The Type 24 torpedo boat (also known as the ( (Carnivore) class) was a group of six torpedo boats built for the Reichsmarine during the 1920s. As part of the renamed Kriegsmarine, the boats made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. One was sunk in an accidental collision shortly before the start of World War II in September 1939 and the others escorted ships and searched for contraband for several months of the war. They played a minor role in the Norwegian Campaign of April 1940 and resumed their escort duties. After being transferred to France late in the year, the Type 24s started laying their own minefields in the English Channel.
The surviving boats were refitted in early 1941 and were then transferred to the Skaggerak for escort duties. By the beginning of 1942 there were only two survivors and they were transferred back to France to participate in the Channel Dash. Another boat was lost a few months later trying to escort a commerce raider through the Channel in May. The last surviving boat, , spent the next several years laying minefields, escorting blockade runners and U-boats through the Bay of Biscay and convoys in Norwegian waters. Shortly after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944, she was sunk by British bombers.
Design and description
The Type 24 torpedo boat was slightly larger than the preceding Type 23 and had some incremental improvements based on experience with the Type 23s. The boats had a lot of weather helm so that they were "almost impossible to hold on course in wind and at low speed". The design has been criticized for being equipped with too many torpedoes for the role that they were actually used during World War II.
The boats had an overall length of and were long at the waterline. They had a beam of , a mean draft of and displaced at standard load and at deep load. Their hull was divided into 13 watertight compartments and it was fitted with a double bottom that covered 96% of their length. Their crew numbered 129 officers and sailors.
The Type 24s had two sets of turbines, each driving a single three-bladed propeller, using steam provided by three water-tube boilers that operated at a pressure of . The turbines were designed to produce for a speed of . The ships carried a maximum of of fuel oil which was intended to give a range of at . The effective range proved to be only at that speed.
Armament and sensors
As built, the Type 24s mounted three 52-caliber SK C/28 guns, one forward and two aft of the superstructure, numbered one through three from bow to stern. The mounts had a range of elevation from -10° to +30° and the guns fired projectiles at a muzzle velocity of . They had a range of at maximum elevation. Some of these guns were altered to use the ammunition of the SK C/32 gun which weighed and increased the muzzle velocity to . The new ammunition had a maximum range of at an elevation of 44.4°. The last surviving boat, , retained her original gun until her loss in 1944. Each gun was provided with 100 shells. In 1932 and had their guns bored out to serve as prototypes of the SK C/34 guns prior to their use on the s.
Vessels of this class carried six above-water 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes in two triple mounts and could also carry up to 30 mines. After 1931, the torpedo tubes were replaced by tubes which probably used the G7a torpedo. This torpedo had a warhead and three speed/range settings: at ; at and at .
A pair of C/30 anti-aircraft guns were also added after 1931. The gun had an effective rate of fire of about 120 rounds per minute. Its projectiles were fired at a muzzle velocity of which gave it a ceiling of and a maximum horizontal range of . Each boat carried 2,000 rounds per gun. Wartime additions were an extra pair of 2 cm guns in single mounts just forward of No. 2 gun. In late 1942 they were replaced by a quadruple 2 cm mount. Other guns that were added included three 2 cm guns positioned around the aft funnel, another pair mounted on the bridge wings, and a gun added in front of the bridge, all in single mounts. Around 1944 a FuMB 4 Sumatra radar detector was installed, as was radar.
