German Torpedo Boat Luchs

''Luchs'' was the fourth of six Type 24 torpedo boats built for the German Navy (initially called the ''Reichsmarine'' and then renamed as the ''Kriegsmarine'' in 1935) during the 1920s. The boat made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. During World War II, she played a minor role in the Battle of Kristiansand during the Norwegian Campaign of 1940. ''Luchs'' was sunk in Norwegian waters in July by either a British submarine or a floating mine.

Design and armament

Derived from the preceding Type 23 torpedo boat, the Type 24 was slightly larger and faster, but had a similar armament.Gröner, p. 191 The boats had an overall length of and were long at the waterline. They had a beam of , and a mean draft of . The Type 24s displaced at standard load and at deep load. ''Wolf''s pair of Brown-Boveri geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller, were designed to produce using steam from three water-tube boilers which would propel the ship at .Whitley 2000, p. 58 The boats carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at . Their crew numbered 129 officers and sailors.Whitley 1991, p. 202

As built, the Type 24s mounted three SK C/28 guns, one forward and two aft of the superstructure, numbered one through three from bow to stern. They carried six above-water 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidshipsSieche, 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. In 1932 the boat had her 10.5 cm guns replaced by SK C/34 guns for sea trials prior to their use on the s.

Construction and career

''Luchs'' was laid down at the ''Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven'' (Navy Yard) on 2 April 1927 as yard number 111, launched on 15 March 1928 and commissioned on 15 April 1929. By the end of 1936 she was assigned to the 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla and the boat made several deployments to Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Around June 1938, ''Luchs'' was transferred to the 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla.

Second World War

At the beginning of the war, the 4th Flotilla was disbanded and ''Luchs'' was transferred to the 6th Torpedo Boat Flotilla where she supported the North Sea mining operations that began on 3 September 1939. In retaliation for the ''Altmark'' Incident where the Royal Navy seized captured British sailors from the in neutral Norwegian waters on 16 February, the ''Kriegsmarine'' organized Operation ''Nordmark'' to search for Allied merchant ships in the North Sea as far north as the Shetland Islands. The 2nd Destroyer Flotilla, ''Luchs'' and the torpedo boat escorted the battleships and and the heavy cruiser during the initial stages of the sortie on 18 February before patrolling the Skaggerak until the 20th.

During the Invasion of Norway in April 1940, the boat was assigned to Group 4 under ''Kapitän zur See'' (Captain) Friedrich Rieve on the light cruiser , tasked to capture Kristiansand. They departed Wesermünde on the morning of 8 April and arrived off Kristiansand the following morning, delayed by heavy fog. They had been spotted approaching the city and the alerted coast-defense guns at Odderøya Fortress opened fire on ''Karlsruhe'' at 05:32. The cruiser, ''Luchs'' and ''Seeadler'' returned fire. Neither side inflicted any damage on the other, although several of ''Karlsruhe''s shells missed their targets and impacted in the city. With only his forward guns able to bear and his ships loaded with troops, Rieve ordered them to turn away and lay a smoke screen to cover their withdrawal at 05:45. Shortly afterwards, a flight of six Heinkel He 111 bombers from ''Kampfgeschwader 4'' (Bomber Wing) attacked the fortress. Most of their bombs fell outside the fortifications, but one blew up the western ammunition dump and another near the signal station, killing two men and cutting most external communication lines. Encouraged by sight of the blast from the ammunition dump and the numerous hits all over the island on which the fortress was built, Rieve ordered his ships to make another try at 05:55, this time at an angle so that all guns could bear. Accuracy for both sides was better this time, but no German ship was damaged and only a couple of shells from ''Karlsruhe'' landed inside the fort, wounding several gunners. With no discernable effect on the Norwegian defenses, Rieve was forced to withdraw again at 06:23. He now conceived the idea of bombarding the fortress at long range where he could use plunging fire to attack the guns from above and ''Karlsruhe'' would be out of range of the defending guns. The ship opened fire at 06:50 and Rieve ordered ''Luchs'' and ''Seeadler'' to steam through the narrows, but the fog closed in before they could get there and he had to cancel his order. The cruiser's fire was generally ineffective, with more shells landing in the city, so Rieve withdrew around 07:30 and requested additional air support.

Around that time a British reconnaissance aircraft overflew Kristiansand, but failed to see the German ships off shore. The naval commander of the area queried the supreme command whether British forces should be engaged or not and received the order to let them pass. He passed that order to Odderøya at 08:05. Rieve made another attempt to force the narrows around 09:00 when the fog briefly lifted, but nearly ran ''Karlsruhe'' aground and withdrew again. Getting desperate, Rieve ordered his troops loaded onto four of his small E-boats when the fog began to lift again at 09:25 and ordered them to storm the harbor regardless of casualties. An hour later, the Norwegians spotted the incoming German ships with ''Luchs'' and ''Seeadler'' approaching at high speed, followed by the four E-boats. They were reported at two cruisers and their approach from a different direction caused some observers to think that they were not German, especially since there had been a rumor earlier of British ships spotted in the Skaggerak. The confusion was compounded when observers reported that they were flying the French tricolor flag, confusing it with a ''Kriegsmarine'' signal flag of similar color. This caused the Norwegians to think that they were being saved by Allied ships and their guns did not open fire so the Germans landed without resistance and occupied the defenses beginning around 10:45.

Rieve was under orders to return to Kiel as soon as possible, so ''Karlsruhe'' sailed at 18:00, escorted by ''Luchs'', ''Seeadler'', and her sister . At 18:58, one torpedo from the British submarine struck the cruiser amidships, knocking out all power, steering and the pumps. ''Luchs'' evaded the other nine torpedoes and followed them to their origin and began depth charging the submarine for the next several hours, joined by the other two torpedo boats. ''Truant'' was damaged, but survived their attacks. Rieve ordered his crew aboard the torpedo boats and sent ''Luchs'' and ''Seeadler'' ahead while he remained with ''Greif'' to finish off ''Karlsruhe'' with a pair of torpedoes. After the heavy cruiser had been crippled by a British submarine off the Danish coast on 11 April, ''Luchs'', ''Greif'' and ''Seeadler'', among other ships, arrived the following morning to render assistance.

On 26 July ''Luchs'' and her sister, , sortied from Stavanger, Norway, to meet with the crippled ''Gneisenau'' en route from Trondheim to Kiel for repairs. They rendezvoused with the battleship at 12:45 and an explosion occurred aboard ''Luchs'' at 15:49. She broke in half off Jæren and sank with the loss of 102 men. Lookouts from ''Gneisenau'' reported torpedo tracks in the water at that time and the torpedo boat may have been struck by torpedoes aimed at the battleship. The other escorts unsuccessfully searched for a submarine and then rescued the few survivors. The Germans ascribed the sinking to a mine due to reports of floating mines in the area. Only a single British submarine, , could have made the attack, but she was lost with all hands around this time.Haarr 2010, pp. 364–366

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Luchs, German torpedo boat
Type 24 torpedo boats
1928 ships
Ships built in Wilhelmshaven