 Right elevation and plan of the Type 1935 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Nazi Germany | |
| Name | T12 |
| Ordered | 29 June 1936 |
| Builder | DeSchiMAG,Bremen |
| Yard number | 939 |
| Laid down | 20 August 1938 |
| Launched | 12 April 1939 |
| Completed | 3 July 1940 |
| Fate | Transferred to theSoviet Union as war reparations, late 1945 |
 Soviet Union | |
| Name | T12 |
| Acquired | 5 November 1945 |
| Renamed | Podvizhny, 1946,Kit, 1954 |
| Fate | Sunk in northwesternLake Ladoga, 1959 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class and type | Type 35torpedo boat |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 84.3 m (276 ft 7 in)o/a |
| Beam | 8.62 m (28 ft 3 in) |
| Draft | 2.83 m (9 ft 3 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 2 × shafts; 2 × gearedsteam turbines |
| Speed | 35knots (65 km/h; 40 mph) |
| Range | 1,200 nmi (2,200 km; 1,400 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
| Complement | 119 |
| Armament |
|
TheGerman torpedo boatT12 was the last of a dozenType 35 torpedo boats built for theKriegsmarine (German Navy) during the late 1930s. Completed in mid-1940, the boat was transferred to Norway where she escortedminelayers as they laidminefields in theNorth Sea. She was one of the escorts for severalcommerce raiders passing through theEnglish Channel in 1941 and helped to escort a pair ofbattleships and aheavy cruiser through the Channel back to Germany in theChannel Dash in early 1942.T12 was assigned to the Torpedo School in late 1943 and was then transferred to theBaltic Sea in mid-1944 where she escortedheavy cruisers as they bombarded Soviet positions. The boat was allocated to the Soviet Union after the war and renamedPodvizhny (Russian:Подвижный, "Agile"), serving with theBaltic Fleet until she was seriously damaged in a boiler explosion. RenamedKit (Russian:Кит, "Whale") in 1954 for use as a vessel in simulated nuclear testing onLake Ladoga, the boat wasscuttled in 1959.
The Type 35 was an unsuccessful attempt by theKriegsmarine to design a fast, ocean-goingtorpedo boat that did not exceed the 600-long-ton (610 t) displacement limit of theLondon Naval Treaty for ships that counted against the national tonnage limit.[1] The boats had anoverall length of 84.3 meters (276 ft 7 in) and were 82.2 meters (269 ft 8 in)long at the waterline. After thebow was rebuilt in 1941 to improveseaworthiness, the overall length increased to 87.1 meters (285 ft 9 in).[2] The ships had abeam of 8.62 meters (28 ft 3 in), and a meandraft of 2.83 meters (9 ft 3 in) atdeep load and displaced 859metric tons (845long tons) atstandard load and 1,108 metric tons (1,091 long tons) at deep load.[3] Their crew numbered 119 officers and sailors.[4] Their pair of gearedsteam turbine sets, each driving one propeller, were designed to produce 31,000shaft horsepower (23,000 kW) using steam from four high-pressurewater-tube boilers[2] which would propel the boats at 35knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). They carried enoughfuel oil to give them a range of 1,200nautical miles (2,200 km; 1,400 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).[3]
As built, the Type 35 class mounted a single10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK C/32 gun on thestern. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a single3.7 cm (1.5 in) SK C/30anti-aircraft gunsuperfiring over the 10.5 cm gun and a pair of2 cm (0.8 in) C/30 guns on thebridge wings. They carried six above-water 533 mm (21 in)torpedo tubes in two triple mounts and could also carry 30mines (or 60 if the weather was good). Many boats exchanged the 3.7 cm gun for another 2 cm gun,depth charges andminesweeping paravanes before completion. Late-war additions were limited to the installation ofradar,radar detectors and additional AA guns, usually at the expense of the aft torpedo tube mount.[5]
T12 was ordered on 29 June 1936 fromDeSchiMAG,laid down at theirBremenshipyard on 20 August 1938[6] asyard number 939,[2]launched on 12 April 1939 andcommissioned on 3 July 1940. The boat wasworking up until September when she was transferred to Norway.T12 and the torpedo boatFalke escorted a minelaying mission fromStavanger on the night of 26/27 January 1941 and then another one the following night. The boat was refitted inWesermünde from March to September. On 16 November,T12 and hersister shipsT4 andT7, departedCopenhagen,Denmark, en route toCherbourg, France, to meet the commerce raiderKomet. The torpedo boats arrived on the 25th andKomet reached Cherbourg the following day. The ships departed that night and arrived atLe Havre the following morning, where they waited for night to fall before proceeding. The British had spotted them and they were intercepted bymotor torpedo boats (MTB) on the 28th betweenBoulogne andDunkirk. In a very confused night action,T12 accidentally hitT4 several times, injuring several men, but they were successful in passingKomet through the Channel and into the Atlantic. On 2 DecemberT12 andT2 rendezvoused with the commerce raiderThor in theSchillig Roads; after they were joined byT4,T7 and the torpedo boatT14 the following day, they began to escortThor through the Channel. Delayed by heavy fog, the ships did not reachBrest, France, until the 15th, whileThor continued onwards into the Atlantic.T12 andT7 sailed for Germany on 17 December, where the former was to begin a brief refit atKiel.[7]
On the morning of 12 February 1942, the 2nd and 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotillas (withT12, and her sistersT2,T4,T5,T11,T12 and the torpedo boatsT13,T15,T16, andT17 respectively) rendezvoused with the battleshipsGneisenau andScharnhorst and the heavy cruiserPrinz Eugen to escort them through the Channel to Germany in the Channel Dash. After arriving in Germany,T12 andT5 were transferred to Norway for escort duties. On 6 March they briefly screened the battleshipTirpitz as she searched for the Russia-boundConvoy PQ 12. The boat was one of the escorts for the badly damagedPrinz Eugen fromTrondheim to Kiel on 16–18 May (OperationZauberflote (Magic Flute)), together withT11 and the destroyersZ25 andZ5 Paul Jacobi. She began a refit upon her arrival that lasted until August. On 15–19 AugustT12 was one of the escorts, together withT9 and thedestroyerZ23, for theminelayerUlm from Kiel toNarvik, Norway.[8]
T12 was assigned to the 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla in France in October. Although escorted byT12,T2,Falke and the torpedo boatsT18 andT23, the Italianblockade runnerHimalaya failed in her attempt to break out through the Bay of Biscay to the Far East when she was spotted by British aircraft in late March 1943.T12 received a refit in Kiel in May–August and was then assigned to the Torpedo School from December through mid-1944. Rejoining the 2nd Flotilla, now consisting ofT12, her sistersT3,T5,T9, and the torpedo boatsT13 andT16, the flotilla screened the heavy cruiserAdmiral Scheer as she shelled Soviet positions during the evacuation ofSworbe, on the island ofÖsel, on the night of 23/24 November. Two months later,T12 was one of the escorts forPrinz Eugen as the latter ship supported a German counterattack against advancing Soviet forces nearCranz, East Prussia, on 29–30 January 1945.[2][9]
The boat was allocated to the Soviets when the Allies divided the surviving ships of theKriegsmarine amongst themselves in late 1945, and was included on the Soviet Navy vessel list on 5 November, assigned to theBaltic Fleet. She was handed over to a Soviet crew in Germany on 27 December, who raised the naval jack of the Soviet Navy aboard her on New Year's Day 1946. She was renamedPodvizhny[2][9] on 13 February 1946 before joining the North Baltic Fleet two days later.Podvizhny served with the fleet until 1949, when two crewmen were killed and the boat seriously damaged when the main steam pipe exploded during exercises. After failed repair attempts, she was withdrawn from service on 8 April 1953, disarmed, and handed over to the central directorate of the Soviet Navy as an unpowered experimental vessel, being renamedKit on 30 December 1954. The boat was sunk in shallow water off the islands of Heinäsenmaa and Makarinsaari in northwesternLake Ladoga after simulated nuclear testing in early 1959 and struck on 13 March of that year. In mid-1991, theradioactively contaminated wreck was raised by a team from theLeningrad Naval Base and towed to a different location, where it wasscuttled.[10][11]
