German torpedo boat Falke
German naval vessel / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about German torpedo boat Falke?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Falke was the sixth and last Type 23 torpedo boat built for the German Navy (initially called the Reichsmarine and then renamed as the Kriegsmarine in 1935). The boat made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. During World War II, she played a minor role in the Norwegian Campaign of 1940. Falke spent the next several months escorting minelayers as they laid minefields and damaged heavy ships back to Germany before she was transferred to France around September. She started laying minefields herself that month and continued to do so for the rest of the war. After a refit in early 1941, the boat was transferred to the Skaggerak where she was assigned escort duties. Falke returned to France in 1942 and was one of the escorts for the capital ships sailing from France to Germany through the English Channel in the Channel Dash. She helped to escort blockade runners, commerce raiders and submarines through the Channel and the Bay of Biscay for the next several years. The boat attacked Allied ships during the Invasion of Normandy in June 1944, but was sunk by British bombers that same month.
Right elevation and plan of the Type 23 | |
History | |
---|---|
Germany | |
Name | Falke |
Namesake | Falcon |
Builder | Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven |
Yard number | 107 |
Laid down | 17 November 1925 |
Launched | 29 September 1926 |
Commissioned | 15 July 1928 |
Fate | Sunk, 15 June 1944 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Class and type | Type 23 torpedo boat |
Displacement | |
Length | 87.7 m (287 ft 9 in) (o/a) |
Beam | 8.25 m (27 ft 1 in) |
Draft | 3.65 m (12 ft) |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion | 2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbine sets |
Speed | 32–34 knots (59–63 km/h; 37–39 mph) |
Range | 1,800 nmi (3,300 km; 2,100 mi) at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) |
Complement | 120 |
Armament |
|