The German torpedo boat T34 was one of fifteen Type 39 torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) during World War II. Completed in mid-1944, the boat was still working up in the Baltic when she struck a mine in November and sank.
The Type 39 torpedo boat was conceived as a general-purpose design, much larger than preceding German torpedo boats.[1] The boats had an overall length of 102.5m (336.3feet) and were 97m (318feet) long at the waterline. They had a beam of 10m (30feet), a draft of 3.22m (10.56feet) at deep load and displaced 1294MT at standard load and 1754MT at deep load.[2] Their crew numbered 206 officers and sailors.[3] The Type 39s were fitted with a pair of geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller, using steam from four high-pressure water-tube boilers. The turbines were designed to produce 32000shp which was intended give the ships a maximum speed of 33.5kn. They carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 2400nmi at .[4]
As built, the Type 39 ships mounted four SK C/32 guns in single mounts protected by gun shields; one forward of the superstructure, one between the funnels, and two aft, one superfiring over the other. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by four SK C/30 AA guns in two twin-gun mounts on platforms abaft the rear funnel and a dozen C/38 guns. One quadruple mount was positioned on the aft superstructure and two more were fitted on the bridge wings. They carried six above-water torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidships and could also carry 30 mines; the full complement of 60 mines made the ships top-heavy which could be dangerous in bad weather. For anti-submarine work the boats were fitted with a S-Gerät sonar and four depth charge launchers. The Type 39s were equipped with a FuMO 21 radar and various FumB radar detectors were installed late in the war.[5]
T34 was ordered on 20 January 1941 from Schichau, laid down at their Elbing, East Prussia, shipyard on 5 March 1943 as yard number 1516, launched on 23 October 1943 and commissioned on 12 August 1944. German: [[Kapitänleutnant]] Freiherr von Lüttitz was appointed in command. As part of her lengthy working up, she conducted gunnery practice with the radio-controlled target ship in the Baltic on 20 November, the boat struck a mine laid by Soviet submarine L-3 and sank off Cape Arkona at with the loss of 62 crewmen.[6]