SMS V185

The Imperial German Navy ordered 12 large torpedo boats (Große Torpedoboote) as part of the fiscal year 1909 shipbuilding programme, with two ships (G174 and G175) ordered from Germaniawerft, four (S176–S179) from Schichau-Werke and the remaining six ships (V180–V185) from AG Vulcan.{{Harvnb|Gardiner|Gray|1985|pp=166–167}}

File:German large torpedoboat SMS V182 underway before the First World War.jpg

V185 was {{convert|73.9|m|ftin}} long overall and {{convert|73.6|m|ftin}} between perpendiculars, with a beam of {{convert|7.9|m|ftin}} and a draught of {{convert|10|ft|1|in|m|order=flip}}. The ship displaced {{convert|650|t|LT}} design and {{convert|783|t|LT}} deep load. Three coal-fired and one oil-fired water-tube boiler fed steam at a pressure of {{convert|18.5|atm|psi}} to two sets of direct-drive steam turbines. The ship's machinery was rated at {{convert|18000|PS|shp kW|abbr=on}} giving a design speed of {{convert|32|kn|mph km/h}}, with members of the class reaching a speed of {{convert|33.3|kn|mph km/h}} during sea trials.{{Harvnb|Gröner|Jung|Maass|1983|p=46}} 121 tons of coal and 76 tons of oil fuel were carried, giving an endurance of {{convert|2360|nmi|mi km}} at {{convert|12|kn|mph km/h}}, {{convert|1250|nmi|mi km}} at {{convert|17|kn|mph km/h}} or {{convert|480|nmi|mi km}} at {{convert|30|kn|mph km/h}}.

The ship was armed with two 8.8 cm L/45 guns,{{Harvnb|Gröner|Jung|Maass|1983|p=47}}{{#tag:ref|Both Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships and Jane's Fighting Ships{{Harvnb|Moore|1990|p=118}} claim L/30 guns were fitted.|group=lower-alpha}} one on the forecastle and one aft. Four single 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes were fitted, with two on the ship's beam in the gap behind the ship's bridge and fore funnel, and two aft of the second funnel. The ship had a crew of 84 officers and men.

V185 was laid down at AG Vulcan's Stettin shipyard as Yard number 300 and was launched on 9 April 1910 and completed on 20 September 1910.{{Harvnb|Gröner|Jung|Maass|1983|pp=46, 49}}

The ship was modified with two 10.5 cm L/45 guns replacing the 8.8.cm guns in the 1920s,{{harvnb|Dodson|2019|pp=140–141}} while her boilers were converted to oil firing in 1923–1934.{{harvnb|Fock|1989|p=82}} By 1928 the ship's forecastle had been extended further rearward.

In 1911, V185 was the part of the 12th half-flotilla of the 6th Torpedo Boat Flotilla.{{cite book |title=Rangelist der Kaiserlich Deutschen Marine für Das Jahr 1911 |year=1911 |publisher=Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn|location=Berlin |page=59 |via=Heinrich Hein Universität Düsseldorf |url=https://digital.ub.uni-duesseldorf.de/ihd/periodical/pageview/8195803 |access-date=10 May 2025}} The ship remained a member of the 12th half-flotilla in 1912,{{cite book |title=Rangelist der Kaiserlich Deutschen Marine für Das Jahr 1912 |year=1912 |publisher=Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn|location=Berlin |page=61 |via=Heinrich Hein Universität Düsseldorf |url=https://digital.ub.uni-duesseldorf.de/ihd/periodical/pageview/8144920 |access-date=10 May 2025}} and in 1913, although the half-flotilla was now in reserve.{{cite book |title=Rangelist der Kaiserlich Deutschen Marine für Das Jahr 1913 |year=1913 |publisher=Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn|location=Berlin |page=63 |via=Heinrich Hein Universität Düsseldorf |url=https://digital.ub.uni-duesseldorf.de/ihd/periodical/pageview/8155041 |access-date=11 May 2025}}

On 23 January 1915, a German force of battlecruisers and light cruisers, escorted by torpedo boats, and commanded by Admiral Franz von Hipper, made a sortie to attack British fishing boats on the Dogger Bank.{{Harvnb|Massie|2007|p=377}} V185, part of the 15th Half-flotilla, formed part of the escort for Hipper's force.{{Harvnb|Groos|1923|pp=193, 214}}{{harvnb|Fock|1989|p=351}} British Naval Intelligence was warned of the raid by radio messages decoded by Room 40, and sent out the Battlecruiser Force from Rosyth, commanded by Admiral Beatty aboard {{HMS|Lion|1910|2}} and the Harwich Force of light cruisers and destroyers, to intercept the German force.{{Harvnb|Massie|2007|pp=377–380}} The British and German Forces met on the morning of 24 January in the Battle of Dogger Bank. On sighting the British, Hipper ordered his ships to head south-east to escape the British, who set off in pursuit.{{Harvnb|Massie|2007|p=385}} The armoured cruiser {{SMS|Blücher||2}} was disabled by British shells and was sunk, but the rest of the German force escaped, with the German battlecruiser {{SMS|Seydlitz||2}} and the British battlecruiser {{HMS|Lion|1910|2}} badly damaged.{{Harvnb|Massie|2007|p=413}}

In May 1915, V185, as part of the 15th Half-flotilla of the 8th Torpedo Boat flotilla, was deployed to the Baltic Sea to reinforce the German naval forces in the Baltic, which were deployed to support the German Army's advance on Libau (now Liepāja), Latvia.{{harvnb|Rollmann|1929|pp=73–74}}{{harvnb|Halpern|1994|pp=191–192}} The 8th Torpedo Boat flotilla, including V185 was again deployed to the Baltic in July 1915.{{harvnb|Halpern|1994|pp=195–196}}{{harvnb|Rollmann|1929|pp=201–202}} V185 took part in a sortie to the north of Gotland on 10–11 July.{{harvnb|Fock|1989|p=352}} In August 1915 the Germans detached a large portion of the High Seas Fleet for operations in the Gulf of Riga in support of the advance of German troops. It was planned to enter the Gulf via the Irben Strait, defeating any Russian naval forces and mining the entrance to Moon Sound.{{harvnb|Halpern|1994|pp=196–198}} On 19 August, V185 took part in a clash with Russian ships during which the {{ship|Russian gunboat|Sivuch|1907|6}} was sunk by the battleships {{SMS|Nassau||2}} and {{SMS|Posen||2}}, helping to rescue survivors from the sunken Russian ship.{{harvnb|Rollmann|1929|pp=272–273}}

In October 1917, the Germans carried out Operation Albion, an amphibious assault to capture Ösel and Muhu islands off the coast of Estonia.{{harvnb|Halpern|1994|pp=213–215}} V185, still part of the 15th Half-flotilla of the 8th Torpedo Boat flotilla, took part in Operation Albion.{{harvnb|Fock|1989|pp=361–362}}{{harvnb|von Gagern|1962|pp=414–418}}

In 1918, V185 joined an escort flotilla, and was renamed T185 on 22 February 1918.{{Harvnb|Gröner|Jung|Maass|1983|p=49}} She remained a member of the 1st Half-flotilla of the 1st Escort Flotilla at the end of the war.{{harvnb|Fock|1989|p=348}}{{#tag:ref|The 1st Escort Flotilla comprised three Half-flotillas, with a total of 36 torpedo boats operated.|group=lower-alpha}}

After the end of the First World War, the scuttling of the German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow on 21 June 1919 and the Treaty of Versailles left Germany with a small navy of obsolete warships.{{Harvnb| Gardiner|Gray|1985|p=139}} T185 was one of four destroyers which Germany was allowed to keep in reserve, (with guns mounted, but without stores or ammunition) alongside twelve active destroyers.{{harvnb|Dodson|2019|p=138}}{{#tag:ref|Although treated as destroyers under the treaty, V185 and other similar ships were always referred to as torpedo boats by the Germans.{{harvnb|Gardiner|Chesneau|1980|p=223}}|group=lower-alpha}} In 1932, T185 was converted to serve as a control vessel for the radio-target vessel (and former battleship) {{SMS|Zähringen||2}} and as a high speed tug, taking the name Blitz, which had been used for Zähringen{{'}}s previous control ship (the former T141), on 4 October 1932.{{harvnb|Dodson|2019|p=141}}{{harvnb|Hildebrand|Röhr|Steinmetz|1983|p=63}} Blitz continued as a radio-control ship for Zähringen and later {{SMS|Hessen||2}} through to the end of the Second World War. The ship was handed over to the Soviet Union on 8 January 1946, being renamed Vystrel, but her fate in Soviet hands is unknown.{{harvnb|Dodson|2019|pp=143–144}}

{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book |last1=Dodson |first1=Aidan |title=Warship 2019 |date=2019 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-1-4728-3595-6 |pages=129–144 |editor1-last=Jordan |editor1-first=John |chapter=Beyond the Kaiser: The IGN's Destroyers and Torpedo Boats After 1918}}
• {{cite book |last=Fock |first=Harald |title=Z-Vor! Internationale Entwicklung und Kriegseinsätze von Zerstörern und Torpedobooten 1914 bis 1939 |year=1989 |location=Herford, Germany |publisher=Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mBH |isbn=3-7822-0207-4 |language=German}}
• {{cite book|last=von Gagern|first=Ernst|title=Der Krieg in der Ostsee: Dritter Band: Von Anfang 1916 bis zum Kriegsende|year=1962|publisher=Verlag von E.S. Mittler & Sohn |location=Frankfurt |language=German |url=https://archive.org/details/derkrieginderost03firl}}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=Gardiner|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Chesneau|editor2-first=Robert|title=Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946|year=1980|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=0-85177-146-7}}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=Gardiner|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Gray|editor2-first=Randal|title=Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921|year=1985|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=0-85177-245-5}}
• {{cite book|last1=Gröner|first1=Erich|last2=Jung|first2=Dieter|last3=Maass|first3=Martin|title=Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe 1815–1945: Band 2: Torpedoboote, Zerstörer, Schnellboote, Minensuchboote, Minenräumboote|year=1983|publisher=Bernard & Graef Verlag|location=Koblenz|language=German|isbn=3-7637-4801-6}}
• {{cite book |last=Groos |first=O. |title=Der Krieg in der Nordsee: Dritter Band: Von Ende November 1914 bis Unfang Februar 1915 |series=Der Krieg zur See: 1914–1918 |year=1923 |location=Berlin |publisher=Verlag von E. S. Mittler und Sohn |url=https://www.digar.ee/arhiiv/et/raamatud/17105 |via=National Library of Estonia}}
• {{cite book|last=Halpern|first=Paul G.|title=A Naval History of World War I|year=1994|publisher=UCL Press|location=London|isbn=1-85728-498-4}}
• {{cite book |last1=Hildebrand |first1=Hans H. |last2=Röhr |first2=Albert |last3=Steinmetz |first3=Hans-Otto |title=Die Deutschen Kriegschiffe Biographien: ein Spiegel der Marinegeschichte von 1815 bis zur Gegenwart: Band 7 |year=1983 |location=Herford, Germany |publisher=Koeleers Verlagsgesellschaft mBH |language=German |isbn=3-7822-0267-8}}
• {{cite book|last=Massie|first=Robert K.|title=Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany and the Winning of the Great War at Sea|year=2007 |publisher=Vintage Books|location=London|isbn=978-0-099-52378-9}}
• {{cite book|last=Moore|first=John|title=Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I|year=1990|publisher=Studio |location=London|isbn=1-85170-378-0}}
• {{cite book|last=Rollmann|first=Heinrich|title=Der Krieg in der Ostsee: Zweiter Band: Das Kreigjahr 1915|series=Der Krieg zur See: 1914–1918|year=1929|location=Berlin|publisher=Verlag von E. S. Mittler und Sohn|url=https://archive.org/details/derkrieginderost02firl|language=German}}

{{S138-class torpedo boats|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:V185}}

Category:Torpedo boats of the Imperial German Navy

Category:World War I torpedo boats of Germany

Category:Ships built in Stettin

Category:1910 ships