German torpedo boat T20

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 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 FuMO 28{{refn|{{langx|de|Funkmess-Ortung}} (Radio-direction finder, active ranging)|group=Note}} radar with fixed antennas angled 45° to each side. Quadruple 2 cm gun mounts began slowly replacing the 3.7 cm gun beginning in May 1942 as the ships were refitted. In September, installation of a single 3.7 cm gun was ordered, either the Flak M42 or the Flak M43, in lieu of the aft torpedo tubes, in all surviving boats, but it is also uncertain if this was done. By war's end, T20 was armed with the 10.5 cm gun, two 3.7 cm guns, one quadruple 2 cm mount and two pairs of 2 cm twin-gun mounts, one pair in the bridge wings and the other on platforms abaft the funnel. She still retained all of her torpedo tubes and had received twenty-one {{convert|8.6|cm|adj=on|sp=us}} RAG anti-aircraft rocket launchers.Whitley 1991, p. 52; Whitley 2000, pp. 72–73

T20 was ordered on 5 October 1938 from Schichau, laid down at their Elbing, East Prussia, shipyard on 28 November 1939Whitley 1991, p. 211 as yard number 1447, launched on 12 September 1940 and commissioned on 5 June 1942; construction was delayed by shortages of skilled labor and of raw materials. On 1–3 October, the ship conducted exercises in the Baltic with the battleship {{ship|German battleship|Scharnhorst||2}}, the light cruisers {{ship|German cruiser|Leipzig||2}} and {{ship|German cruiser|Nürnberg||2}}, the destroyers {{ship|German destroyer|Z25||2}}, {{ship|German destroyer|Z31||2}} and {{ship|German destroyer|Z37||2}}, her sisters {{ship|German torpedo boat|T16||2}}, {{ship|German torpedo boat|T17||2}}, {{ship|German torpedo boat|T21||2}} and the torpedo boats {{ship|German torpedo boat|T22||2}}, {{ship|German torpedo boat|Falke||2}} and {{ship|German torpedo boat|Kondor||2}}. On 7 March 1943, T20, T16, T21 and the torpedo boats {{ship|German torpedo boat|Greif||2}} and {{ship|German torpedo boat|Jaguar||2}}, joined the escorts for Scharnhorst on her voyage to the Arctic in the Skagerrak, although bad weather forced them to put into Bergen, Norway. T20 and T21 were part of the escort force for the battleships {{ship|German battleship|Tirpitz||2}} and Scharnhorst and the heavy cruiser Lützow as they sailed from Narvik, Norway, to the Altafjord on 22–24 March.Rohwer, pp. 199, 236, 240; Whitley, pp. 51, 164–165, 211

The ship returned to Germany in October and was assigned to the Torpedo School until March 1944 when she began a refit that lasted until August. Reassigned to the 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla, T20 and her sisters T13 and T18 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. On 23 September, T20, T13, T17 and T19 escorted the last evacuation convoy from Tallinn, Estonia, to Germany. During 10–12 and 13–15 October, the 3rd Torpedo Boat Flotilla, with T20, T13, T16 and T21, screened Lützow and the heavy cruiser {{ship|German cruiser|Prinz Eugen||2}} as they bombarded advancing Soviet troops near Memel. Afterwards, the 3rd Flotilla was transferred to the Skagerrak for convoy escort duties. The ship helped to escort a minelaying mission in the North Sea on 13–14 January 1945. Together with T17 and T19, T20 escorted another minelaying mission there on 17–18 March. The torpedo boat was allocated to the British when the Allies divided the surviving ships of the Kriegsmarine amongst themselves in late 1945. The Royal Navy had no interest in her and she was transferred to France in February 1946 and was renamed Baccarat on 4 February. The ship was immediately placed in reserve until she was stricken on 8 October 1951 and subsequently scrapped.Rohwer, pp. 355, 359, 363, 373–374, 386, 394, 401; Whitley, pp. 168, 171, 173, 180, 188, 191, 199, 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:T20}}

Category:Type 37 torpedo boats

Category:1940 ships