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Last Updated:
22 November 2011
S130
WW2
Schnellboot
The last surviving German
Schnellboot or fast torpedo boat of World War Two (known as E-Boat
or Enemy Boat by the allies), which is in viable condition for
restoration, is being restored at
Southdown in Cornwall.
Builders:
Johann Schlichting Werft, Travemunde
Year Built:
1943
Type:
S 38b
Displacement:
110 tons
Length:
34.94m
Beam:
5.28m
Draught:
1.67m
Engines:
War Service
3 x MB511 V 20 developing 2,500hp each
Post war for Baltic operations
1 x MB511 V20 2,500hp and 2 x MB518
V20 3,000hp
Max Speed:
43 knots
S130 was a particularly
successful example of the schnellboot. Commissioned on October 21st 1943, she was
part
of the 9th S-Boot flotilla that, in March 1944, found and attacked the American invasion force
in Lyme Bay during Operation Tiger, a training
exercise preparing for
the D-Day landings at Slapton Sands and, as a consequence of the action, became
a
catalyst that accounted for some
740+ American lives.
After the
war she, or rather he as the Germans have it, was taken by the Royal Navy and eventually found a new
career in covert operations undertaking
intelligence missions in the Baltic during the Cold War, in the guise of a
fisheries patrol vessel. She ultimately found
herself returning to the German flag when she was handed back to the Kriegsmarine for use as a training vessel until decommissioning in
1991. Her full story can be found at
http://www.bmpt.org.uk/boats/S130/.
S130 is now part of the
Wheatcroft Collection
and Roving Commissions will be restoring the vessel to her original
WW2 German specification, including engines and armaments, and the process can be followed on this site as the work progresses.
