V1-class destroyer (original) (raw)

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Class of Imperial German Navy torpedo boats

SMS V5 underway
Class overview
Name	V1 class
Operators	Imperial German Navy Royal Hellenic Navy French Navy
Planned	26
Completed	26
Lost	8
Retired	18
General characteristics
Type	Destroyer
Displacement	570 tonnes
Length	70.2 m (230.3 ft)
Beam	7.6 m (24.9 ft)
Draught	3.1 m (10.2 ft)
Speed	32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Complement	74 men and officers
Armament	2 × 8.8 cm (3.5 in)/30 guns 4 × 50 cm (20 in) torpedo tubes

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.

In 1911, the Imperial German Navy placed orders for a flotilla of twelve 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.[a] 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,[2] with the 1911 torpedo boats and the similar craft of the 1912 programme acquiring the disparaging nickname "Admiral Lans' cripples".[1]

The six Vulcan-built ships, the V1 class,[b] 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).[3] 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).[2]

Armament consisted of two 8.8 cm (3.5 in)/30 naval guns[c] 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.[2][3] Crew was 74 officers and other ranks.[2]

Imperial German Navy

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1912 Program (VII Flotilla) On completion, these vessels formed the VII Torpedo Boat Flotilla of the High Seas Fleet.

1912 Supplementary orderReplacements for the two vessels sold to Greece in 1912.

The ships were ordered from Germany in 1912. The ships V1 through V4 served as V-class destroyers in the Imperial German Navy. The ships that served in the Greek Navy had been assigned German numbers V5 and V6, 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 V5 and V6). They were the first ships of the fleet that had steam turbines.[4]

Silhouette of the V1 class

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.[5]

The two ships were stricken in 1919 and scrapped in 1922.

1. ^ The Imperial German Navy's practice was to split a year's orders into half-flotillas of six torpedo boats from different builders, to differing detailed design.[1]

2. ^ The "V" in V1 denotes the shipyard at which the ship was built.[1]

3. ^ In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, the L/30 denotes the length of the gun. In this case, the L/30 gun is 30 caliber, meaning that the gun is 30 times as long as it is in diameter.

4. ^ a b c Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 164

5. ^ a b c d Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 167

6. ^ a b Gröner 1983, p. 51

7. ^ "Hellenic Navy website". Archived from the original on 2010-12-08. Retrieved 2010-03-11.

8. ^ battleships and cruisers website

• 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 (1983). Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe 1815–1945: Band 2: Torpedoboote, Zerstörer, Schnelleboote, Minensuchboote, Minenräumboote (in German). Koblenz, Germany: Bernard & Graefe Verlag. ISBN 3-7637-4801-6.