S138-class torpedo boat

The S138 class was a group of sixty-five torpedo boats built for the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) and the Ottoman Navy in the early 1900s. Almost all of the boats served with the German fleet, with only four being sold to the Ottoman Empire in 1910. The German and Ottoman boats saw action in World War I, and several were lost. One Ottoman boat successfully torpedoed and sank a British battleship in 1915. In 1917 and 1918, the German members of the class were all renamed to replace the builder prefix with a standardized "T" prefix. Following Germany's defeat, many of the members of the S138 class were scrapped, either after having been seized as war prizes by the victorious Allied powers or by Germany to comply with the naval disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles. Some boats continued in German service through World War II, after which the surviving vessels were all seized as war prizes.

SMS V150 underway c. 1908
Class overview
BuildersSchichau (S), AG Vulcan (V), Germaniawerft (G)
Operators
Preceded byS90 class
Built1906–1911
In commission1907–1945
Completed65
General characteristics
TypeTorpedo boat
Displacement
  • 533 to 700 tonnes (525 to 689 long tons) designed
  • 684 to 824 tonnes (673 to 811 long tons) full load
Length70.7 to 74.2 m (231 ft 11 in to 243 ft 5 in) o/a
Beam7.8 to 7.9 m (26 to 26 ft)
Draft2.75 to 3.06 m (9 ft 0 in to 10 ft 0 in) (forward)
Installed power
Propulsion
  • S138–V160:
  • 2-shaft VTE
  • V161–S168, G173–197:
  • 2-shaft steam turbines
  • G169–172:
  • 3-shaft steam turbines
Speed30 to 32 kn (56 to 59 km/h; 35 to 37 mph)
Complement
  • 3 officers
  • 77–81 enlisted
Armament

Design

General characteristics and machinery

The boats of the S138 class varied in dimensions, and they gradually increased in size as more vessels were built. The boats were 70.2 to 74 meters (230 ft 4 in to 242 ft 9 in) long at the waterline and 70.7 to 74.2 m (231 ft 11 in to 243 ft 5 in) long overall. They had beam (nautical) of 7.8 to 7.9 m (25 ft 7 in to 25 ft 11 in) and a draft of 2.75 to 3.06 m (9 ft 0 in to 10 ft 0 in) forward.[1] The hull for each boat was divided into thirteen watertight compartments, though after V150, they were reduced to twelve compartments. They had a crew of three officers and seventy-seven enlisted men, though from V150 onward, they had larger crews, with eighty-one enlisted men aboard. When serving as half-flotilla flagships, the boats would have a flotilla leader's staff of four officers and nine enlisted men in addition to the standard crew. The vessels carried a yawl and a dinghy apiece, though later in their careers they carried up to three yawls and the dinghy.[2]

Sailors loading bags of coal aboard one of the S138-class boats

The S138-class boats had a variety of different propulsion systems. The first group of boats, from S138 to V160, were propelled by a pair of vertical, 3-cylinder triple expansion steam engines that drove a pair of three-bladed screw propellers. Steam was provided by three coal-fired water-tube boilers. The rest of the members of the class received direct steam turbines of various manufacturers, including AEG, Schichau-Werke, Zoelly, Germaniawerft, and Parsons. All of the boats used the same two-shaft arrangement as the other members of the class, with the exception of the boats G169 through G172, which were equipped with six Parsons turbines driving three shafts. Steam for both the reciprocating and turbine engines was provided by four water-tube boilers; the boats from S138 through V161 had four coal-fired models, while the remainder of the class had three such boilers and one oil-fired version.[2]

The reciprocating engine-powered boats were rated at 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) from 10,800 to 10,800 indicated horsepower (10,900 to 11,000 PS). The two-shaft turbine boats were rated at 14,600 to 17,300 shaft horsepower (14,800 to 17,500 PS) and 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph), while the three-shaft vessels were designed to reach 15,000 shp (15,000 PS) and 32 knots, respectively. The boats had storage capacity for 116 to 194 t (114 to 191 long tons; 128 to 214 short tons) of coal and, for those boats with oil-fired boilers, 60 to 181 t (59 to 178 long tons; 66 to 200 short tons) of fuel oil. As a result, cruising radius varied significantly, from 920 to 3,500 nautical miles (1,700 to 6,480 km; 1,060 to 4,030 mi) at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph). Each vessel was equipped with two 17 kilowatts (23 hp) 110-Volt generators for electrical power. Steering was controlled with a pair of rudders, one at the stern and the other in the bow, the latter being retractable.[3]

Armament
Crew operating a deck-mounted torpedo tube aboard a German torpedo boat

The armament for the members of the S138 class changed as more vessels were built. The first eleven vessels, from S138 to S149 were equipped with one 8.8 cm (3.5 in) SK L/35 gun and three 5.2 cm (2 in) SK L/55 guns in single gun mounts. They carried one hundred 8.8 cm shells and four hundred and fifty 5.2 cm rounds. The boats from V150 to V155 only carried two 8.8 cm SK L/35 guns with two hundred rounds. The remainder of the class carried two 8.8 cm SK L/30 guns, also with two hundred shells. Both versions of the 8.8 cm gun fired a shell weighing 7 kg (15.4 lb); the shorter-barreled L/30 gun had a muzzle velocity of 670 meters per second (2,198 ft/s), while the L/35 version had a velocity of 770 m/s (2,526 ft/s). The L/30 gun could be elevated to 20 degrees, for a maximum range of 7,300 m (8,000 yd), while the L/35 gun could be elevated to 25 degrees, for a maximum range of 9,090 m (9,940 yd). The 5.2 cm guns fired a 2 kg (3.86 lb) shell at a muzzle velocity of 850 m/s (2,789 ft/s). The guns could elevate up to 20 degrees, at a maximum range of 7,100 m (7,770 yd).[2][4]

Throughout their careers, the boats had their armament modified. All of the first eleven vessels had their two of their 5.2 cm guns replaced with a second 8.8 cm SK L/35 gun, with the exception of S142 and S144 had all three of their 5.2 cm guns removed. S146, S153, S155, S165, S168, G170, G172 through G175, S178, S179, V180 through V186, V189, V190, and G192 through G197 had their 8.8 cm guns replaced with newer 8.8 cm SK L/45 guns; these guns fired a 10.0 kg (22 lb) shells at a muzzle velocity of 650 m/s (2,133 ft/s). At an elevation of 25 degrees, they could engage targets out to 9,600 m (10,500 yd). After World War I, many of the surviving vessels that still carried their older 8.8 cm guns had them replaced with the SK L/45 versions, and T185, T190, and T196 received two 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/45 guns.[2][4]

All members of the class carried three torpedo tubes as their primary offensive armament; the first half of the class's tubes were 45 cm (18 in) in diameter, and they carried four torpedoes. From G174 onward, they were equipped with 50 cm (20 in) tubes with five torpedoes. All of these tubes were in single, deck-mounted launchers. In their postwar refit, T185, T190, and T196 had their original tubes replaced with four 50 cm tubes in double, deck-mounted launchers.[2]

Ships
S169 underway before World War I
V182 during peacetime
Boat Program[5] Launched[6] Commissioned[6] Fate[6]
S138 1906 22 September 1906 7 May 1907 Mined and sunk, 7 July 1918
S139 1906 12 November 1906 6 July 1907 Unknown
S140 1906 22 December 1906 3 August 1907
S141 1906 7 February 1907 9 September 1907 Scrapped, 1933
S142 1906 6 March 1907 20 September 1907
S143 1906 6 April 1907 12 October 1907 Scrapped, 1930
S144 1906 27 April 1907 3 December 1907 Scrapped, 1929
S145 1906 8 June 1907 17 December 1907
S146 1906 27 June 1907 20 November 1907 Scrapped, 1929
S147 1906 3 August 1907 10 April 1908 Scrapped, 1921
S148 1906 11 September 1907 8 March 1908 Scrapped, 1935
S149 1906 19 October 1907 27 July 1908 Scrapped, 1927
V150 1907 1 August 1907 20 November 1907 Sunk, 18 May 1915
V151 1907 14 September 1907 29 February 1908 Scrapped, 1948
V152 1907 11 October 1907 10 April 1908 Scrapped, 1935
V153 1907 13 November 1907 9 May 1908 Scrapped, 1949
V154 1907 19 December 1907 5 June 1908 Scrapped, 1935
V155 1907 28 January 1908 25 June 1908 Scuttled, 22 April 1945
V156 1907 29 February 1908 21 July 1908 Scuttled, 3 May 1945
V157 1907 29 May 1908 27 August 1908 Mined and sunk, 22 October 1943
V158 1907 23 June 1908 8 October 1908 Scrapped, 1950
V159 1907 18 July 1908 2 November 1908 Scrapped, 1922
V160 1907 12 September 1908 15 December 1908 Scrapped, 1922
V161 1907 21 April 1908 17 September 1908 Scrapped, 1922
V162 1908 9 May 1909 28 May 1909 Mined and sunk, 15 August 1916
V163 1908 2 May 1909 22 July 1909 Scrapped, 1921
V164 1908 27 May 1909 20 August 1909 Scrapped, 1922
SMS S165(i) 1908 20 March 1909 Sold to Ottoman Empire during construction, commissioned as Muavenet-i Milliye Scrapped, 1921
SMS S166(i) 1908 24 April 1909 Sold to Ottoman Empire during construction, commissioned as Yadigar-i Millet Sunk, 10 July 1917
SMS S167(i) 1908 3 July 1909 Sold to Ottoman Empire during construction, commissioned as Nümune-i Hamiyet Scrapped, 1921
SMS S168(i) 1908 30 September 1909 Sold to Ottoman Empire during construction, commissioned as Gayret-i Vataniye Wrecked, 30 October 1916
S165 (ii) 1908 replacement ship 26 November 1910 27 April 1911 Scrapped, 1922
S166 (ii) 1908 replacement ship 27 December 1910 7 July 1911 Scrapped, 1922
S167 (ii) 1908 replacement ship 15 February 1911 26 August 1911 Scrapped, 1921
S168 (ii) 1908 replacement ship 16 March 1911 1 September 1911 Scrapped, 1927
G169 1908 29 December 1908 29 April 1909 Scrapped, 1922
G170 1908 3 March 1909 14 September 1909 Scrapped, 1921
G171 1908 28 May 1909 4 January 1910 Sunk, 14 September 1912
G172 1908 10 July 1909 4 January 1910 Mined and sunk, 7 July 1918
G173 1908 28 July 1909 24 January 1910 Scrapped, 1922
G174 1909 8 January 1910 6 July 1910 Scrapped, 1922
G175 1909 24 February 1910 4 December 1910 Scrapped, 1926
S176 1909 12 April 1910 23 September 1910 Scrapped, 1922
S177 1909 21 May 1910 16 February 1911 Mined and sunk, 23 December 1915
S178 1909 14 July 1910 9 December 1910 Scrapped, 1922
S179 1909 27 August 1910 8 March 1911 Scrapped, 1921
V180 1909 15 October 1909 4 January 1910 Scrapped, 1921
V181 1909 6 November 1909 11 March 1910 Scrapped, 1922
V182 1909 1 December 1909 4 May 1910 Scrapped, 1922
V183 1909 23 December 1909 12 May 1910 Scrapped, 1922
V184 1909 26 February 1910 29 June 1910 Scrapped, 1922
V185 1909 9 April 1910 20 September 1910 Soviet prize, 1945, fate unknown
V186 1910 28 November 1910 21 April 1911 Scrapped, 1922
V187 1910 11 January 1911 4 May 1911 Sunk, 26 July 1914
V188 1910 8 February 1911 20 May 1911 Sunk, 26 July 1915
V189 1910 14 March 1911 20 June 1911 Wrecked, December 1920
V190 1910 12 April 1911 5 August 1911 Scuttled, 1946
V191 1910 2 June 1911 28 September 1911 Mined and sunk, 17 December 1915
G192 1910 5 November 1910 8 May 1911 Scrapped, 1922
G193 1910 10 December 1910 25 June 1911 Scrapped, 1922
G194 1910 12 January 1911 2 August 1911 Sunk, 26 March 1916
G195 1910 8 April 1911 8 September 1911 Scrapped, 1922
G196 1910 24 May 1911 2 October 1911 Soviet prize, 1945, scrapped thereafter
G197 1910 23 June 1911 10 November 1911 Scrapped, 1921

Service history
S149 in Kiel, c. 1908

Several members of the S138 class were lost during World War I in the North and Baltic Seas. V187 was sunk during the Battle of Heligoland Bight on 26 August 1914, one of the first major naval actions of the war.[7] V150 accidentally collided with her sister ship V157 while the pair were cruising in the Jade Bight shortly after midnight on 18 May 1915. V150 sank and 60 of her crew were killed in the accident.[8] On 26 July 1915, V188 was torpedoed and sunk by the British submarine E16 in the North Sea.[7] On 17 December 1915, V191 and the light cruiser Bremen ran into a Russian minefield off Windau; both vessels struck mines and sank, with heavy loss of life. Nearly a third of V191's crew were killed, 25 men, along 250 out of Bremen's crew of around 300.[9][10] A week later, a British mine claimed S176 on 23 December, though only seven men were killed in the sinking.[11] While on patrol in the North Sea on 26 March 1916, G194 encountered British naval forces, and the British light cruiser Cleopatra rammed and sank G194, killing 93 of her crew.[7] V162 sank after striking a Russian mine in the Baltic on 15 August 1916; 15 of her crew were killed.[8] Two boats struck mines and sank in the North Sea on 7 July 1918. T138 was lost shortly after 01:00 and 32 of her crew were killed, and G172 was mined and sunk a little over three hours later, killing 16 of her crew.[12] The Muavenet-i Milliye in Ottoman service successfully torpedoed and sank the British pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Goliath on 13 May 1915 during the Dardanelles campaign, killing 570 of her crew.[13]

In 1917 and 1918, the members of the class were all renamed to replace the builder prefix with a standardized "T" prefix. Following Germany's defeat, many of the members of the S138 class were scrapped, either after having been seized as war prizes by the victorious Allied powers or by Germany to comply with the naval disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles, which permitted Germany to retain only a small fleet that included just twelve destroyers and twelve torpedo boats.[6][14] The older S138-class boats constituted the bulk of those vessels that Germany was permitted to retain, while the more modern, turbine-powered boats were seized. Britain received the bulk of the class members, taking control of T159, T160, T161, T163, T164, T165, T166, T169, T173, T174, T176, T178, T179, T182, T183, T184, T186, T189, T192, T193, T195, and T197. T180 became a Brazilian war prize in 1920, and Japan received T181. All of the boats were scrapped in the early 1920s, with the exception of T189, which ran aground off the English coast in December 1920. Among those stricken by the postwar Reichsmarine to comply with the Versailles Treaty were T142, T147, T167, T168, T170; these boats were also scrapped in the early 1920s.[6]

The boats that continued on in service with the German fleet were T139, T141, T144, T146, T148, T149, T151, T152, T153, T154, T155, T156, T157, T158, T168, T175, T185, and T196. These boats served in a variety of roles in the 1920s and 1930s. Several of them were renamed and converted for training duties: T139 became Pfeil, T141 became the radio control ship Blitz, T153 became the range-finding training ship Eduard Jungmann. V151 was converted into a fast tugboat and she received the name Comet. T144, T149, T168, and T175 remained in active service and were scrapped in 1926–1927. Blitz, T143, T148, T152, T154 joined them at the breaker's yards between 1930 and 1935. Others, including T156 and T158, continued to serve with the fleet through the 1930s, while T196 became the flagship for the Minesweeper Command in 1938. In 1932, T185 was renamed Blitz and converted into a radio control ship to replace her sistership in that role. T190 was renamed Claus von Bevern in 1938 and was used in experiments.[6]

By the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, only a handful of the class remained in service. T157 was mined and sunk in Neufahrwasser on 22 October 1943 and T156—which had been renamed Bremse in 1944—and T155 were scuttled in the final days of the war. V185 and V196 were taken as Soviet war prizes and were renamed Vystrel and Pronzitelnyy, respectively; their ultimate fate is unknown. Claus von Bevern was seized by the United States and was scuttled in the Skagerrak in 1946. T151 and T153 also became US prizes; they were scrapped in 1948–1949. T155, Bremse, and T157 were all raised after the war and scrapped as well. T139 was still in service with the 24th U-boat Flotilla as of 1944, but records of her ultimate fate have not survived.[6]

Footnotes

Notes
  1. V161's turbines were rated substantially higher, at 14,600 shaft horsepower (14,800 PS).[1]
  2. From G174 through G197, the vessels carried four 50 cm (20 in) torpedo tubes.[2]

Citations
  1. Gröner, p. 172.
  2. Gröner, p. 173.
  3. Gröner, pp. 172–173.
  4. Gardiner & Gray, p. 140.
  5. Gardiner & Gray, pp. 165–167.
  6. Gröner, pp. 174–176.
  7. Gröner, p. 176.
  8. Gröner, p. 174.
  9. Halpern, p. 205.
  10. Gröner, pp. 103, 176.
  11. Gröner, p. 175.
  12. Gröner, pp. 174–175.
  13. "Six Wexford men lost with sunken battleship". Wexford People (third ed.). 31 December 2014. p. 44. ProQuest 1471943810
  14. Treaty of Versailles Section II: Naval Clauses, Article 181.

References
  • Dodson, Aidan (2019). "Beyond the Kaiser: The IGN's Destroyers and Torpedo Boats After 1918". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2019. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. pp. 129–144. ISBN 978-1-4728-3595-6.
  • Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-907-3.
  • Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships: 1815–1945. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-790-9.
  • Halpern, Paul G. (1995). A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1557503527.
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