River Gunboats
Page 54
The powerplant selected was the liquid-cooled Hispano Suiza 12Mb V-12 aircraft engine, also known as the HS 57. The KTA had obtained a license for manufacture of the 12Mb in 1932, and 60 engines were built by the Schweitzerische Lokomotive und Maschinfabrik factory.
Given the Swiss determination, and the absolute necessity given their geographical situation, to use only national resources to build these patrol boats, one must question the efficiency of their chosen armament.
The Model 41 anti-tank gun looks impressive, but it is not an automatic weapon. The largest of its type, common before the increased protection of Second World War tanks rendered them obsolete in their primary role, this 24mm semi-automatic gun would have been adequate in an anti-landing craft role to defend the National Redoubt. The type of weapon lives on at the time of writing in several armies, primarily as a long-range sniper rifle and anti-material weapon (capable of knocking out trucks, radar installations, missile launch systems and even attack helicopters and parked-up jet aircraft).
The basic weakness of the armament was in its anti-aircraft role. The unique Flab Doppel MG 38 was a curious choice forced on the Swiss. It was heavy, with a reduced rate of fire of 1,200 rpm – in comparison a contemporary pair of Vickers K guns as used, for example, by the SAS. on its Jeeps – had a cyclic rate of 2,000 rpm – but its main drawback was limited range and effectiveness on an aircraft target. Much more appropriate would have been a 20mm AA gun, but the small size of the patrol boats ruled this out. Their slim chance of survival in the case of invasion would have been to call in the highly effective Swiss fighter protection.
Overall they must be considered as patrol boats, forming the tripwire to give warning of an attack, rather than vessels for sustained combat. Luckily, the expected attacks never materialised, and the boats had a long life, not being retired until late in 1983, when their replacements entered service. When not required for military manoeuvres, they would be operated by the Customs border service.
In the 1960s the flotilla was modernised, with an electric generator to power radio and radar, and their armament was upgraded to an automatic 20mm M38 cannon in the bows and an MG51 in the stern.
Böntgen, one of the last three boats delivered in April 1944, with her Model 41 24mm semi-automatic anti-tank gun.
Launched:
December 1941 to April 1944 by Schiffbau Werner Risch AG, Zurich-Wollishofen. Hull of aluminium planks (Peraluman 2), bolted longitudinally; deck of mahogany.
Dimensions:
Displ: 7 tons; L: 12m/39ft 4in; B: 3.3m/10ft 10in; D: 1m/3ft 3in.
Crew:
7.
Power/Speed:
Single screw; HS 57 V-12 petrol engine, 575bhp at 2,000 rpm/27 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1 × 24mm Model 41 anti-tank gun forward; 1 × twin 7.5mm FlaK Doppel MG38 machine gun mounting.
Fate:
Stricken 1983. Spiez on display in the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne.
Aquarius Class Patrouillenboot P80/98
The Swiss Motorboat Company 10 of the Corps of Engineers uses eleven Aquarius class boats to patrol Lakes Geneva, Lucerne, Lugarno, Maggiore and Constance. When not required for military duties they are loaned to the Customs service. The boats are named Antares, Aquarius, Castor, Mars, Orion, Perseus, Pollux, Saturn, Sirius, Uranus and Venus.
Launched:
1980. Monocoque fibreglass hulls.
Dimensions:
Displ: 5.15 tons empty, 7 tons loaded; L: 10.94m/35ft 11in; B: 3.28m/10ft 9in; D: 0.9m/2ft 11½in.
Crew:
6–7.
Power/Speed:
Two Z-drive Volvo Penta KAD42P 216bhp diesel engines/37 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 0.50 cal Browning HMG/Bulletproof wheelhouse Perspex glass.
Fate:
In service.
Stern view of Venus, showing the rear .50 cal Browning HMG. Note her elaborate name plaque. (Photo by jag9889)
Watercat 1250 Patrol Boats
In April 2014 Switzerland announced plans to replace the Aquarius class boats with fourteen Watercat 1250 patrol boats from Finnish manufacturer Marine Alutech. At the time of writing, budgetary restrictions have delayed the purchase.
THAILAND
The Royal Thai Navy has for the last half-century concentrated on two areas: supervision of the sea approaches to Thailand, and border security requiring significant numbers of riverine patrol craft. The Vietnam War and its aftermath increased the numbers of refugees to be succoured on the high seas together with the suppression of pirates preying on the refugees.
The river patrols became critical because of the risks of infiltration by the Communist regimes in the countries bordering Thailand. The United States provided the first Thai river patrol craft, of the same types as those being used in Vietnam, many of which are still in use today. In the twenty-first century, whereas Thailand looks overseas for its major seagoing combat vessels, the country has developed a modern local industry for building its smaller patrol craft.
RPC (River Patrol Craft)
In March 1967 the Thais received six RPCs from the order intended for South Vietnam. For details, see SOUTH VIETNAM.
Thai M 10 riverine patrol boats on exercises. (Photo Marsun)
PBRs
At the time of writing the Thai Navy still operated around two dozen American PBR Mk II river patrol boats. For details, see UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
M 10 Riverine Patrol Boat
Thai marine constructors MARSUN have supplied several classes of offshore patrol boats to the Thai Navy in recent years. The M 10 is a small, fast craft intended for riverine patrol and counter-insurgency roles. They are designed to be air-transportable.
Launched:
Current production by MARSUN Co. Ltd., Samutprakarn, on the Chao Phraya River. Aluminium hull.
Dimensions:
L: 10m/32ft 10in; B: 2.7m/8ft 10in; D: 0.7m/2ft 3½in.
Crew:
5 + up to 8 troops.
Power/Speed:
Twin waterjets; 2 × Cummins 420bhp diesel engines/40+ knots.
Guns/Armour:
.50 cal Browning HMG in bow and stern; single pintle-mounted 7.62mm MG; personal arms of the crew and troops.
Fate:
In service.
TURKEY
In the latter half of the nineteenth century the Turkish navy stationed gunboats and coast defence ships on the Lower Danube. During the war with Russia, many of these were sunk or captured, and the rest languished for many years laid up at Istanbul. Depictions of Turkish ships of the period are far from comprehensive, and many were elaborate colour paintings which often lack verisimilitude. A useful work of reference is The Ottoman Steam Navy, 1828-1923 by Bernd Langensiepen and Ahmet Güleryüz, published by the Naval Institute Press in 1995. Another source of information on Danube warships is Danube Monitors, by Christian Crăciunoiu and Mihai Georgescu, published by Modelism International.
Many details of early vessels of the Danube Squadron are incomplete, or in some cases contradictory. With reference to the Mesopotamian campaign, once more details are far from complete, and it is to be hoped that this work will inspire future enthusiasts to fill in the gaps and correct details.
DANUBE RIVER MONITORS AND GUNBOATS
Akka Class
A class of four small wooden gunboats, launched in the UK in 1859. In keeping with the Turks’ reluctance to discard warships which were so obviously left behind by the technological race and rendered thoroughly obsolete, the Ottoman government – and in this respect it was not alone, the most extreme example being the Americans’ ‘rebuilding’ of Civil War ships – decided in 1898 to fit the machinery and armament of one of them, Şevket Nüma (Turkish for ‘Guide to Imperial Majesty’), into a new steel hull. Thus ‘rejuvenated’, she served as a training ship up until 1909, when she was laid up. However, such was the Turks’ urgent need for ships during the Great War that she was recommissioned in April 1915. Her new steel hull did
not save her from being sunk by Nasmith in HM submarine E.11 on 20 November 1915 in the Sea of Marmora. Of her wooden sisters, Akka (‘Acre’) had been discarded in 1901, Varna (renamed Necmifeşan) was hulked in 1902, and Sünne (‘Sulina’) had been sunk by the Russians back in 1877.
Launched:
All 1859, Akka by J & R White, Southampton; the others by Money Wigram, Blackwall.
Dimensions:
Displ: 196 tons; L: 35.4m/116ft 2in; B: 6m/19ft 8in; D: 2.7m/8ft 10in.
Crew:
70.
Power/Speed:
Single screw; 1-cyl steam engine, 225ihp/8 knots.
Guns/Armour:
Fate:
2 lost; Akka scrapped 1903; Varna scrapped 1909.
Feth ül İslam Class
Inspired by the French riverine floating batteries designed by Dupuy de Lôme for Napoleon III, the Turks turned to the same French constructors, Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée, which had built the first series, and were in the process of building the second series of 1864.
The five Turkish vessels followed the same revised design, with the two heavy MLR mounted in an armoured casemate which had two firing ports arranged to each side. Their close-in defence was taken care of by two 37mm revolver cannons, mounted on the rear corners of the casemate roof, and in addition two sets of spar torpedoes protruded from the bow and the stern, for use in keeping enemy spar torpedo boats at bay. This arrangement was in contemporary use on the double-ender converted ferry boats in the Union Navy in the USA. These came into their own, when they were deployed by the British commander of Iskodra in April 1877. The crews of the attacking Russian spar torpedo boats found to their discomfort that the spars on Iskodra were longer than those of their own spar torpedoes! Despite this successful defence, Iskodra was later captured by the Russians and commissioned by them as Nicopol.
The Feth ül İslam river gunboats built in France. (B&W version of a colour rendering of an original line drawing in Danube Monitors, from Website http://algizus.blogspot.fr/2016/09/blog-post.html)
Podgorica in 1877. Note her defensive spar torpedoes fore and aft. (From profile and plan drawings in Danube Monitors, via Website http://algizus.blogspot.fr/2016/09/blog-post.html)
Much less lucky was her sister-ship Podgorica. On 7 November 1877 she was engaged in bombarding Romanian positions, when the latter trapped her by sowing minefields both up- and downriver of her position. Her commander took shelter behind the island of Chiftele, but the Romanians quietly brought into action a heavy mortar, its fire being directed by an observer using a long telephone line, and eventually a shell exploded Podgorica’s magazine and sank her. Salvaged and repaired, she was commissioned by the Russians as Sistov.
Both Russian prizes were discarded in 1889. The three remaining in Turkish service, Feth ül İslam (‘Islamic Conqueror’), Bögürtlen and Semender, were laid up after the war, the last being scrapped in 1909.
Launched:
1864 by FCM, La Seyne.
Dimensions:
Displ: 335 tons; L: 31.5m/103ft 4in; B: 9.8m/32ft 2in; D: 1.7m/5ft 7in.
Crew:
50.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; 2 × single-cyl steam engines, 290ihp/8 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 80-pounder Krupp L/22 150mm SB; 6 × 76mm SB added 1874/Belt 76mm tapering to 51mm at the ends; Casemate 76mm.
Fate:
2 captured; Bögürtlen scrapped 1886, last two scrapped 1909.
Profile of Seyfi. (Drawing from Danube Monitors)
Hizber Class
Eight years after the Feth ül İslam class, the Tersâne-i mire (Imperial) Dockyard in Istanbul launched two close derivatives of the French vessels, Hizber (‘Lion’) and Seyfi (‘With Sword’). They were half as long again, with a correspondingly greater displacement, and the armour on their casemate was increased to 105mm. Other differences were a single funnel in place of two, and a rounded bow.
Both were active on the Danube in the Russo-Turkish War, and Seyfi fell victim to two Russian spar torpedoes on the night of 13/14 May 1877. Her wreck remained in the Mâcin Channel up until 1987, when it was blown up to remove it from the shipping lane. It was then that the identity of the sunken ship was finally confirmed as Seyfi, the Russians mistakenly claiming to have sunk the larger monitor Hivzirrahman. Her sister survived the war, only to be laid up in 1879.
Launched:
1872 by the Imperial DY, Istanbul.
Dimensions:
Displ: 531 tons; L: 43.9m/144ft (between perpendiculars); B: 9.4m/30ft 10in; D: 1.6m/5ft 3in.
Crew:
51.
Power/Speed:
Single screw; VTE steam engine 175ihp/9.5 knots.
Guns/Armour:
1876: 2 × 80-pounder Krupp L/22 150mm SB; 1886: 26 × 76mm QF & 2 × 2.5in Nordenfelt MG added/Belt 76mm tapering to 51mm at the ends; Casemate 105mm; Deck 30mm.
Fate:
Seyfi sunk 13/14 May 1877; Hizber scrapped 1909.
Lütfucelil and Hivzirrahman
The Lütfucelil (‘Divine Grace’) and Hivzirrahman (‘Merciful Protector’) were a pair of twin-turret monitors built by a French shipyard, in response to the pair of similar ships ordered by Egypt from Laird Brothers in England, which later became HMS Scorpion and Wivern. Both Turkish monitors served on the Danube during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, the Russians claiming to have sunk Hivzirrahman with a spar torpedo (the victim was actually Seyfi). Lütfucelil was sunk by a Russian 15cm mortar battery at Braila on 29 April 1877, after her commander had unwisely left the ship to seek information from Turkish troops ashore. A Russian shell penetrated her magazine, and she was completely destroyed.
Lütfucelil in 1877. (Photo Muzeul Militar National, Bucharest)
Launched:
1868 by Chantiers et Ateliers de la Gironde, Bordeaux.
Dimensions:
Displ: 1,741 tons; L: 64.4m/211ft 3in; B: 13.6m/44ft 7in; D: 4.4m/14ft 5in.
Crew:
130.
Power/Speed:
Twin screws; horizontal compound steam engines, 2,000ihp/12 knots.
Guns/Armour:
2 × 203mm MLR; 2 × 178mm MLR/140mm belt, 117mm end bulkheads; 140mm turrets. 1 × 120mm BL added 1875.
Fate:
Lütfucelil sunk April 1877; Hivzirrahman scrapped November 1909.
MESOPOTAMIAN GUNBOATS AND ARMED LAUNCHES
Marmaris
The French-built Marmaris had been designed for customs and coastguard duties in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.
With the British invasion of Mesopotamia, Marmaris was heavily outnumbered and outgunned, and her crew took her up the Tigris, planning to carry out harassing operations and hit-and-run attacks. She was certainly capable of overwhelming HMS Miner, but the RN sloops were another matter. During one feint, Marmaris attempted to lure RN ships over a controlled mine, but the operator lacked a clear sighting line, and detonated the mine too early.
The burned-out wreck of Marmaris. (Photo The Times of India Illustrated Weekly Supplement 20 October 1915)
Marmaris showing the devastating effects of the fires which led to her magazines exploding and her teak deck planking being consumed. Just visible is her forward 65mm QF trained to starboard. (Photo The Illustrated War News, October 1915)
She was finally caught on 1 June 1915 near Garbi, six miles (10km) North of Ezra’s Tomb. The Turkish crew were having difficulty navigating the rapidly shoaling Tigris – HMS Espiegle herself was scraping her way over the river bed – and in addition they were hampered by attempting to tow out of the reaches of the British several barges loaded with artillery and troops. At six o’clock in the evening HMS Shaitan opened fire on Marmaris, quickly followed by the sloops Espiegle, Odin and Clio. Under such a rain of shells the Turks stood no chance, and Marmaris was soon on fire. Throughout the night the British crews heard a series of explosions as flames reached her magazine, and the following morning the British flotilla passed her blazing wreck. Her guns
were salvaged the following January by gunners from HMS Odin.
When built, Marmaris had carried an above-water torpedo tube mounted in her bow, with four torpedoes. Fortunately for the British these had been removed in 1908, and it is interesting to consider whether the torpedoes might have been put to good use – in deeper water further down the river – to defend the little gunboat.
Launched:
22 January 1906 by Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire at Nantes.
Dimensions:
Displ: 98 tons; L: 52.4m/171ft 11in; B: 7.5m/24ft 7in; D: 2.4m/7ft 10in.
Crew:
66.
Power/Speed:
Single screw; VTE steam engine 950ihp/14.8 knots (trials); 11 knots (1914).
Guns/Armour:
4 × 65mm QF; 2 × 97mm Pom-Poms; 1 × 450mm torpedo tube + 4 torpedoes (removed in 1908).
Fate:
Sunk 2 June 1915.
Selmân-ı Pâk
Selmân-ı Pâk was the name the Turkish Navy gave to the Royal Navy ‘Small China Gunboat’ HMS Firefly. She had been captured at Umm at Tubul on 1 December 1915, when a shell hit her boiler and disabled her. She was recaptured by HMS Tarantula on 26 February 1917 after a running fight, her Turkish crew running her aground and attempting to destroy her by lighting cotton waste in her magazines, but the British boarding party were able to extinguish this. In her wardroom, her officers discovered their books still on the shelves, and a useful prisoner was her Turkish cook, who continued to work for her returning British crew. After repairs she rejoined the Tigris Flotilla for the final push on Baghdad. For details, see GREAT BRITAIN.
Doğan