Name V Completed 26 Retired 18 | Planned 26 Lost 8 | |
 | ||
Operators Kaiserliche Marine
Royal Hellenic Navy
French Navy | ||
The German V1-class torpedo boats was a class of 26 large torpedo boats in service with the Imperial German Navy, Reichsmarine, Kriegsmarine and Royal Hellenic Navy in the early 20th century.
Contents
History
The ships were ordered from Germany in 1912. The ships V-1 through V-4 served as V-class destroyers in the Imperial German Navy. The ships that served in the Greek Navy had been assigned German numbers V-5 and V-6, but were purchased before entering service in the German Navy, from the German shipyard Vulcan AG in Stettin, when the Balkan Wars were under-way (they were replaced in the German service with another V-5 and V-6). They were the first ships of the fleet that had steam turbines.
Later, during World War I, Greece belatedly entered the war on the side of the Triple Entente and, due to Greece's neutrality the two Ex-German V Class ships were seized by the Allies in October, 1916, taken over by the French in November and served in the French Navy from 1917–18. By 1918, they were back on escort duty under Greek colors, mainly in the Aegean Sea.
The two ships were stricken in 1919 and scrapped in 1922.
Design
In 1911, the Imperial German Navy placed orders for a flotilla of 12 torpedo boats as part of its shipbuilding programme for that year, with one half flotilla of six ordered from AG Vulcan, and six from Germaniawerft. The 1911 torpedo boats were smaller than those ordered in recent years in order to be more manoeuvrable and so work better with the fleet, which resulted in the numbering series for torpedo boats being restarted. The reduction in size resulted in the ships' seaworthiness being adversely affected, with the 1911 torpedo boats and the similar craft of the 1912 programme acquiring the disparaging nickname "Admiral Lans' cripples".
The six Vulcan-built ships, the V1-class, ship was 71.1 metres (233 ft 3 in) long overall and 70.2 metres (230 ft 4 in) at the waterline, with a beam of 7.6 metres (24 ft 11 in) and a draught of 3.11 metres (10 ft 2 in). Displacement was 569 tonnes (560 long tons) normal and 697 tonnes (686 long tons) deep load. Three coal-fired and one oil-fired water-tube boilers fed steam to two direct-drive steam turbines rated at 17,000 metric horsepower (17,000 shp; 13,000 kW), giving a design speed of 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph). 107 tonnes (105 long tons) of coal and 78 tonnes (77 long tons) of oil were carried, giving a range of 1,190 nautical miles (2,200 km; 1,370 mi) at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) or 490 nautical miles (910 km; 560 mi) at 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph).
Armament consisted of two KL/30 naval guns in single mounts fore and aft, together with four 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes with one reload torpedo carried. Up to 18 mines could be carried. Crew was 74 officers and other ranks.
Imperial German Navy
1912 Program (VII Flotilla) On completion, these vessels formed the VII Torpedo Boat Flotilla of the High Seas Fleet.
1912 Supplementary order Replacements for the two vessels sold to Greece in 1912.