German Torpedo Boat Möwe

''Möwe'' was the lead ship of her class of six torpedo boats built for the German Navy (initially called the ''Reichsmarine'' and then renamed as the ''Kriegsmarine'' in 1935). The boat made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. During the Norwegian Campaign of 1940, she played a minor role in the attack on Oslo, the capital of Norway. ''Möwe'' was torpedoed and badly damaged by a British submarine in May and did not return to active service until 1942 when she was transferred to France. The boat helped to escort blockade runners, commerce raiders and submarines through the Bay of Biscay. She also laid numerous minefields and attacked Allied ships during the Invasion of Normandy in June 1944. ''Möwe'' was sunk by British bombers that same month.

Design and armament

Derived from the World War I-era large torpedo boat ,)., group=Note the Type 23 torpedo boat was slightly larger, but had a similar armament and speed.Gröner, p. 191 The first ship to be built, ''Möwe'' was slightly smaller than her sister ships and had an overall length of and was long at the waterline because she had a round, cruiser-style, stern rather than the transom stern of her sisters. She had a beam of , and a mean draft of .Whitley 1991, p. 202 The boat displaced at standard load and at deep load. ''Möwe'' was fitted with a pair of Blohm & Voss geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller, that were designed to produce using steam from three water-tube boilers which would propel the ship at . The torpedo boats carried enough fuel oil to give them an intended range of at , but it proved to be only at that speed in service. Their crew consisted of 4 officers and 116 sailors.

As built, the Type 23s mounted three SK L/45 guns, one forward and two aft of the superstructure; the aft superfiring gun was on an open mount while the others were protected by gun shields. They carried six above-water 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes in two triple mountsSieche, p. 237 and could also carry up to 30 mines. After 1931, the torpedo tubes were replaced by tubes and a pair of C/30 anti-aircraft guns were added. During the war a quadruple 2 cm mount was added just forward of No. 2 gun, three 2 cm guns were positioned around the aft funnel and another pair were mounted on the bridge wings, all in single mounts. Around 1944 a FuMB 4 ''Sumatra'' radar detector was installed as was radar.

Construction and career

Named after the seagull, the boat was laid down at the '' Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven'' (Navy Yard) on 2 March 1925Whitley 2000, p. 57 as yard number 102.Gröner, p. 192 She was launched on 24 March 1926 and commissioned on 1 October 1926. The boat was initially assigned to the 4th Torpedo Boat Half Flotilla. By the end of 1936 ''Möwe'' was assigned to the 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla and the boat made several deployments to Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Around June 1938, she was transferred to the newly formed 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla.

Second World War

''Möwe'' supported the North Sea mining operations that began on 3 September 1939. During the Norwegian Campaign, the boat was assigned to Group 5 under ''Konteradmiral'' Oskar Kummetz on the heavy cruiser , tasked to capture Oslo on 9 April. ''Möwe'' transported 114 men of the invasion force and was one of the cruiser's escorts through the Kattegat and into Oslofjord. During the Battle of Drøbak Sound, the boat was in the rear of the German formation as it advanced up the fjord. After the Norwegian coast defenses crippled ''Blücher'' as she attempted to pass Oscarsborg Fortress, she was ordered to unload her troops at Son. Around 17:30 ''Möwe'' and her sister supported the occupation of Kopås and Husvik batteries near Drøbak. A little over an hour later, ''Möwe'' approached the main fort under a flag of truce, and her commander, '' Kapitänleutnant'' (Lieutenant) Helmut Neuss, demanded that it surrender; the fort's commander, '' Oberst'' (Colonel) Birger Eriksen, dragged out the negotiations until a more senior officer was sent. The next day, the torpedo boat escorted the heavy cruiser through the Oslofjord until word was received that her sister had run aground and been wrecked. ''Möwe'' was ordered to replace ''Albatros'' in the outer reaches of the Oslofjord. ''Lützow'' continued on to Germany without any escort and was torpedoed by a British submarine later that night off the Danish coast. ''Möwe'' and ''Kondor'', among other ships, arrived the following morning to render assistance.

On 18 April, ''Möwe'' and her sisters and escorted minelayers as they laid anti-submarine minefields in the Kattegat. Escorted by two destroyers, ''Möwe'', ''Kondor'' and the torpedo boat , minelayers laid another minefield in the Skaggerak on 29–30 April. En route, the torpedo boat was sunk when she was accidentally rammed by the minelayer ''Preussen''. The following month, she was torpedoed by the British submarine on 8 May. The torpedo blew her stern off and she was under repair until October. Her stern was rebuilt in the same transom style used by her sisters. ''Möwe'' was not fully operational until early 1942 and was transferred to France in May of that year. In September–October, ''Möwe'' was one of the escorts for German blockade runners sailing from ports in the Bay of Biscay en route to Japan. On 3–7 May 1943, ''Möwe'' and ''Greif'' escorted minelayers in the North Sea as they laid new minefields. From 4 to 6 June, ''Möwe'', ''Greif'', ''Kondor'', her sister and the torpedo boat laid two minefields in the English Channel. Later that month the ships return to the Bay of Biscay to help escort U-boats through the Bay and continue to do so into early August. ''Möwe'' and ''Kondor'' helped to lay two minefields in the English Channel on 3–5 September.

The 4th and 5th Torpedo Boat Flotillas, consisting ''Möwe'', ''Greif'', ''Kondor'', and the torpedo boats , , and laid minefields off Le Havre and Fécamp, France, on 21 and 22 March.
On 17–19 April, the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, including ''Möwe'', ''Greif'' and ''Kondor'' sailed from Brest, France, to Cherbourg as distant cover for a convoy. A few days later, the flotilla laid a minefield on the night of 21/22 April. The following night the torpedo boats engaged British motor torpedo boats near Cape Barfleur and sank one of them. On the nights of 26/27 and 27/28 April, they laid 108 mines each night near Cherbourg. On 30 April and 1 May, the flotilla laid 260 mines in three minefields. Three weeks later, the flotilla was ordered to transfer from Cherbourg to Le Havre and departed on the night of 23/24 May. ''Möwe'', ''Greif'', ''Falke'', ''Kondor'' and ''Jaguar'' were attacked by Allied aircraft early the next day and ''Greif'' was struck by two bombs that set her forward boiler room on fire and caused her to take on water forward. With both boiler rooms subsequently flooded, she was unmaneuverable and accidentally collided with ''Falke''. The latter was only slightly damaged, but ''Greif''s bow was badly bent which caused problems for ''Möwe'' when she began to tow her sister. Around 06:00 ''Greif'' lost all power and sank at 06:32. At 07:43 ''Kondor'' struck a mine and had to be towed by ''Möwe'' for the remainder of the voyage.

As the Allies began landing in Normandy on 6 June, the 5th Flotilla, now consisting of ''Möwe'', ''Falke'', ''Jaguar'' and the newly refitted large torpedo boat , sortied multiple times from Le Havre over the next week in attempts to sink Allied shipping. Despite the expenditure of over 50 torpedoes and large quantities of ammunition, they were generally unsuccessful, only sinking the destroyer on 6 June. During an air raid by the Royal Air Force on the night of 14/15 June, bombs sank ''Falke'' and ''Jaguar'' and badly damaged ''Möwe''. She finally sank on 16 June after some weapons and equipment had been salvaged.Rohwer, pp. 331–332, 335; Whitley 1991, p. 158

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Möwe, German torpedo boat
Type 23 torpedo boats
1926 ships
Ships built in Wilhelmshaven