German Hydrofoils

[Enrico Cernuschi]

Guten Abend mein Herren,

I would like to know if the 6,3 t TS 1-6 hydrofoils were never commissioned and if ther's any info about the VS 1-4, 11, VS 12 and VS 13 prototypes. 

Mit freundlichen Grussen
 
          EC

 

[Peter K.]

Hello ENRICO!

TS-1 was clear for testings in july 1941, TS-2, TS-3 and TS-4 in december 1941. All of these boats were planned to used with various harbor defence flottillas in may 1942. Also TS-5 should serve with such a flottilla, but this boat was used for trials in august 1943 at Berlin. TS-5 was still situated at Berlin in may 1945, but it was in a heavily damaged condition caused by bomb hits and the boat was broken up in october 1945.
TS-1 - TS-4 were finally used as police boats and one of them was tested by the British in 1946 named RUNABOUT.
TS-6 was nearly completed in may 1945, then tested by the Sowjets on the river Elbe during the summer of 1945 and finally transfered to the river Wolga. This boat was a little bit larger, about 6,5 t.

BTW, there were 3 other boats of only about 4 t, also named TS-1, TS-2 resp. TS-3.

What do you need exactly concerning the mentioned VS-boats?

[Enrico Cernuschi]

Hello Peter K.

thank you very much for such an answer. About the other VS boats I'm puzzled by the total lack of infos about them while ther's plenty regarding the other ones of the VS series until 14. Did they ever existed?

A further question. An Hydrofoil in Berlin. Where could it sail?

Greetings

    EC

[Peter K.]

Hello again, ENRICO!

The trials of TS-1 during july 1941 took place at the Templiner See near Potsdam.
Moreover it seems possible, that TS-1 and TS-2 were tested during september/october 1941, based at Rostock/Warnemünde. Additionally there is the possibility, that TS-3 and TS-4 were first tested in november/december 1941 on the Templiner See.

VS-1 was ordered on 05.09.1938, but cancelled in september 1939, again ordered on 18.03.1942 and finally cancelled in april 1943.
VS-2 was ordered on 03.09.1938 and VS-3 on 09.08.1938, but both were cancelled also in september 1939.

VS-4 was ordered on 28.09.1938. It seems, that it was layed down, but the cancellation followed in september 1939. A smaller boat (13,5 t instead of 85 t) should be built instead. Possibly also this boat - VS-4a - was layed down, but it was cancelled in 1940 again.

Unfortunately the story of VS-11, VS-12 and VS-13 isn´t well researched. In fact they were 3 different types designed for speeds of 50 to 60 knots (!!!), ordered on 17.03.1942.

The building number 1870 (probably VS-11) was created by Schertel himself. Possibly it was tested from june to august 1943, probably at the Templiner See. Later trials took place at the Erprobungsstelle Travemünde until november 1944, which showed stability problems at 50 kn.

The building number 1871 (probably VS-12) was designed by Künzel. The construction of the boat was finished in 1943. First trials took place at the Templiner See again, followed by high sea testings at the Erprobungsstelle Travemünde before october 1943. These trials seemed to be successfull, despite the boat was very sensitive. Probably it was still at Travemünde at the end of the war.

Any information concerning the building number 2029 (VS-13) is still missing. It seems, that the construction of the boat was never started.

VS-14 was ordered in september 1942, but it was never layed down.

[Enrico Cernuschi]

Hi Peter K.
The matter is more and more intererstiong indeed. Do you know if VS 11, 12 and 13 were half or fully-submerged foils types?

Many thanks for these innovative infos. I confide to have something new for the Forum readers soon (hoping someone could translate in German a brief, but inedit essay).     

    Greetings

        EC

[Peter K.]

Hello ENRICO!

Technical data:

-	BNr.1870 (VS-11)	BNr.1871 (VS-12)	BNr.2029 (VS-13)
Länge über alles	9,19 m	8,50 m	8,50 m
Breite des Bootskörpers	1,65 m	1,90 m	1,40 m
Seitenhöhe auf der Stufe	1,11 m	1,45 m	?
Verdrängung	3,0 t	3,0 t	2,6 t
Abstand der Tragflächen	7,0 m	6,0 m	?
Spannweite der Bugtragfläche	3,06 m	3,00 m	?
Spannweite der Hecktragfläche	2,54 m	2,90 m	?
Gesamtauftriebsfläche	0,738 m²	0,807 m²	?

source:
Werner HINSCH/Klaus J. SACHSENBERG,
Tragflügelboote des Schertel-Sachsenberg-Systems
Eine deutsche Entwicklung
ISBN 978-3-931129-31-6

Unfortunately I am not able to post some interesting sketches and pictures from this book due to the German copyright law, but please check your email ...



Greetings from Austria
Peter K.

[Enrico Cernuschi]

Thank You Peter K.

I appreciated they were all Hydrofoils of the half-submerged foil type, like the previous ones.

The German hopes in such a kind of boats had to be great indeed as no other nation spent so many efforts between 1938 and 1944 in this field.

The results matured since 1952 by a German engineer, Baron Hans von Schertel, a Swiss enterprise, Supramar, and an Italian yard (Rodiquez at Messina).
Not a bad example of Continental joint venture.

Greetings

     EC




 

[Peter K.]

The SUPRAMAR AG was founded on 29.05.1952, located at Zug/Switzerland. The first boat was PT30 - later named FRECCIA D´ORO - , followed by PT1.
The yard Cantiere Navale Leopoldo Rodriquez built hydrofoils under licence designed by SUPRAMAR since 1953. The first one was PT20 - FRECCIA DEL SOLE, followed by many others.