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SMS G37

Coordinates: 54°19′N 04°55′E / 54.317°N 4.917°E / 54.317; 4.917
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History
German Empire
Ordered1914 Peacetime order
BuilderGermaniawerft, Kiel, Germany
Launched17 December 1914
Commissioned29 June 1915
FateSunk by a mine, 4 November 1917
General characteristics
Displacement1,051 t (1,034 long tons)
Length79.5 m (260 ft 10 in) o/a
Beam8.4 m (27 ft 7 in)
Draught3.5 m (11 ft 6 in)
Installed power24,000 PS (24,000 shp; 18,000 kW)
Propulsion
Speed34 kn (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Range1,685 nmi (3,121 km; 1,939 mi) at 17 kn (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Complement83 officers and sailors
Armament

SMS G37 was a Großes Torpedoboot 1913 class torpedo boat of the Deutschen Kaiserliche Marine during World War I, and the 13th ship of her class.

Construction

G37 was ordered from Germaniawerft as part of the 1914 order of high-seas torpedo-boats (with a half-flotilla of 6 ordered from Germaniawerft and a second half-flotilla from AG Vulcan).[1] She was launched from Germaniawerft's Kiel shipyard on 17 December 1914 and commissioned on 29 June 1915.[2] The "G" in G37 refers to the shipyard at which she was constructed.[3]

G37 was 79.5 metres (260 ft 10 in) long overall and 78.6 metres (257 ft 10 in) at the waterline, with a beam of 8.4 metres (27 ft 7 in) and a draft of 3.5 metres (11 ft 6 in).[1] Displacement was 822 tonnes (809 long tons) normal and 1,051 tonnes (1,034 long tons) deep load.[4] Three oil-fired water-tube boilers fed steam to 2 sets of Germania steam turbines rated at 24,000 metric horsepower (24,000 shp; 18,000 kW), giving a speed of 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph). 299 tonnes (294 long tons) of fuel oil was carried, giving a range of 1,685 nautical miles (3,121 km; 1,939 mi) at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) and 1,300 nautical miles (2,400 km; 1,500 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).[1]

Armament 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.[1][4] The ship had a complement of 87 officers and men.[1]

Service

G37 was assigned to the Sixth Torpedo Boat Flotilla, Twelfth Half-Flotilla, of the High Seas Fleet at the Battle of Jutland.[5] Early in the battle, she fell astern of the rest of her flotilla, because she had temporarily lost power from a boiler, and fired two torpedoes at British light cruisers at about 17:44 CET (i.e. 16:44 GMT).[6] The 12th Half Flotilla attempted a torpedo attack against the battlecruisers of the British 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron at about 19:00 CET. While V69 fired two torpedoes and S50 and V45 both fired a single torpedo at the battlecruisers, the light cruisers of the German 2nd Scouting Group fouled G37's line of fire, and instead she fired a single torpedo at British destroyers. None of the torpedoes from this attack, or one immediately afterwards from the 9th Flotilla, hit their targets.[7] The battlecruiser Lützow had been badly damaged by shells from British battlecruisers, and G37 was one of seven German torpedo boats tasked with escorting Lützow.[8] Heavy flooding forced the crew of Lützow to abandon ship at 01:55 CET, 1 June. G37, together with G38, G40 and V45 came alongside to take off Lützow's crew before the battlecruiser was scuttled by G38.[9] Later that night (at about 03:25 CET) the four torpedo boats took part in a brief engagement with the British destroyers Contest and Garland in which neither side received further damage.[10] The four torpedo boats had another encounter with British forces at 04:25 CET when they encountered the light cruiser Champion and the destroyers Obdurate, Moresby, Marksman and Maenad. G40 was damaged by a shell from Champion and had to be taken under tow by G37.[11]

On 18 August 1916, the High Seas Fleet sailed on a sortie to bombard Sunderland in order to draw out units of the British Fleet and destroy them. G37 formed part of the Seventh Torpedo Boat Flotilla, but no general fleet engagement took place, despite both the High Seas Fleet and the British Grand Fleet being at sea at the same time.[12][13] On 4 November 1917 at 04:55 hours, G37 struck a mine in the southern North Sea off Walcheren Island, Netherlands (54°19′N 04°55′E / 54.317°N 4.917°E / 54.317; 4.917) G37. Four sailors died in this incident.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 168
  2. ^ Gröner 1983, p. 54
  3. ^ Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 164
  4. ^ a b Gröner 1983, p. 53
  5. ^ Campbell 1998, p. 25
  6. ^ Campbell 1998, pp. 35, 53
  7. ^ Campbell 1998, pp. 113–114
  8. ^ Campbell 1998, pp. 163, 183–185
  9. ^ Campbell 1998, p. 294
  10. ^ Campbell 1998, pp. 301–302
  11. ^ Campbell 1998, pp. 315–316
  12. ^ Massie 2007, pp. 682–684
  13. ^ Naval Staff Monograph No. 33 1927, pp. 260–261
  • Campbell, John (1998). Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-750-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Gröner, Erich (1983). Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe 1815–1945: Band 2: Torpedoboote, Zerstörer, Schnelleboote, Minensuchboote, Minenräumboote. Koblenz, Germany: Bernard & Graefe Verlag. ISBN 3-7637-4801-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Karau, Mark K. (2014). The Naval Flank of the Western Front: The German MarineKorps Flandern 1914–1918. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-231-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Massie, Robert K. (2007). Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany and the Winning of the Great War at Sea. London: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-099-52378-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Monograph No. 33: Home Waters—Part VII.: From June 1916 to November 1916 (PDF). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). Vol. XVII. The Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1927.
  • Newbolt, Henry (1928). History of the Great War: Naval Operations: Volume IV. London: Longmans, Green & Co. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Technical specs of the Großes Torpedoboot 1913 class
  • Germany's High Seas Fleet in the World War, Chapter 10c, published by Admiral Reinhard Scheer in 1920
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