SMS G195

The Imperial German Navy ordered 12 large torpedo boats (Große Torpedoboote) as part of the fiscal year 1910 shipbuilding programme, with one half-flotilla of six ships ordered from Germaniawerft and the other six ships from AG Vulcan.[2] As with normal practice for the German Navy, the two groups of torpedo boats of basically similar layout but differed slightly in detailed design, with the designs showing a gradual pattern of refinements and increase in displacement with each year's orders.[3]

The 1910 Germaniawerft torpedo boats were 74.0 metres (242 ft 9 in) long overall and 73.6 metres (241 ft 6 in) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 7.06 metres (23 ft 2 in) and a draught of 3.1 metres (10 ft 2 in). The ships displaced 660 tonnes (650 long tons) design and 810 tonnes (800 long tons) deep load.[2] Three coal-fired and one oil-fired water-tube boiler fed steam at a pressure of 18.5 standard atmospheres (272 psi) to two sets of direct-drive steam turbines. The ship's machinery was rated at 18,200 PS (18,000 shp; 13,400 kW) giving a design speed of 32 knots (37 mph; 59 km/h), with members of the class reaching a speed of 33.5 knots (38.6 mph; 62.0 km/h) during sea trials.[4] 145 tons of coal and 76 tons of oil fuel were carried, giving an endurance of 2,590 nautical miles (2,980 mi; 4,800 km) at 12 knots (14 mph; 22 km/h), 1,150 nautical miles (1,320 mi; 2,130 km) at 17 knots (20 mph; 31 km/h) or 420 nautical miles (480 mi; 780 km) at 30 knots (35 mph; 56 km/h).[2]

Two 8.8 cm L/45 guns were fitted,[5][6][lower-alpha 3] one on the forecastle and one aft. The ship's torpedo armament consisted of four single 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes were fitted, with two on the ship's beam in the gap between the forecastle and the ship's bridge which were capable of firing straight ahead, one between the ship's two funnels, and one aft of the funnels.[2][7] The ship had a crew of 84 officers and men.[2]

G195 was laid down at Germaniawerft's Kiel shipyard as Yard number 154, was launched on 8 April 1911 and was completed on 8 September that year.[8]

On commissioning, G195 joined the 2nd half flotilla of the 1st Torpedoboat Flotilla,[9] remaining part of the 2nd half flotilla through 1913 and into 1914.[10][11]

G195 remained part of the 2nd half-flotilla of the 1st Torpedo Boat Flotilla on the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914.[12][13] On 11 September 1915, the German cruisers Stralsund and Regensburg set out from Wilhelmshaven to lay a minefield off the Swarte Bank in the North Sea, with the High Seas Fleet sailing in support. On the return trip, at 01:50 hr on 12 September, the High Seas Fleet ran into a newly laid British minefield, with the torpedo boat G196 striking a mine which badly damaged the ship's stern, killing seven and wounding eight of G196's crew. G195 and sister ship G192 went alongside the stricken torpedo boat, passing steel lines under G196 while the dead and wounded were transferred to G195. As G196 was thought to be in danger of sinking, torpedoes and ammunition was moved over to G195 and G192 and oil fuel was pumped off. G196 was stabilised by the efforts of the chief engineers of the three torpedo boats, with G195 and G192 remaining alongside G196 while V189 towed the ship back to Wilhelmshaven.[14][15]

On 25 March 1916, the British seaplane carrier Vindex, escorted by the Harwich force, launched an air attack against a Zeppelin base believed to be at Hoyer on the coast of Schleswig. The raid was a failure, with the airship base actually at Tondern, and while engaging German patrol boats, the British destroyer HMS Medusa was rammed by the destroyer HMS Laverock and badly damaged. (Medusa was later abandoned and eventually sank). Forces of the High Seas Fleet were ordered to sea in response to the attack, and on the evening of 25 March, 18 German torpedo boats of the 1st and 6th Torpedo Boat Flotillas, including G195 were deployed in a wide front with orders to search for Medusa to the North West of Horns Rev. Two of the ships of the 1st Flotilla, G193 and G194 encountered a group of British cruisers, with G194 being rammed and sunk by the cruiser Cleopatra. Cleopatra was then rammed by the cruiser Undaunted. Another German group, deployed in a westward search lost the torpedo boat S22 to a mine. The search was abandoned owing to the heavy seas, which were bad enough that the torpedo boats could not keep and effective lookout or use their armament.[16][17] G195, still part of the 1st Torpedo Boat Flotilla, was part of the High Seas Fleet when it sailed to cover the Lowestoft Raid on 24–25 April 1916,[18] and when the High Seas Fleet sailed to cover a sortie of the battlecruisers of the 1st Scouting Group in the inconclusive Action of 19 August 1916.[19][20] She did not take part in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May–1 June 1916, however, as one of seven older torpedo boats of the 1st Torpedo Boat Flotilla left behind.[21]

On 22 February 1918 the ship was renamed T195,[8] in order to free her number for new construction, in this case the destroyer H195 which was ordered from Howaldswerke, but was cancelled before starting construction.[22][23] In November 1918, at the end of the war, T195 was a member of the 15th half flotilla of the 8th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, part of the High Seas Fleet.[24][25]

• Campbell, John (1998). Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-750-3.
• Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
• 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.
• Fock, Harald (1981). Schwarze Gesellen: Band 2: Zerstörer bis 1914 (in German). Herford, Germany: Koelers Verlagsgesellschaft mBH. ISBN 3-7822-0206-6.
• Fock, Harald (1989). Z-Vor! Internationale Entwicklung und Kriegseinsätze von Zerstörern und Torpedobooten 1914 bis 1939 (in German). Herford, Germany: Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mBH. ISBN 3-7822-0207-4.
• Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
• Gröner, Erich; Jung, Dieter; Maass, Martin (1983). Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe 1815–1945: Band 2: Torpedoboote, Zerstörer, Schnellboote, Minensuchboote, Minenräumboote (in German). Koblenz: Bernard & Graef Verlag. ISBN 3-7637-4801-6.
• Groos, O. (1920). Der Krieg in der Nordsee: Erster Band: Von Kreigsbeginn bis Anfang September 1914. Der Krieg zur See: 1914–1918 (in German). Berlin: Verlag von E. S. Mittler und Sohn – via National Library of Estonia.
• Groos, O. (1924). Der Krieg in der Nordsee: Vierter Band: Von Anfang Februar bis Ende Dezember 1915. Der Krieg zur See: 1914–1918 (in German). Berlin: Verlag von E. S. Mittler und Sohn – via National Library of Estonia.
• Monograph No. 30 Home Waters—Part V.: From July to August 1915 (PDF). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). Vol. XIV. Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1926.
• Monograph No. 31: Home Waters—Part VI.: From October 1915 to May 1916 (PDF). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). Vol. XV. Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1926.
• Monograph No. 32: Lowestoft Raid: 24th–25th April 1916 (PDF). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). Vol. XVI. Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1927.
• Monograph No. 33: Home Waters: Part VII: From June 1916 to November 1916 (PDF). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). Vol. XVII. Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1927.
• Moore, John (1990). Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I. London: Studio. ISBN 1-85170-378-0.
• Stoelzel, Albert (1930). Ehrenrangliste der Kaiserlich Deutschen Marine 1914–1918 (in German). Berlin: Thormann & Goetsch. Retrieved 9 June 2023.