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SMS G85

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History
German Empire
NameG85
Ordered1914 Mobilization (Mob) order
BuilderGermaniawerft, Kiel, Germany
Launched24 July 1915
Commissioned14 December 1915
FateSunk by HMS Swift during the Battle of Dover Strait, 21 April 1917
General characteristics
Class and typeV25-class torpedo boat
Displacement1,051 tonnes
Length83.5 m (274 ft)
Beam  8.33 m (27.3 ft)
Draught  3.74 m (12.3 ft) (fwd); 3.45 m (11.3 ft) (aft)
Speed34.5 knots (63.9 km/h; 39.7 mph)
Range1,100 nautical miles (2,000 km; 1,300 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement83 officers and sailors
Armament

SMS G85[a][b] was a 1913 Type Large Torpedo Boat (Großes Torpedoboot) of the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) during World War I, and the 40th ship of her class.

Construction and design

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On 6 August 1914, as a result of the outbreak of the First World War, the Imperial German Navy placed orders for 48 high-seas torpedo-boats, with 12, including G85, to be built by Germaniawerft, part of the 1914 mobilisation order.[2][3][c] These ships were based on the last torpedo boats ordered before the outbreak of war, the V25-class.[3] G85 was laid down at Germaniawerft's Kiel shipyard as yard number 221,[6] and was launched on 24 July 1915. The ship was commissioned on 14 December 1915.[7]

G85 was 83.0 m (272 ft 4 in) long overall and 82.2 m (269 ft 8 in) at the waterline, with a beam of 8.36 m (27 ft 5 in) and a draught of 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in). The ship displaced 960 tonnes (940 long tons) design and 1,147 tonnes (1,129 long tons) deep load.[5][6] Three oil-fired water-tube boilers fed steam at 18 standard atmospheres (260 psi) to two sets of Germania direct-drive steam turbines, each of which drove a single propeller shaft with a 2.50 m (8 ft 2 in) diameter, three-bladed propeller fitted.[8][9] The machinery was rated at 24,000 PS (24,000 shp; 18,000 kW), giving a design speed of 33.5 kn (38.6 mph; 62.0 km/h).[6] 326 t of oil was carried, giving a range of 1,760 nmi (2,030 mi; 3,260 km) at 20 kn (23 mph; 37 km/h).[6]

The ship was armed with three 8.8 cm SK L/45 naval guns[d][e] 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 the second half of 1916, the 8.8 cm guns were replaced by three 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK L/45 guns.[13] The ship had a complement of 85 officers and men.[9]

Service

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On 10–11 February 1916, 25 torpedo boats of the 2nd, 6th and 9th Torpedo Boat Flotillas carried out a sortie to the Dogger Bank in the North Sea.[14] G85, part of the 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla, and the torpedo boat G42 escorted the light cruiser Pillau as the cruiser provided cover for the operation, operating 20 nmi (23 mi; 37 km) behind the search line.[15] The operation resulted in the Battle of Dogger Bank, where four British sloops were mistaken for cruisers and attacked, with the sloop HMS Arabis torpedoed and sunk.[14] On 25 March 1916, the British seaplane carrier HMS Vindex, escorted by the cruisers and destroyers of the Harwich Force, launched an air attack against a Zeppelin base believed to be at Hoyer on the coast of Schleswig. The raid was a failure, with the airship base actually at Tondern. The British destroyer HMS Medusa was badly damaged by a collision with the destroyer Laverock and was later abandoned.[16][17] German cruisers and torpedo boats were ordered to search for the withdrawing British force, with G85 one of five torpedo boats (S18, S22, V29, G42 and G85) that accompanied the light cruiser Rostock.[14] S22 struck a mine about 35 nmi (40 mi; 65 km) west of the Borkum Riff Lightship, with the explosion sinking the torpedo boat.[16][18]

G85 was part of the 5th half-flotilla of the 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla in April 1916.[19] G85 was under repair at Kiel dockyard on 31 May 1916, and so did not take part in the Battle of Jutland.[20][21] 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. G85 formed part of the 3rd 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.[22][23]

On 23 October 1916, the 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla (including G85) and the 9th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, a total of 20 torpedo boats, left Germany for Flanders in Belgium in order to reinforce the German naval forces based there, with the objective of disrupting the Dover Patrol and attack allied shipping in the English Channel, arriving on 24 October.[24][25] G85 was sunk in the Battle of Dover Strait on 21 April 1917 by HMS Swift. In this action, two groups of German destroyers set out to bombard Allied positions ashore at Dover, England and Calais, France. However, Swift intercepted G85 and sank her with a torpedo.

SMS G42 was also sunk in this action.

Notes

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  1. ^ "SMS" stands for German: Seiner Majestät Schiff, lit. 'His Majesty's Ship'
  2. ^ The "G" in G85 denoted the shipbuilder who constructed her, i.e. Germaniawerft.[1]
  3. ^ The last of these ships, G96, was completed as the first of the 1916 Mobilisation Type.[4][5]
  4. ^ SK stood for Schnellfeuerkanone (quick-firing gun)[10] or Schnellade-Kanone (fast-loading gun).[11]
  5. ^ In Imperial German Navy gun nomenclature, the L/45 denotes the length of the gun. In this case, the L/45 gun is 45 caliber, meaning that the gun has an overall length 45 times greater than the gun's bore.[12]

References

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  1. ^ Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 164.
  2. ^ Gardiner & Gray 1985, pp. 168–169.
  3. ^ a b Fock 1989, p. 47.
  4. ^ Gröner, Jung & Maass 1990, p. 181.
  5. ^ a b Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 169.
  6. ^ a b c d Gröner, Jung & Maass 1990, p. 179.
  7. ^ Gröner, Jung & Maass 1990, p. 180.
  8. ^ Gröner, Jung & Maass 1990, p. 178–179.
  9. ^ a b Fock 1989, p. 51.
  10. ^ Gröner, Jung & Maass 1983, p. 17.
  11. ^ Friedman 2011, p. 6.
  12. ^ Friedman 2011, pp. 130–131.
  13. ^ Gröner, Jung & Maass 1990, p. 178.
  14. ^ a b c Fock 1989, p. 354.
  15. ^ Groos 1925, p. 36.
  16. ^ a b Naval Staff Monograph No. 31 1926, pp. 162–166.
  17. ^ Halpern 1994, pp. 311–312.
  18. ^ Naval Staff Monograph No. 31 1926, p. 175.
  19. ^ Fock 1989, p. 347.
  20. ^ Campbell 1998, p. 26.
  21. ^ Groos 1925, p. 468.
  22. ^ Massie 2007, pp. 682–684.
  23. ^ Naval Staff Monograph No. 33 1927, pp. 260–261.
  24. ^ Fock 1989, p. 359.
  25. ^ Karau 2014, p. 75.

Bibliography

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  • Campbell, John (1998). Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-750-3.
  • Fock, Harald (1989). Z-Vor! Internationale Entwicklung und Kriegseinsätze von Zerstörern und Torpedobooten 1914 bis 1939 (in German). Herford, Germany: Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mBH. ISBN 3-7822-0207-4.
  • Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations: An Illustrated Directory. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
  • 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.
  • Gröner, Erich; Jung, Dieter; Maass, Martin (1983). Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe 1815–1945: Band 2: Torpedoboote, Zerstörer, Schnellboote, Minensuchboote, Minenräumboote (in German). Koblenz: Bernard & Graef Verlag. ISBN 3-7637-4801-6.
  • Gröner, Erich; Jung, Dieter; Maass, Martin (1990). German Warships 1915–1945: Volume One: Major Surface Vessels. Annapolis, Maryland, US: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-790-9.
  • Groos, O. (1925). Der krieg in der Nordsee: Fünfter Band: Von Januar bis Juni 1916. Der Krieg zur See 1914–1918 (in German). Berlin: Verlag von E. S. Mittler und Sohn.
  • Halpern, Paul G. (1994). A Naval History of World War I. London: UCL Press. ISBN 1-85728-498-4.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Monograph No. 31: Home Waters—Part VI.: From October 1915 to May 1916 (PDF). Naval Staff Monographs (Historical). Vol. XV. Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division. 1926.
  • 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.
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