T1 is commissioned.
Design and service
The story of Torpedoboot T1
After operations near Jutland and mining operations in the North Sea, T1 was sent to France in September 1940 for a short time. After a short visit in Germany, the 1st Torpedoboot Flotilla was relocated to Norway and disband in August 1941, T1 was transferred to the 2nd Torpedoboot Flotilla. After operations in Norway, some of those ships supported the advance of German troops during the invasion of the Soviet union and some participated in Operation Cerberus in 1942.
The remaining ships were was part of the torpedo training school in the Baltic Sea until mid 1943. From 1944, the 2nd Torpedoboot Flotilla was used for escort duties in the Baltic Sea. T1 was sunk by American Bombers while being docked at the Deutsche Werke shipyard in Kiel on 9 April 1945 at 22:30. The wreck was scrapped after 20 May 1946.
Operational history
Service timeline
Together with T5 and T8, T1 escorts a convoy form Fredrikshavn to Horten.
The destroyer Karl Galster and the torpedo boats Falke, Greif, Ilits, Jaguar, Kondor, T1, T2 and T3 excecute a mine laying operation in the south western North Sea.
Seeadler, Iltis, T1, T2 and T3 escort the mine layers Brummer, Skagerak and Stralsund to Le Havre.
T1 is hit by a bomb during an air attack on Cherbourg. Turbine room 2 is destroyed.
Transferred to Wilhelmshaven.
Operation of the 1st and 2nd torpedo boat flotilla with T1, T4, T6, T7, T8, T9 and T10 against coastal shipping at the British east coast. The operation is cancelled after T6 is sunk after a mine hit near Aberdeen.
On its way into the Atlantic, the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper is escorted by the torpedo boats T1, T4, T5, T8, T9 and T12.
The torpedo boats T1, T5, T8 and T12 escort the light cruiers Köln and Nürnberg during a mine laying operation in the North Sea.
The auxiliary cruiser Kormoran is escorted by T1, T5 and T12 into the North Sea.
The torpedo boats Falke, Greif, Seeadler, T1, T7, T9, T10 and T12 escort the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau during their attempt to break into the North Atlantic. The operation is aborted.
Escorted by the torpedo boats T1, T5, T9 and T10, the mine layers Brummer, Königin Louise and Tannenberg leave Stavanger to lay the mine field "20 Pommern". The operation is aborted due to the weather conditions.
Another attempt to lay the mine field "20 Pommern": T1, T5, T10 and T12 escort several mine layers, again the operation has to be aborted because of the weather.
Decommissioned.
At a glance
Technical profile
Dimensions, armament, protection and performance.
Dimensions
- Size (Max)
- 1088 t
- Length (Total)
- 84,30 m
- Length (Waterline)
- 82,16 m
- Beam
- 8,62 m
- Draft
- 2,94 m
- Crew
- 119
Armament
- 10,5 cm L/45 C/32
- 1
- 2 cm MG L/65 C/39
- 5-12
- 53,3 cm Torpedo tubes
- 6
- Mines
- 30
Machinery
- Shafts
- 2
- Turbines
- 2
- Type
- Wagner Geared Turbines
Performance
- Total Performance
- 31000 shp
- Speed
- 35,0 kn
- Range
- 1070 sm at 19 kn
The archive
Photographs
Original postcard and photographic material from the private collection.

The archive
Models
Ship models in 1/1250 scale.

Construction record
Torpedoboot T1
- Laid down
- F. Schichau Elbing, 14.11.1936
- Launched
- 19.02.1938
- Commissioned
- 02.12.1939
- Fate
- sunk 09.04.1945
- Cost
- 8,8 Mio Reichsmark
