German torpedo boat T3

The German torpedo boat T3 was one of a dozen Type 35 torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) during the late 1930s. Completed in 1940, she was assigned to escort minelayers as they laid their minefields in the North Sea and English Channel in July. The boat was sunk in France by British bombers in September and was refloated the following year. T3 was assigned to the Torpedo School when her repairs were completed in 1943. She returned to active duty a year later and escorted German ships as they bombarded Soviet positions. The boat sank a Soviet submarine in early 1944 and she struck a mine in March 1945 and sank with heavy loss of life.

Design and description
The Type 35 was an unsuccessful attempt by the Kriegsmarine to design a fast, ocean-going torpedo boat that did not exceed the 600 LT displacement limit of the London Naval Treaty for ships that counted against the national tonnage limit. The boats had an overall length of 84.3 m and were 82.2 m long at the waterline. After the bow was rebuilt in 1941 to improve seaworthiness, the overall length increased to 87.1 m. The ships had a beam of 8.62 m, and a mean draft of 2.83 m at deep load and displaced 859 MT at standard load and 1108 MT at deep load. Their crew numbered 119 officers and sailors. Their pair of geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller, were designed to produce 31000 shp using steam from four high-pressure water-tube boilers which would propel the boats at 35 kn. They carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 1200 nmi at 19 kn.

As built, the Type 35 class mounted a single 10.5 cm SK C/32 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 C/30 guns on the bridge wings. They carried six above-water 533 mm torpedo tubes in two triple mounts and could also carry 30 mines (or 60 if the weather was good). Many boats exchanged the 3.7 cm gun for another 2 cm gun, depth charges and minesweeping paravanes before completion. Late-war additions were limited to the installation of radar, radar detectors and additional AA guns, usually at the expense of the aft torpedo tube mount. Late-war additions were limited to the installation of radar, radar detectors and additional AA guns, often at the expense of the aft torpedo tube mount.

Construction and career
T3 was ordered on 16 November 1935 from Schichau, laid down at their Elbing, East Prussia, shipyard on 3 January 1937 as yard number 1382, launched on 23 June 1938 and commissioned on 3 February 1940. The boat was working up until July when she was transferred to the North Sea for convoy escort duties. Now assigned to the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, T3, her sister ship GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT T2, and the torpedo boats GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT Jaguar, GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT Falke, GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT Greif, GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT Kondor, and GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT Iltis escorted minelayers as they laid a minefield in the southwestern North Sea on 14–15 August. The following month, T3, T2 and Kondor were transferred to the 1st Torpedo Boat Flotilla with the torpedo boat GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT T1. On 6–7 September they escorted a minelaying mission in the English Channel. After an attack by British aircraft on Le Havre, France, on the evening of 18 September, T3 capsized with the loss of nine crewmen after being hit by a bomb. She was refloated in 1941 and towed to Germany for repairs.

The boat was recommissioned on 12 December 1943 at Danzig and was assigned to the Torpedo School as a training ship. A year later she was transferred to the 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla in the Baltic Sea and sank the SOVIET SUBMARINE S-4 on 6 or 7 January 1944. Escorted by the 2nd Flotilla (T3, her sisters GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT T5, GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT T9, GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT T12 and the torpedo boats GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT T13 and GERMAN TORPEDO BOAT T16), the heavy cruisers GERMAN CRUISER Admiral Scheer and GERMAN CRUISER Prinz Eugen shelled Soviet positions during the evacuation of Sworbe, on the Estonian island of Saaremaa, between 20 and 24 November. While escorting a convoy near Hela, East Prussia, T3 and T5 struck mines laid by the SOVIET SUBMARINE L21 on 14 March 1945 and sank at 54.65°N, 18.78333°W. With refugees aboard T3, some 300 people died when she sank.