Elbing-class torpedo boat

T-35 seized by the U.S., as DD 935.
Class overview
Name:	Flottentorpedoboot 1939
Builders:	Schichau, Elbing
In commission:	1941–44
Completed:	15
Lost:	11
General characteristics
Type:	Torpedo boat
Displacement:	1,295 long tons (1,316 t) (standard) 1,755 long tons (1,783 t) (maximum)
Length:	97 m (318 ft 3 in) (w/l) 102.5 m (336 ft 3 in) (o/a)
Beam:	10 m (32 ft 10 in)
Draft:	3.22 m (10 ft 7 in)
Installed power:	32,560 shp (24,280 kW)
Propulsion:	2 × Wagner geared steam turbines 2 × shafts
Speed:	32.5 kn (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Range:	2,400 nmi (4,400 km; 2,800 mi) at 19 kn (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Complement:	205
Armament:	4 × 105 mm (4.1 in) guns 4 × 37 mm (1.46 in) anti-aircraft guns 9 × 20 mm (0.79 in) anti-aircraft cannons 6 × 533 mm (21.0 in) torpedo tubes 50 × mines

The Elbing-class torpedo boats (or Flottentorpedoboot 1939) were a class of 15 small warships that served in the Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. Although classed as Flottentorpedoboot ("fleet torpedo boat") by the Germans, in most respects—displacement, weaponry, usage—they were comparable to contemporary medium-size destroyers. The most notable difference was in the armament of the Elbings being fewer in number and of a slightly smaller caliber — 105 mm (4.1 in) compared to the 4.7 in (120 mm) of contemporary British destroyers such as the "L"- and "M"-classes.

Service was either in western France from late 1942-August 1944 or in the Baltic Sea from March 1944 until the end of the war.

The design and weapons mix resulted from experience of earlier, more specialised classes such as the Type 35. The Elbings were a radical change to an all-purpose vessel capable of torpedo attacks, anti-aircraft defence and escort duties. These ships adopted unit machinery with two separate engine rooms and two boiler rooms. Their machinery was however relatively unreliable.

They were effective fighting vessels, a notable success being the sinking of the British light cruiser HMS Charybdis and the escort destroyer HMS Limbourne by torpedoes, off Brittany in October 1943. The 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla—T22, T23, T25, T25, and T26—had been protecting an important blockade runner though despite their success it ran aground and was lost. Two vessels, T25 and T26, were lost in a similar operation three months later. Three ships—T22, T30, and T32—were accidentally lost on 18 August 1943 on a German minefield in the Gulf of Finland. In April 1944 the Canadian destroyer HMCS Athabaskan was torpedoed by T24.

Construction of the class took place in the Schichau shipyard in Elbing (now Elbląg), hence the Allied name for the class. The first examples were commissioned in late 1942 and the last in late 1944.

The ships

The ships were unnamed, but numbered T22-T36.

Number	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Fate
T-22	1940	1941	28 February 1942	sunk 18 August 1944 - mined in the Baltic.
T-23	1940	14 June 1941	14 June 1942	scrapped February 1955, after serving in the French Navy as Alsacien.
T-24	1940	13 September 1941	17 October 1942	sunk 24 August 1944, by aircraft launched rockets near Bordeaux.
T-25	1940	1 December 1941	12 December 1942	sunk 28 December 1943, by British cruisers HMS Glasgow and Enterprise in the Bay of Biscay (Operation Stonewall).
T-26	1941	18 February 1942	27 February 1943
T-27	1941	20 August 1942	17 April 1943	destroyed 6 May 1944, T27 ran aground, en route to L'Aber Vrac'h for repairs after an action against Force 26 on the night of 28/29 April 1944. She was finally destroyed by British MTBs on 6 May after several unsuccessful air attacks.
T-28	1941	24 June 1942	19 June 1943	escaped from western France after D-Day, scrapped 1959, after serving in the French Navy as Lorraine.
T-29	1942	16 January 1943	21 August 1943	sunk 26 April 1944, by HMCS Haida and other Canadian destroyers near Brittany.
T-30	1942	13 March 1943	24 October 1943	sunk 18 August 1944 - mined in the Gulf of Finland.
T-31	1942	22 May 1943	5 February 1944	sunk 20 June 1944 by Soviet Navy MTB.
T-32	1942	17 July 1943	8 May 1944	sunk 18 August 1944 - mined in the Gulf of Finland.
T-33	1942	4 September 1943	15 June 1944	scrapped 1957-1958 after serving in the Soviet Navy as Primerniy (Примерный).
T-34	1942	23 October 1943	12 August 1944	sunk 24 November 1944 - mined near Cape Arkona.
T-35	1942	11 December 1943	7 October 1944	scrapped 3 October 1952 - transferred to France and used for spare parts.
T-36	1942	5 February 1944	9 December 1944	sunk 5 May 1945, damaged by a mine near Swinemünde and sunk by Soviet bombing.

See also

• German torpedoboats of World War II