German torpedo boat T8
The German torpedo boat "T8" was one of a dozen Type 35 torpedo boats built for the "Kriegsmarine" (German Navy) during the late 1930s. Completed in 1939, she was not combat ready until mid-1940 when she spent several months escorting minelayers as they laid minefields in the North Sea and the English Channel. The boat participated in an abortive attempt to attack several convoys off the Scottish coast in November. "T8" returned to Germany for a refit in January 1941 and then supported operations in the Baltic Sea after the start of Operation Barbarossa in June . She was briefly placed in reserve at the end of the year and was then reactivated for service with the Torpedo School. In February 1944 the boat returned to active duty and was assigned to the Baltic Sea area where she supported German operations. "T8" escorted a bombardment mission in February 1945 and was sunk by British aircraft on 3 May. 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 displacement limit of the London Naval Treaty for ships that counted against the  national tonnage limit. The boats had an overall length of and were long at the waterline. After the bow was rebuilt in 1941 to improve seaworthiness, the overall length increased to . The ships had a beam of , and a mean draft of at deep load and displaced at standard load and 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 using steam from four high-pressure water-tube boilers which would propel the boats at . They carried enough fuel oil to give them a  range of at . As built, the Type 35 class mounted a single SK C/32 gun on the stern. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a single SK C/30 anti-aircraft gun superfiring over the 10.5 cm gun and a pair of C/30 guns on the bridge wings. They carried six above-water 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. Construction and career. "T8" was ordered on 15 January 1936 from DeSchiMAG, laid down at their Bremen shipyard on 28 August 1937 as yard number 937, launched on 10 August 1938 and commissioned on 5 August 1940. The boat was working up until August when she was transferred west. Now assigned to the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, "T8", her sister ships and and the torpedo boats , , and , escorted minelayers as they laid a minefield in the southwestern North Sea on 7–8 August and again  on 14–15 August. By 31 August "T8" was assigned to the 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla with her sisters , and "T7" as the flotilla escorted minelayers as they laid minefields in the southwestern part of the North Sea from 31 August to 2 September. The flotilla escorted a minelaying mission in the English Channel on 5–6 September and then laid minefields itself on 8–9 and 15–16 September in the Straits of Dover. By November the 1st and 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotillas had transferred to Stavanger, Norway. German aerial reconnaissance had located two coastal convoys in early November that the "Kriegsmarine" estimated  would pass Kinnaird Head, Scotland, during the early morning of 7 November. Both flotillas, consisting of "T8" and her sisters, , , "T6", "T7", and , sailed on 6 November in an attempt to pass through a gap in the British minefields and intercept the convoys around 02:00 the following morning. The British had extended their minefields further north unbeknownst to the Germans and "T6" struck a mine shortly after midnight and sank. "T7" and "T8" rescued the survivors and the operation was abandoned. "T8" began a lengthy refit at Stettin in January 1941 that lasted until June. Together with her sisters "T5 , T7" and , the boat supported German forces invading the Estonian islands of Ösel, Dagö and Muhu (Operation Beowulf) in mid-September. "T2", "T5", "T7", "T8" and "T11" were among the escorts for the Baltic Fleet, a temporary formation built around the battleship , as it sortied into the Sea of Åland on 23–29 September to forestall any attempt by the Soviet Red Banner Baltic Fleet to breakout from the Gulf of Finland. Dagö was captured on 12–13 October after "T8" is part of a decoy force used to distract the defenders. Manpower shortages forced the boat to be reduced to reserve  in December. The boat was recommissioned for service, probably as a training ship with the Torpedo School, in July 1942 and then began a refit at Elbing, East Prussia, in October 1943 that lasted until January 1944. Afterwards, she was assigned to the 2nd Torpedo Boat Flotilla and participated in a failed attempt to recapture the island of Narvi on 27/28 June together with "T10", the torpedo boat and Finnish forces. The three torpedo boats damaged a Soviet patrol boat off Narva, Estonia, on 16 July. "T8" screened the heavy cruiser "Lützow" as she bombarded Soviet positions near Frauenburg on  8 February 1945. She was sunk by British aircraft on 3 May in the Kieler Förde at . Her wreck was demolished by depth charges on 10 December.