Dimensions 30 x 4 x 0.8 metres. Displacement 51 tons. Horsepower 620 hp. Speed 18 knots. Armament 1-4.7cm gun, 1 machine gun, 2 torpedo launchers for broadside firing. Crew numbers 16 men. Launched between 1906-1907 in England. Via the Ludwigscanal the Danube entered. Remarks double screw, water tube boiler, signal lights and bullet proof protection. On 27 April 1907 wrote the Dutch minister for foreign affairs to the embassador at Berlin, Germany that in September 1906 the temporary Romanian representative asked the Dutch government for to allowing Romanian torpedo boats to enter the river Rhine for their voyage back home. The newly built built unarmed boats built at London were to be towed via the Rhine, Main and Ludwigskanal to the Danube. In October (arrival at Rotterdam, Netherlands on 5 October) were 4 boats towed via de Rhine probably to be followed by another four in spring 1907. Dutch newspaper reported about the voyage of the first four boats. The Nieuwe Tilburgsche Courant dated 10 October 1906 wrote that the boats were the follow the track as described by the Dutch minister and that German government gave permission if the crews were unarmed. De Tijd added that their draught was just 0.85 metre, called them gunboats and which were towed in two pairs.
Sources
“Die Donauflotillen”, in Die Flagge. Organ des Vereines zur Förderung der österreichischen Schiffahrt, nr. 11, 1908.
National Archive, The Hague, Netherlands archive 2.05.23 No. 417
No comments:
Post a Comment