The Torpedoboot Ausland ("foreign torpedo boats") were small destroyers or large torpedo boats captured by Nazi Germany and incorporated into the Kriegsmarine. They were assigned a number beginning with TA.
Former Royal Norwegian NavyAalesund-class destroyers,[2] (also referred to as "Improved Sleipnir destroyers[citation needed]) captured during the German invasion of Norway in 1940, while still under construction and yet to be named. Taken over and designated ZN (Zerstörer Norwegen) 4 & 5, they were reclassified as torpedo boats in 1941.[3]
Four other vessels, (of the Sleipner-class torpedo boats/destroyers) were also taken over, but were named for past German gunboats and not included in the TA class.[2]
One more ex-Norwegian small destroyer, Troll, was also captured and served in the Kriegsmarine as torpedo boat for a brief time before being converted to a distillation vessel to provide steam, retaining her Norwegian name. The conversion was due to her obsolete nature.
TA15: (ex-Francesco Crispi, Italian Sella-class destroyer), Captured in the Aegean in September 1943. Sunk by air raid near Heraklion on 8 March 1944. 34 men were killed.[6][7]
TA16: (ex-Castelfidardo, Italian Curtatone-class destroyer), captured in the Aegean Sea, September 1943. Sunk at Heraklion after damage by RAF air raid[8][9]
TA17: (ex-San Martino, Italian Palestro-class destroyer) captured in Piraeus 9 September 1943. Operated in the Aegean, Scuttled 12 October 1944 after damage in an air raid on Salamis.[9]
TA18: (ex-Solferino, Italian Palestro-class destroyer), captured in Piraeus 9 September 1943. Operated in the Aegean, sunk by British destroyers HMS Tuscan and HMS Termagant 19 October 1944.[9]
TA19: (ex-Calatafimi, Italian Curtatone-class destroyer), captured in the Aegean Sea, September 1943. Sunk by Greek submarine Pipinos on 9 August 1944.[9][10]
TA22: (ex-Giuseppe Missori, Italian Pilo-class destroyer), Served in the Adriatic.[14] Severely damaged in airstrike by Tuskegee Airmen on 25 June 1944; decommissioned on 8 November and scuttled on 5 February 1945.[15]
TA23: (ex-Impavido, Italian Ciclone-class torpedo boat). Served on the west coast of Italy.[16]
TA25: (ex-Intrepido, Italian Ciclone-class torpedo boat). Served on the west coast of Italy.[16]
TA26: (ex-Ardito, Italian Ciclone-class torpedo boat). Served on the west coast of Italy.[16]
TA27 (ex-Auriga, Italian Ariete-class torpedo boat). Bombed and sunk, Portoferraio on 9 September 1944.[16]
TA28 (ex-Rigel, Italian Ariete-class torpedo boat). Bombed and sunk Genoa on 4 September 1944.
TA29 (ex-Eridano, Italian Ariete-class torpedo boat). Sunk (with TA24) in action with British destroyers in the Battle of the Ligurian Sea on 18 March 1945.[16]
TA30 (ex-Dragone, Italian Ariete-class torpedo boat). Torpedoed by British MTBs on 15 June 1944.[16]
TA31: (ex-Dardo, Italian Freccia-class destroyer). Captured in Genoa. Damaged in an air raid 25 October 1944 and scuttled 24 April 1945.[5]
TA32: Former Yugoslav destroyer Dubrovnik which was captured by the Regia Marina in 1941 and renamed Premuda. Re-built by the Germans as a radar picket destroyer armed with 105 mm guns. Commissioned 18 August 1944 and served on the west coast of Italy. Lightly damaged by British destroyers in March 1945 during the Battle of the Ligurian Sea. Scuttled in Genoa 25 April 1945.[17]
TA33: (ex-Corsaro, ex Squadrista, Italian Soldati-class destroyer). Not completed, sunk on 4 September 1944 while running trials in Genoa.[18]
TA34: ex-Carrista, Soldati-class destroyer. Not completed.[18]
TA35: (ex-Giuseppe Dezza, Italian Pilo-class destroyer). Served in the Adriatic.[14]
TA36: (ex-Stella Polare, Italian Ariete-class torpedo boat). Mined 18 March 1944.[16]
TA37: (ex-Gladio, Italian Ariete-class torpedo boat). Transferred from the Adriatic to the 9th Torpedo Boat Flotilla in the Aegean in September 1943. On 7 October 1944 TA37 was sunk by the destroyers, HMS Termagant and HMS Tuscan.[16]
TA38 (ex-Spada, Italian Ariete-class torpedo boat). Transferred from the Adriatic to the 9th Torpedo Boat Flotilla in the Aegean in September 1943. Lost to an air attack on 13 October 1944.[16]
TA39 (ex-Daga, Italian Ariete-class torpedo boat). Transferred from the Adriatic to the 9th Torpedo Boat Flotilla in the Aegean in September 1943. On 5 October 1944 TA38 and TA39 intercepted and sank HDML1227 and engaged the Hunt-class destroyers HMS Belvoir and HMS Waddon. Sank after striking a mine on 16 October 1944.[16]
TA40: (ex-Pugnale, Italian Ariete-class torpedo boat). She was repaired and recommissioned and on 17 February 1945, when off Trieste was severely damaged in an air attack in February and scuttled on 4 May 1945.[16]
TA41: (ex-Lancia, Italian Ariete-class torpedo boat). Damaged by bombs at Trieste and was not repaired. She was wrecked in May.[16]
TA42: (ex-Alabarda, Italian Ariete-class torpedo boat). Sunk at Venice to air attack on 23 January 1945.
TA43: Former Yugoslav destroyer Beograd, which was captured by the Italians in 1941 and renamed Sibenico served in the Adriatic and scuttled in Trieste 1 May 1945.[17]
TA45: (ex-Spica, Italian Ariete-class torpedo boat). Enlisted into German service on the 8 September 1944, but it was fully equipped only on 23 November 1944 (although it participated in the combat duties even though it was not completed). TA45 sailed to her last mission on 10 April 1945 together with TA40 (Pugnale). Her duty was to escort and protect the tank carriers in the Velebit Channel, at the time when the units of People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia started to land at the island of Rab supported by British light naval forces. TA45 was destroyed by the British motor torpedo boats which waited in the ambush near Cape Glavina on the isle of Krk.[16]
TA46: (ex-Fionda, Italian Ariete-class torpedo boat). Sunk in an incomplete state at Fiume on 20 February 1945.[16]
TA47: (ex-Balestra, Italian Ariete-class torpedo boat). Damaged on the slipway and never launched. Balestra, still on the slip, survived the war. Seized by Yugoslavian forces and completed in 1949 as Ucka. She stayed in service until 1963.[16]
TA48: (ex-T3, former Yugoslav torpedo boat in Italian service). Sunk by bombing, 20 February 1945.[19]
Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships 1815–1945. Vol. 1: Major Surface Warships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN0-87021-790-9.
Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN1-59114-119-2.
Sieche, Erwin (1980). "Germany". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN0-85177-146-7.
