The German Schnellboots – fast torpedo boats – became a symbol of Germany’s naval superiority in several seas and, of course, in the English Channel. We’re here to tell you about one of those vessels today.

The S-100 class torpedo boat is a true child of war. The ship was created in 1943 following experience gained in military operations in the English Channel against the British military and merchant fleet. As a result of long research and experimentation, German engineers created an excellent torpedo boat for active military operations and patrolling in offshore zones and channels. In this boat, they considered and corrected many flaws in the boats of earlier classes. The ship builders chose wood for the boat’s construction as a light, flexible and reliable material. Various types of wood were used to make the boats – oak, cedar, redwood and Douglas fir. The double layer of the wooden frame was separated by metal bulkheads into 8 waterproof compartments. The cabin of boats in this class were armored with 12 mm steel plates, which provides good protection against bullets and shrapnel. In addition, the air-cooling device used for the engine turbocharger was also protected by armor. The ship had three 2,500 hp Mercedes-Benz engines located in two independent engine compartments. Although heavy for a torpedo boat, the S-100 could nonetheless reach a speed of 42.5 knots (almost 80 km/h)!





The vessel’s armament was dictated by her combat objectives and its primary assignment was to destroy enemy ships of practically any type and class. The Schnellboot completes this task using torpedoes and artillery – the S-100 is equipped with two torpedo tubes for 533 mm torpedoes, each torpedo tube can be reloaded with another torpedo without leaving the battlefield. The ship has excellent artillery equipment – one automatic 37 mm cannon (analogous to the famous FlaK 36 anti-air cannon), one twin and one single 20 mm C/38 cannon. All these were successfully used against both aircraft and ships. In addition to this arsenal, the sides of the armored cabin could be equipped with rifle-caliber machine guns, and the stern housed a twin depth charge release mechanism.

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