The German torpedo boat T13 was the lead ship of her class of nine torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) during the late 1930s. Completed in mid-1941, the boat was assigned convoy escort work in the Baltic Sea before she was transferred to Occupied France in early 1942. T13 helped to escort a pair of battleships and a heavy cruiser through the English Channel back to Germany in February in the Channel Dash and then returned to France in July after receiving a refit. There the boat laid minefields and escorted Axis blockade runners through the Bay of Biscay into the Atlantic Ocean. In mid-1943, she was assigned to the Torpedo School where she remained until mid-1944. T13 returned to the Baltic where she screened German ships as they bombarded Soviet positions for the rest of the year. The boat was then assigned convoy escort duties in the Skagerrak around the beginning of 1945. During one such mission in April, T13 was sunk by Royal Air Force (RAF) bombers.
Design and description The Type 37 torpedo boat was a slightly improved version of the preceding Type 35 with better range.Whitley 1991, p. 50 The boats had an overall length of and were long at the waterline.Gröner, p. 193 The ships had a beam of , and a mean draft of at deep load and displaced at standard load and at deep load. Their crew numbered 119 officers and sailors.Sieche, p. 238 Their pair of geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller, were designed to produce using steam from four high-pressure water-tube boilers which would propel the boats at . They carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at .Whitley 1991, p. 202
As built, the Type 37 class mounted a single SK C/32 gun on the stern. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a single SK C/30 anti-aircraft gun superfiring over the 10.5 cm gun and a pair of C/30 guns on the bridge wings. They carried six above-water torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidships and could also carry 30 mines (or 60 if the weather was good).Whitley 1991, pp. 50–51; Whitley 2000, p. 71
Modifications Early-war modifications for the Type 37s were limited to the conversion of the foremast into a tripod mast, installation of a FuM 28 radar with fixed antennas angled 45° to each side and a 2 cm gun superfiring over the main gun.Whitley 2000, p. 72 T13 received an additional 3.7 cm gun on her forecastle after November 1941. Boats participating in the Channel Dash in February 1942 were ordered to have their aft torpedo tube mount replaced by a quadruple 2 cm gun mount, but it is not certain if this was actually done. During a refit in May–July, T13 had her single mount in the superfiring position replaced by the quadruple mount. In September 1944 installation of a single 3.7 cm gun was ordered in all surviving boats, either the Flak M42 or the Flak M43, in lieu of the aft torpedo tubes, but it is also uncertain if this was done. Some boats did receive additional Bofors guns. Some received twin 2 cm gun mounts that replaced the single mounts in the bridge wings. Before the end of the war, all of the surviving boats probably had at least two 3.7 cm or 4 cm guns aboard.Whitley 2000, pp. 72–73
Construction and career T13 was ordered on 18 September 1937 from Schichau, laid down at their Elbing, East Prussia, shipyard on 26 September 1938Whitley 1991, p. 210 as yard number 1401, launched on 15 June 1939 and completed on 31 May 1941; construction was delayed by shortages of skilled labor and of raw materials. She was working up until October when she was transferred to the Baltic for convoy escort duties. The boat was transferred to France in early 1942. On the morning of 12 February, the 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla (with , , , , ) and the 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla (with T13 and her sisters , , and ) rendezvoused with the battleships and and the heavy cruiser to escort them through the Channel to Germany in the Channel Dash. T13 then began a refit in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, that lasted until July when she returned to France. On 20–22 July the 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla, consisting of T13, her sister and the torpedo boats T4 and laid two minefields in the Channel. The flotilla, now with T13, T10 and T14, laid another minefield in the Channel on 1–2 August. The same three boats escorted the replenishment oiler as she made an unsuccessful attempt to break out into the Atlantic through the Bay of Biscay on 8–11 August. In September–October, T13 and her sisters T14, , and were some of the escorts for German blockade runners sailing from ports in the Bay of Biscay en route to Japan.Rohwer, pp. 143, 181, 183, 186, 198; Whitley, pp. 118, 210
The boat returned to Germany in March 1943 and began a refit in Hamburg that lasted until August when she was transferred to the Torpedo School. T13 returned to active duty in mid-1944 and returned to the Baltic. Rejoining the 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla, T13 and her sisters T18 and sortied into the Archipelago Sea as a show of force on 12–13 September after the Prime Minister of Finland, Antti Hackzell, broke off diplomatic relations with Germany and ordered German forces to leave Finland on 2 September. On the return voyage, T18 was sunk by Soviet aircraft. On 23 September, T13, T17, T19 and T20 escorted the last evacuation convoy from Tallinn, Estonia, to Germany. During 10–12 and 13–15 October, the 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla, with T13, T16, T20 and T21, screened the heavy cruisers Lützow and Prinz Eugen as they bombarded advancing Soviet troops near Memel. T13, T19 and T21 escorted Lützow as she bombarded Soviet positions at Memel and Sworbe, on the Estonian island of Saaremaa, on 23–24 October. Screened by the 2nd and 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotillas (T13, T5, , T12, T16, T19 and T21) Prinz Eugen and the heavy cruiser shelled Soviet positions during the evacuation of Sworbe, between 20 and 24 November. Afterwards, the 3rd Flotilla was transferred to the Skagerrak for convoy escort duties. On the night of 9/10 April 1945, T13 and the escort ship were escorting the transport ship when RAF Handley Page Halifax heavy bombers attacked the small convoy off Læsø Island and sank T13 and the transport in the early morning of 10 April.Rohwer, pp. 355, 359, 361, 363, 373–374, 408; Whitley, pp. 171, 180, 210
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External links Type 37 on German Navy.de