German torpedo boat T18

The Type 37 torpedo boat was a slightly improved version of the preceding Type 35 with better range.Whitley 1991, p. 50 The boats had an overall length of {{convert|85.2|m|ftin|sp=us}} and were {{convert|82|m|ft|sp=us}} long at the waterline.Gröner, p. 193 The ships had a beam of {{convert|8.87|m|ftin|sp=us}}, and a mean draft of {{convert|2.8|m|ftin|sp=us}} at deep load. They displaced {{convert|888|MT|LT|lk=on}} at standard load and {{convert|1139|MT|LT}} at deep load. Their crew numbered 119 officers and sailors.Sieche, p. 238 Their pair of geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller shaft, were designed to produce {{convert|31000|shp|lk=on}} using steam from four high-pressure water-tube boilers which was intended to give the boats a maximum speed of {{convert|35|kn|lk=in}}. They carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of {{convert|1600|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|19|kn}}.Whitley 1991, p. 202

As built, the Type 37s mounted a single 10.5 cm SK C/32 naval gun gun on the stern. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a single 3.7 cm SK C/30 anti-aircraft (AA) gun superfiring over the 10.5 cm gun and a pair of 2 cm FlaK 30/38/Flakvierling guns on the bridge wings. They carried six above-water {{cvt|533|mm|in|0}} torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidships and could also carry 30 mines (or 60 if the weather was good).Whitley 1991, pp. 50–51; Whitley 2000, p. 71

Early-war modifications were limited to the conversion of the foremast into a tripod mast, installation of a FuM 28{{refn|{{langx|de|Funkmess-Ortung}} (Radio-direction finder, active ranging)|group=Note}} radar with fixed antennas angled 45° to each side.Whitley 2000, p. 72 T18 received an additional 3.7 cm AA gun on her forecastle after November 1941. Quadruple 2 cm gun mounts began slowly replacing the 3.7 cm gun beginning in May 1942 as the ships were refitted. By 1944, another quadruple mount had been fitted on the searchlight platform amidships in T18 and she received a Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60 before her loss in September. It is uncertain if the boat received twin 2 cm gun mounts that replaced the single mounts in the bridge wings before then.Whitley 2000, pp. 72–73

T18 was ordered on 18 September 1937 from Schichau, laid down at their Elbing, East Prussia, shipyard on 27 July 1939Whitley 1991, p. 211 as yard number 1406, launched on 1 June 1940 and commissioned on 22 November 1941; construction was delayed by shortages of skilled labor and of raw materials. After working up, the boat began convoy escort duties in the Baltic. She was assigned to the Torpedo School as a training ship from May to September 1942 and was then transferred to France. There she joined her sisters {{ship|German torpedo boat|T13||2}}, {{ship|German torpedo boat|T14||2}}, {{ship|German torpedo boat|T19||2}} and {{ship|German torpedo boat|T21||2}} as escorts for German blockade runners sailing from ports in the Bay of Biscay en route to Japan. Although escorted by T18 and the torpedo boats {{ship|German torpedo boat|Falke||2}}, {{ship|German torpedo boat|T2||2}}, {{Ship|German torpedo boat|T12||2}} and {{ship|German torpedo boat|T23||2}}, the Italian blockade runner Himalaya failed in her attempt to break out through the Bay of Biscay to the Far East when she was spotted by British aircraft in late March 1943. On 5–8 May, the 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla with T18 and the torpedo boats T2, {{ship|German torpedo boat|T5||2}} and {{ship|German torpedo boat|T22||2}} laid three minefields in the Channel. The following month the boats returned to the Bay of Biscay to help escort U-boats through the Bay. T18, T2 and T5 arrived back in Germany on 1 July and the former was briefly reassigned to the Torpedo School before she became a training ship for U-boat flotillas in September–November. T18 was refitted at Schichau from December 1943 to May 1944 was then assigned to support German operations in the Baltic. Reassigned to the 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla, T18 and her sisters T13 and {{ship|German torpedo boat|T20||2}} sortied into the Archipelago Sea as a show of force on 12–13 September after the Prime Minister of Finland, Antti Hackzell, broke off diplomatic relations with Germany and ordered German forces to leave Finland on 2 September. On the return voyage, T18 was sunk by Soviet aircraft.Rohwer, pp. 198, 241, 249, 355; Whitley, pp. 144, 168, 211

{{reflist|group=Note}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Cite book |last=Gröner|first=Erich|title=German Warships 1815–1945|year=1990 |location=Annapolis, Maryland|volume=1: Major Surface Warships|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=0-87021-790-9|author-link=Erich Gröner}}
• {{cite book|last=Rohwer|first=Jürgen|title=Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two |publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=2005|edition=Third Revised |isbn=1-59114-119-2|author-link=Jürgen Rohwer}}
• {{cite book|author1-last=Sieche|author1-first=Erwin|editor1-last=Chesneau|editor1-first=Roger|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946|year=1980|publisher=Conway Maritime Press |location=London |isbn=0-85177-146-7|name-list-style=amp|chapter=Germany}}
• {{cite book|last=Whitley|first=M. J.|title=Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia |year=2000| publisher=Cassell & Co.|location=London|isbn=1-85409-521-8|author-link=Michael J. Whitley}}
• {{cite book|last=Whitley|first=M. J.|title=German Destroyers of World War Two|publisher=Naval Institute Press |date=1991|isbn=1-55750-302-8 |location=Annapolis, Maryland}}

• [http://www.german-navy.de/kriegsmarine/ships/torpedoboats/torpedoboot1937/index.html Type 37 on German Navy.de]

{{Type 37 torpedo boat}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:T18}}

Category:Type 37 torpedo boats

Category:1940 ships