aircraft gun superfiring over the 10.5 cm gun and a pair of 2 cm (0.8 in) C/30 guns on the bridge wings. They carried six above-water 533 mm (21.0 in) torpedo tubes in two triple mounts and could also carry 30 mines (or 60 if the weather was good).[5]

T15 was ordered on 18 September 1937 from Schichau, laid down at their Elbing, East Prussia, shipyard on 3 January 1939[7] as yard number 1403,[2] launched on 16 September 1939 and commissioned on 26 June 1941; construction was delayed by shortages of skilled labor and of raw materials. Working up until December, she was then transferred to France. On the morning of 12 February 1942, the 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla (with T2, T4, T5, T11, T12) and the 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla (with T15 and her sisters T13, T16, and T17) rendezvoused with the battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen to escort them through the Channel to Germany in the Channel Dash. The following month, T15, T16, and T17 were transferred to Norway where they formed part of the escort of the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper to Trondheim on 19–21 March. T15 helped to escort the heavy cruiser Lützow from Kristiansand to Trondheim on 18–20 May. During the beginning stages of Operation Rösselsprung, T15 and the torpedo boat T7 were among the escorts for the battleship Tirpitz and Admiral Hipper as they sailed from Trondheim to Altafjord in early July.[8]

Returning to Germany in August, T15 was briefly assigned to the Torpedo School as a training ship in October before beginning a refit in October at the Oderwerke shipyard in Stettin that lasted until February 1943. She briefly rejoined the Torpedo School in April before beginning another refit in July–August. Following its completion, the boat was assigned to U-boat flotillas in the Baltic as a training ship. T15 was sunk by American bombers in Kiel on 13 December.[9]

• Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships 1815–1945. Vol. 1: Major Surface Warships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-790-9.
• 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. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
• Sieche, Erwin (1980). "Germany". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
• Whitley, M. J. (2000). Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. London: Cassell & Co. ISBN 1-85409-521-8.
• Whitley, M. J. (1991). German Destroyers of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-302-8.

• Type 37 on German Navy.de