SMS S50

SMS ''S50'' was a of the Imperial German Navy. Launched in 1915, she served through the rest of the war, taking part in the Battle of Jutland and operations in the Baltic. She was scuttled at Scapa Flow in 1919, but was later raised and scrapped.

Construction and design

Ordered from Schichau-Werke on 6 August 1914 as part of the 1914 mobilisation order of 48 high-seas torpedo-boats, she was launched from Schichau's Elbing (now Elbląg in Poland) on 24 April 1915 and commissioned on 15 August 1915. The "S" in ''S50'' denoted the shipbuilder who constructed her.

''S50'' was long overall and at the waterline, with a beam of and a draught of . Displacement was normal and deep load. Three oil-fired water-tube boilers fed steam to 2 sets of direct-drive steam turbines rated at , giving a speed of . of fuel oil was carried, giving a range of at and at .

Armament originally consisted of three 8.8 cm SK L/45 naval guns in single mounts, together with six 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes with two fixed single tubes forward and 2 twin mounts aft. Up to 24 mines could be carried. In 1916 the 8.8 cm guns were replaced by three 10.5 cm SK L/45 naval guns. The ship had a complement of 85 officers and men.

Service

''S50'' first operated in the Baltic Sea after commissioning, and when on the night of 20 November 1915, seven Russian destroyers led by attacked German patrol boats off Windau (now Ventspils in Latvia), sinking the auxiliary patrol boat ''Norburg'', ''S50'' was one of several German torpedo boats and cruisers that sortied in response, but the Russians escaped unscathed.

On 10 February 1916, ''S50'' took part in a sortie by 25 torpedo boats of the 2nd, 6th and 9th Torpedo-boat Flotillas into the North Sea. The sortie led to an encounter between several German torpedo boats and British minesweepers off the Dogger Bank, which resulted in the British minesweeper being torpedoed and sunk by ships of the 2nd Flotilla. ''S50'' took part in the Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft on 24–25 April 1916, where she formed part of the escort for the battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group. At the Battle of Jutland on 31 May–1 June 1916, ''S50'' was part of the 12th Half-Flotilla, 6th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, again operating in support of the I Scouting Group. The 12th Half Flotilla attempted a torpedo attack against the battlecruisers of the British 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron at about 19:00 CET (i.e. 18:00 GMT), with ''S50'' firing a single torpedo which circled rather than running straight. None of the four torpedoes launched by the Flotilla in this engagement found their target. Later that evening, ''S50'', and were sent to the rear of the retiring German fleet in order to carry out night torpedo attacks on the British fleet. They were fired on by the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron at about 21:52 CET and turned away, with ''S50'' being hit by a British six-inch (152-mm) shell, which although it did not explode, knocked out one of her boilers and reduced her speed to . She returned to the main German fleet while ''V69'' and ''V46'' continued on their patrol. At about 02:00 CET on 1 June, ''S50'' was sailing in the vicinity of the battleship when the British 12th Destroyer Flotilla launched a torpedo attack on the German battleships. The German battleships responded with heavy fire, and when ''S50'' turned towards the British ships, she was fired on by her own side, and a German shell hit one of her ventilators. The pre-dreadnought battleship was sunk with the loss of all hands by a single torpedo from the British destroyer in this attack.

In January 1917, the 6th Flotilla was transferred to Flanders to reinforce the German torpedo boat forces based in the Belgian ports. The Flotilla set out from Helgoland for Flanders on 22 January, but decoding of German radio signals by Room 40 warned the British of the German intentions, and the Harwich Force of cruisers and destroyers sent to intercept the German torpedo boats. The British set six light cruisers, two flotilla leaders and sixteen destroyers to intercept the eleven German ships, deploying them in several groups to make sure that all possible routes were covered. At about 03:45 hr CET (02:45 hr GMT) on the night of 22/23 January, the 6th Flotilla encountered three British light cruisers (, and ) east of the North Hinder light ship. ''V69'', leader of the German flotilla, attempted a torpedo attack against the British cruisers, but was hit by British shells, jamming her rudder, which caused ''V69'' to collide with , badly damaging both ships, although both survived. The flotilla managed to break contact under the cover of smoke screens, but ''S50'' lost contact with the rest of the Flotilla. Her captain decided to proceed independently to Zeebrugge, but ran into four British destroyers (, , and ) off the Schouwen Bank shortly after 05:00 CET. In an exchange of gunfire, ''S50'' hit ''Simoom'' several times and was herself hit by British shells before torpedoing and badly damaging ''Simoom''. The remaining British ships still blocked ''S50''s course to Zeebrugge, and ''S50'' retired to the east and returned to Germany. ''Simoom'' was scuttled by later that day.

In October 1917, Germany launched Operation Albion, an invasion of islands in the West Estonian archipelago to secure the left flank of the German Army following the German capture of Riga. The Germans assembled a powerful naval force to support the operation, reinforced by forces detached from the High Seas Fleet, including the 6th Torpedo Boat Flotilla. ''S50'' carried out operations in Tagga Bay in support of Operation Albion on 14 October.

After the end of hostilities, ''S50'' was interned at Scapa Flow. On 21 June 1919, the German fleet at Scapa, including ''S50'', was scuttled by its crews. ''S50'' was raised in October 1924 and scrapped the next year at Stranraer.

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:S050
Torpedo boats of the Imperial German Navy
1915 ships
Ships built in Elbing
World War I torpedo boats of Germany
World War I warships scuttled at Scapa Flow
Maritime incidents in 1919