German torpedo boat T27

On 22 October, the 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, now consisting of T27, T26, and their sisters T22, T23 and T25, sortied from Brest to provide cover for the unladen blockade runner Münsterland and her close escort from the 2nd Minesweeping Flotilla as they sailed up the Channel. The British were aware of Münsterland and attempted to intercept her on the night of the 23rd with a scratch force that consisted of the light cruiser Charybdis and the destroyers Grenville, Rocket, Limbourne, Wensleydale, Talybont and Stevenstone. T22's hydrophones detected the British ships off the Sept-Îles at 00:25 and Korvettenkapitän (Lieutenant commander) Franz Kohlauf maneuvered his flotilla to intercept them before they could reach Münsterland. Limbourne overheard the radio transmissions about 01:20 as the German ships turned, and alerted the other British ships. At 01:36 Charybdis's radar detected the German torpedo boats at a range of 8,100 yards (7,400 m) and she fired star shells in an unsuccessful attempt to spot them visually. About this time, T23 spotted Charybdis silhouetted against the lighter horizon and Kohlauf ordered every boat to fire all of their torpedoes. Two of these struck the cruiser, which sank shortly afterwards, and another blew the bow off Limbourne, which had to be scuttled later. The loss of the flagship threw the British into confusion as they had not worked together before the attack, and the torpedo boats successfully disengaged before the senior surviving British captain realized that he was in command.[7]

Alsterufer burning after a RAF attack

On 24–26 December T27 was one of the escorts for the 6,951 GRT blockade runner MV Osorno through the Bay of Biscay. Another blockade runner, the 2,729 GRT refrigerated cargo ship MV Alsterufer, 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.[8]

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 Glasgow and Enterprise, 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 sea spray over their forward guns that made their operation difficult. It also 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 19,600 meters (21,400 yd) 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 (Captain) Hans Erdmenger, commander of the 8th Flotilla, decided to split his forces and ordered the destroyers Z23 and Z27, together with T22, T25 and T26, to reverse course to the north at 14:18. All of the ships in the southern group, including T27, were able to successfully disengage.[9]

On the night of 21/22 April 1944, the 4th Flotilla, now consisting of T27 and her sisters T24 and T29, 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 HMS Black Prince and the destroyers HMS Ashanti, HMCS Athabaskan, HMCS Haida and HMCS Huron off the Île de Batz. The Allied ships were engaged by German coastal artillery without effect and the flotilla headed west in search of the Allied ships, but the Germans were spotted first by Black Prince's radar at a range of 21,000 yards (19,000 m) 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 13,000 yards (12,000 m) by 02:20 when Black Prince began firing star shells. The destroyers began firing at T27 and T24 at a range of 9,000 yards (8,200 m) 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 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph); Kohlauf ordered her into Morlaix Bay and the Allies lost her radar reflection amongst the rocks of the bay.[10]

After emergency repairs, T27 joined T24 in Saint-Malo during the night of 26/27 April. The sister departed Saint-Malo bound for Brest on the night of 28/29 April and were spotted by British coastal radar. They intercepted by Haida and Athabaskan off Île Vierge. Haida opened the engagement by firing 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 and hit her at least seven times, setting her on fire and destroying both quadruple 2 cm mounts on the bridge wings. While trying to reach Aber Wrac'h, she accidentally ran aground at 48°39′N 04°21′W; Haida continued to engage the torpedo boat and ignited the 2 cm ready-use ammunition on the bridge wings before returning to rescue Athabaskan's survivors. Lacking power, T27's crew was unable to put the fire out and abandoned ship at 04:35, having lost 11 men killed. T24 and a pair of minesweepers later failed in their attempt to pull her off, but they rescued 83 crewmen before they abandoned the wreck. British motor torpedo boats and aircraft destroyed the wreck in early May.[11]