SMS S20 was a V1-class torpedo boat of the Imperial German Navy. The ship was built by Schichau-Werke, at their Elbing shipyard, completing in 1913. S20 served with the German High Seas Fleet during the First World War, taking part in the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and moved to Flanders later in 1916. The ship was sunk by cruisers and destroyers of the British Harwich Force on 5 June 1917.
Construction and design
In 1911, the Imperial German Navy decided to break the pattern of each year's orders of torpedo boats being a development of the previous year's designs, as it felt that they were getting too big to work for the fleet, and instead the 12 torpedo boats (six each ordered from AG Vulcan and Germaniawerft) (the ) were smaller than those ordered in recent years in order to be more manoeuvrable and so work better with the fleet. This change resulted in the numbering series for torpedo boats being restarted. The 1912 programme placed orders for a flotilla of 12 torpedo boats of similar design ( to ) with Schichau-Werke. The reduction in size resulted in the ships' seaworthiness being adversely affected, however, and range being reduced, with the 1911 and 1912 torpedo boats acquiring the disparaging nickname "Admiral Lans' cripples".
The Schichau boats were long overall and at the waterline, with a beam of and a draught of . Displacement was normal and deep load. Three coal-fired and one oil-fired water-tube boilers fed steam to two direct-drive steam turbines rated at , giving a design speed of . of coal and of oil were carried, giving a range of at or at .
S20s armament consisted of two SK L/30 naval guns in single mounts fore and aft, together with four 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes with one reload torpedo carried. Up to 18 mines could be carried. The ship had a crew of 74 officers and other ranks. In 1916, the guns were replaced by more powerful 8.8 cm SK L/45 naval guns, and in 1917 the ship was again rearmed, with two 10.5 cm SK L/45 naval guns replacing the 8.8cm guns, with the ship's forecastle being lengthened in 1916–17.
S20, yard number 871, was launched at Schichau's shipyard in Elbing, East Prussia (now Elbląg in Poland) on 4 December 1912 and was commissioned on 1 November 1913.
Service
In May 1914, S20 was a member of the 14th half-flotilla of the 7th Torpedo boat Flotilla, and remained part of the 14th half-flotilla at the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. The 7th Torpedo Boat Flotilla supported the Raid on Yarmouth on 3 November 1914 and the Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby on 16 December 1914. The flotilla continued to support the High Seas Fleet in 1915, sortieing into the German Bight with the 5th and 9th Flotilla on 19/20 January and escorting a sortie of the fleet's battleships to off Terschelling on 29/30 March. In May 1915, in support of the Gorlice–Tarnów offensive on the Eastern Front, Germany launched an attack against Libau (now Liepāja) in Latvia, with naval support from the German navy. The 14th half-flotilla, including S20, formed part of a force of four light cruisers and 21 torpedo boats detached from the High Seas Fleet in support of the Baltic operations. They were used to prevent interference by the Russian navy with the operations, patrolling between Ösel and Gotska Sandön and between Gotska Sandön and the Swedish coast. S20 and sister ship operated in support of the light cruisers of IV Scouting Group on 7 May, and on 8 May, S20 and S23 were attacked by the British submarine , with S20 spotting the submarine's conning tower, but dense fog caused contact to be lost before S20 could open fire. The force detached from the High Seas Fleet was recalled to the North Sea soon after Libau was captured on 8 May.
S20, as part of the 7th flotilla, was part of the High Seas Fleet when it sailed to cover the Lowestoft Raid on 24–25 April 1916. At the Battle of Jutland on 31 May–1 June 1916, S20 was still part of the 13th Half-flotilla of the 7th Torpedo boat flotilla, operating in support of the main German battle fleet. During the night action, the 7th flotilla was ordered to search for and attack the British fleet, being allocated the sector to the south-east of the German fleet. The speed of the ships of the 7th flotilla, (and those of the 5th Flotilla, patrolling the adjacent sector) was limited to less than by the need to minimise the production of smoke and sparks which would give their location away in any confrontation at night, and by the tiredness of their stokers, as the ships had been operating at high speeds for most of the preceding day. As the British fleet had a night cruising speed of 17 knots, this would limit the 7th Flotilla's effectiveness.