German Torpedo Boat Albatros

''Albatros'' was the fourth of six Type 23 torpedo boats built for the German Navy (initially called the ''Reichsmarine'' and renamed the ''Kriegsmarine'' in 1935). Completed in 1927, ''Albatros'' often served as a flagship of torpedo boat units. The ship made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. After an attack by aircraft of the Spanish Republican Air Force killed German sailors in 1937, she participated in the retaliatory bombardment of Almería.

At the beginning of World War II in 1939, ''Albatros'' helped to lay minefields and made anti-shipping patrols before participating in Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of Norway in April 1940. The ship fired the first shots of the campaign when she encountered and crippled a Norwegian patrol boat. She was lightly damaged during the Battle of Horten Harbor. ''Albatros'' then ran aground and was wrecked.

Design and armament

Derived from the World War I-era torpedo boat , the Type 23 torpedo boat was slightly larger, but had a similar armament and speed.Gröner, p. 191 The Type 23s had an overall length of and were long at the waterline. The ships had a beam of , and a mean draft of . They displaced at standard load and at deep load.Whitley 1991, p. 202 ''Albatros'' was fitted with a pair of Schichau geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller, that were designed to produce using steam from three water-tube boilers, which propelled the ship at .Whitley 2000, p. 57 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 rotating torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidships and could also carry up to 30 mines.Sieche, p. 237 After 1931, the torpedo tubes were replaced by tubes and a pair of C/30 antiaircraft guns were added. At least some of the ships were fitted with depth charges, but details are lacking.

Construction and career

''Albatros'' was laid down at the (Wilhelmshaven Navy Yard) on 5 October 1925 as yard number 105, launched on 15 July 1926 and commissioned on 15 May 1927. After working up, ''Albatros'' became the flagship of the 4th Torpedo Boat Half-Flotilla, which also consisted of her sister ships , and . The half-flotilla was under the command of ''Korvettenkapitän'' Karl Dönitz, who later became grand admiral of the ''Kriegsmarine'' of Nazi Germany.

In the spring of 1929, ''Albatros'' was departing Wilhelmshaven to take part in a fleet cruise in Spanish waters, and collided with ''Möwe'' at the exit from the harbor. Both ships followed the fleet four days later after repairs. In 1931, the 4th Torpedo Boat Half-Flotilla and the light cruiser were present during the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the Latvian Navy in Libau. The following year, ''Albatros'', again with her sisters and ''Königsberg'', represented Germany at the celebration of the betrothal of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten of Sweden, the oldest son of the then crown prince of Sweden, to the German princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. On 7 December 1932, ''Albatros'' was decommissioned and replaced by ''Greif'' as flagship of the 4th Half-Flotilla.Hildebrand, Röhr & Steinmetz, p. 86

On 5 October 1933, ''Albatros'', commanded by ''Kapitänleutnant'' (Lieutenant) Werner Hartmann, was put back into service, replacing the pre-war boat ''T151'' in the 2nd Torpedo Boat Half-Flotilla based at Swinemünde (now Świnoujście, Poland). ''Albatros'' became the flagship of the 2nd Half-Flotilla, which consisted of ''Möwe'' and the two Type 24 torpedo boats and , on 1 October 1934.

Spanish Civil War

From July 1936 to October 1937, ''Albatros'' carried out three non-intervention patrols in Spanish waters which were intended to prevent men and material from reaching the participants of the Spanish Civil War. On the first mission from 28 July to 27 August 1936, the four ships of the 2nd Half-Flotilla escorted the light cruiser and the heavy cruisers and to the north Spanish coast where they evacuated Germans and other refugees to France. The warships not only transported refugees, but also escorted the many merchant ships that were chartered by Germany for the repatriation of their citizens. The half-flotilla returned to Spain with ''Albatros'' from 28 September to 29 November. Her sister ran aground while leaving Cadiz harbor that same month and had to return to Germany on one turbine, escorted by ''Albatros''.

The 2nd Half-Flotilla returned to Spain for the third time from May to June 1937. On 24 May, Republican aircraft attacked the town and harbor of Palma de Mallorca causing ''Deutschland'' to depart for Ibiza, although ''Albatros''s captain chose to remain in port. During subsequent attacks later that day, several bombs fell near the ship and she steamed to join the cruiser in Ibiza. Five days later, another attack was carried out on ''Deutschland'' which killed several dozen crewmen. As retaliation, Adolf Hitler ordered ''Admiral Scheer'' to bombard the Republican-held city of Almería. The four boats of the 2nd Half-FlotillaWhitley 1991, p. 79 escorted the ship as she did so on 31 May, targeting Republican coastal artillery, naval buildings and ships in the harbor, which killed 19 people. On 24 June ''Albatros'' was replaced by ''Möwe'', and returned to Germany escorting the light cruisers ''Köln'' and .

Interwar

In fall 1937, the 2nd Half-Flotilla was disbanded, and ''Albatros'' served as a training ship until she was decommissioned on 16 February 1938. The boat was placed back into service on 1 July 1938 and was assigned to the 6th Torpedo Boat Flotilla. She was transferred four months later to the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, which included her sisters ''Greif'', ''Möwe'', , and ''Falke''.

Second World War

At the start of World War II, ''Albatros'' was used in the defensive mining operations in the North Sea that began on 3 September 1939 that were intended to prevent the British Royal Navy from entering the German Bight. From 3 to 5 October ''Albatros'', together with three destroyers and her sisters ''Greif'' and ''Falke'', was tasked with anti-shipping patrols in the Kattegat and Skaggerak that captured four ships.

During Operation Weserübung, ''Albatros'' was assigned to Group 5 under ''Konteradmiral'' Oskar Kummetz on the heavy cruiser , tasked to capture Oslo. ''Albatros'' transported about 100 men of the invasion force and was one of the cruiser's escorts through the Baltic and Kattegat. While passing Skagen, Denmark, on 8 April 1940, the British submarine unsuccessfully attacked the cruisers of the group with torpedoes. ''Albatros'' spotted their tracks and unsuccessfully depth charged the submarine. Later that night the group encountered the Norwegian patrol boat in heavy fog at 23:00. After firing a warning shot and realizing that ''Albatros'' would not turn away, and was going to violate Norwegian neutrality, ''Pol III'' fired flares to alert Norwegian coastal batteries and rammed ''Albatros'' in the side. From ''Albatros'' it was clear that the guns on ''Pol III'' were manned, and that the Norwegians intended to fight. Despite clear orders from Kummetz to fire only if fired upon, the torpedo boat's captain, ''Kapitänleutnant'' Siegfried Strelow, opened fire, hitting ''Pol III'' with at least two 10.5 cm shells and raking her with machine guns, thus firing the opening shots of the campaign. The Norwegian ship's crew attempted to abandon ship in the only intact boat remaining, but it capsized and they were taken aboard ''Albatros''. ''Albatros''s crew set the patrol boat on fire and abandoned it, proceeding up the foggy Oslofjord independently. The torpedo boat was finally able to get a bearing from her sister ''Kondor'' and followed her towards the naval base at Karljohansvern, in the town of Horten. En route, she was spotted by the lightly armed Norwegian minesweeper which sheered off after radioing a report at 04:03 on 9 April.Haarr 2009, pp. 83–84, 119–123, 129

The German force tasked to occupy Karljohansvern was scheduled to do so at dawn on 9 April, but ''Kondor''s captain, the commander of the force, decided to assault the harbor directly since the Norwegians had already been alerted. About 140 soldiers were transferred to the small motor minesweepers ''R17'' and ''R21'' and the former was in the lead as they steamed through the harbor entrance at 04:35 at high speed, slowly followed by ''Albatros'', while ''Kondor'' was transferring her embarked troops to another ship. The minelayer engaged ''R17'' ten minutes later and set her on fire, but not before she unloaded her troops. The minelayer was only able to get a few shots off at ''R21'' before she steamed behind an island in the harbor. About this time, ''Albatros'' was approaching the harbor mouth and exchanged fire with ''Olav Tryggvason'' without effect. Strelow, with only a single gun able to bear on the minelayer, withdrew behind one of the outer islands and started blindly bombarding the harbor. The minelayer was occasionally struck by shrapnel, but she hit the torpedo boat with one shell at 06:30, killing two and wounding another pair of sailors. ''Albatros'' withdrew not long afterward and the German troops that had made it ashore bluffed the Norwegians into surrendering at 07:35.

Later that morning, ''Kondor'' and ''Albatros'' were ordered to land their troops at Son and then, reinforced by ''R21'', she was ordered to secure the submarine base at Teie. On the morning of 10 April, ''Kondor'' and ''Albatros'' were engaged by coastal batteries on the island of Bolærne and forced to turn away. Later that day, ''Albatros'' was escorting the merchant ship while also landing men on the island of Rauøy; Strelow decided to steam east of the island to avoid any further attention from the guns on Bolærne. Unbeknownst to him, sea ice had removed the marker for the Gyren shoal a few weeks earlier and ''Albatros'' struck it at a speed of . The impact ripped open at least one fuel tank and holed the turbine and boiler rooms. The ship settled with a pronounced list to port and her stern in the air. She quickly lost all electrical power and several fires were ignited that caused several small explosions; ''Albatros'' was declared a total loss. The crew were rescued by the ''Vorpostenboot'' and was later assigned to after the Norwegian surrender. The minelayer was initially renamed ''Albatros II'' and then became ''Brummer''.Haarr 2009, pp. 153, 155, 163, 380, fn. 11, p. 458

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Albatros, German torpedo boat
Type 23 torpedo boats
1926 ships
Ships built in Wilhelmshaven
Military units and formations of Nazi Germany in the Spanish Civil War
Maritime incidents in April 1940