SMS S34 (1914)
SMS "S34" was a large torpedo boat of the Imperial German Navy that served during the First World War. She was built by the Schichau-Werke shipyard in Elbing, East Prussia in 1913–1914 and was completed in being launched on 4 April 1914 and was completed in November 1914. "S34" served in the Baltic and with the German High Seas Fleet in the North Sea during the First World War, taking part in the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915 and the Battle of Jutland on 31 May–1 June 1916. She also took part in attacks  on shipping in the English Channel, including the Battle of Dover Strait in October 1916. She was sunk by a British mine in the North Sea on 3 October 1918. Construction and design. In 1913, the Imperial German Navy decided to build larger and more seaworthy torpedo boats in place of the smaller s that had been ordered in 1911 and 1912, which had not proved successful. The new, larger, designs would, as well as being more seaworthy, carry a heavier armament and would be oil-fueled only, rather than use the mix of oil- and coal-fueled boilers that  German torpedo boats had used up to then. As was normal, orders were placed for a flotilla of 12 torpedo boats in the 1913 fiscal year, with 6 each ordered from AG Vulcan ("V25"–"V30") and Schichau-Werke ("S31"–"S36"). The two groups of torpedo boats were of basically similar layout but differed in detailed design. The 1913 Schichau torpedo boats were long overall and at the waterline, with a beam of and a draught of . displacement was design and deep load. Three oil-fired water-tube boilers fed steam at at two sets of Schichau direct-drive steam turbines. The machinery  was rated at and gave a design speed of . 220 t of oil was carried, giving a range of at . The ship was armed with three 8.8 cm (3.4 in) L/45 guns and six 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes, with two single tubes forward and two twin tubes aft of the ship's funnels, with the twin tubes angled out by 15 degrees. Up to 24 mines could be carried. The ship had a crew of 83 officers and men. "S34", yard number 909, was launched on 13 June 1914 and was completed on 5 November that year. Service . 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. "S34", part of the 18th Torpedo Boat Half-Flotilla, formed part of the escort for Hipper's force. 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 and the Harwich Force of light cruisers and destroyers, to intercept the German force. 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. The armoured cruiser was disabled by British shells and was sunk, but the rest of the German force escaped, with the German battlecruiser badly damaged. "S34", part of IX Torpedo Boat Flotilla, took part in the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915, and helped to rescue survivors from the German torpedo boat after "V99" had been sunk by mines on 17 August. This  was an attempt by German forces, supported by the High Seas Fleet to enter the Gulf of Riga, destroy Russian naval forces in the Gulf and to mine the northern entrances to the Gulf in order to prevent Russian reinforcement. The attempt failed with Germany losing the torpedo boat and the minesweeper "T46" as well as "V99", while failing to destroy any major Russian warships or lay the planned minefield. "S34" participated in the Battle of Jutland, still as a part of the 18th Half Flotilla of the IX Flotilla. IX Flotilla was part of the force commanded by Vice -Admiral Franz von Hipper, consisting of the battlecruisers of Scouting Group I, the light cruisers of Scouting Group II and the 30 torpedo boats of II, VI and IX Flotillas. IX Flotilla took part in a torpedo attack on the British battlecruisers during the "run to the south", which was disrupted by a simultaneous attack by British destroyers on the German battlecruisers. "S34" did not launch any torpedoes in this attack. IX Flotilla took part in a second torpedo attack against the British battlecruisers during the "run to the north", with "S34" launching a single torpedo, before briefly engaging British  destroyers. All of the torpedoes launched by the flotilla in this attack missed their targets. After the battlecruiser was badly damaged by British shells, "S34", together with , , and screened "Lützow". "Lützow", in a sinking condition as a result of flooding, was scuttled during the night of 31 May/1 June. "S34" was again part of IX Flotilla when it took part in the action of 19 August 1916. In October 1916, III and IX Torpedo Boat Flotillas were ordered to reinforce the German naval forces based in Flanders, in order to disrupt the Dover Barrage, a series of anti submarine minefields  and nets that attempted to stop U-boats from operating in the English Channel, and to directly attack cross-Channel shipping. The twenty torpedo boats of the two flotillas, including "S34", still part of the 18th Half Flotilla of IX Flotilla, left Wilhelmshaven on 23 October, reaching Belgium the next day. IX Flotilla took part in a large scale raid into the English Channel on the night of 26/27 October 1916, and was assigned the role of attacking Allied shipping while other torpedo boats went after the Dover Barrage, with the 18th Half Flotilla, including "S34", to operate off Calais . The 18th Half Flotilla successfully passed through the British defences of the Dover Straits, despite twice encountering British warships on the journey through the barrage. Four British destroyers on passage to Dunkirk were spotted, but failed to see the German ships, while the old destroyer spotted the 18th Half Flotilla and challenged them, but the Germans repeated "Flirt"s signal and continued on course, with "Flirt" mistaking the ships for the "Laforey" division and not engaging or reporting the ships. The 18th Half Flotilla did not encounter any of the hoped for merchant ships, but on its return journey clashed with  three British destroyers which attempted to pursue, but lost contact after German fire caused "Mohawk"s rudder to jam. Other German units sank several drifters that were part of the Dover Barrage together with "Flirt" (which was attempting to rescue the crews of the drifters) and the merchant ship , and badly damaged the destroyer . IX Flotilla continued to operate from Flanders, attacking shipping off the coast of the Netherlands on 1 November. On the night of 23/24 November, "S34" was one of 13 torpedo boats that took part in an attempt to attack shipping in the Downs. While they clashed briefly  with patrolling drifters, they found none of the shipping anchored on the Downs. On the night of 26/27 November, IX Flotilla sortied again, stopping the Dutch merchant ship "Beijerland" and taking her pilot prisoner, and sinking the naval trawler . On the return journey to Zeebrugge, "S34" collided with the torpedo boat . Both torpedo boats were badly damaged and were under repair until the end of the year before returning to Germany. On 3 October 1918, "S34" was on patrol in the North Sea off Terschelling with , and when "S34" struck a mine and sank. The other three torpedo boats went  to rescue the survivors of "S34"s crew, but these rescue operations were observed by the British submarine . "L10" torpedoed and sank "S33", but inadvertently surfaced immediately afterwards and was engaged and sunk by "V28" and "V29". 70 of "S34"s crew were killed, as were five from "S33".