SMS G9

SMS G9 was a V1-class large torpedo boat of the Imperial German Navy. She was built by the Germaniawerft shipyard at Kiel between 1911 and 1912, completing on 25 September 1912.

G9 served with the German High Seas Fleet in the North Sea during the First World War, taking part in the Battle of Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914, the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1915 and the Battle of Jutland in 1916. She was sunk by a mine on 3 May 1918.

Design and construction
In the first decade of the 20th century, the Imperial German Navy had generally ordered twelve large torpedo boats (Große Torpedoboote) as part of each year's construction programme, with a gradual evolution of design in each year's orders, with speed, range and seaworthiness improving year-on-year. These changes resulted in the ships becoming larger, and concerns grew that the torpedo boats were becoming too big to manoeuvre in and out of the battle fleet. For the 1911 fiscal year's orders, it was decided to revert to a smaller design, with the numbering system for torpedo boats restarting as a consequence. As was normal practice, that year's order was split between two shipyards, with six (V1–V6) to be built by AG Vulcan and six (G7–G12) by Germaniawerft, with detailed design differing between the two shipyards.

Germaniawerft's design was 71.5 m long overall and 71.0 m between perpendiculars, with a beam of 7.56 m and a draught of 3.09 m. Displacement was 573 t design and 719 t full load.

Three coal-fired and one oil-fired water-tube boiler fed steam at a pressure of 18 atm to two sets of direct-drive steam turbines. The ship's machinery was rated at 16000 PS giving a design speed of 32 kn. 110 tons of coal and 80 tons of oil fuel were carried, giving an endurance of 1150 nmi at 17 kn.

The ship was armed with two 8.8 cm SK L/30 naval guns, (replaced by 8.8 cm SK L/45 naval guns in 1916), one on the forecastle and one aft. Four single 50 cm (19.7 in) torpedo tubes were fitted, with two on the ship's beam in the gap between the forecastle and the ship's bridge which were capable of firing straight ahead, and two on the ship's centreline aft of the funnels. 18 mines could be carried. The ship had a crew of 74 officers and men.

G9 was laid down at Germaniawerft's Kiel shipyard as yard number 172, was launched on 31 January 1912 and completed on 25 September 1912.

Service
On commissioning, G9 joined the 10th Half Flotilla of the 5th Torpedo boat flotilla, and remained in that flotilla in April 1914.

G9 was a member of the 10th Half-flotilla of the 5th Torpedo boat flotilla of the German High Seas Fleet on the outbreak of war. On 28 August 1914, the British Harwich Force, supported by light cruisers and battlecruisers of the Grand Fleet, carried out a raid towards Heligoland with the intention of destroying patrolling German torpedo boats. The German defensive patrols around Heligoland consisted of one flotilla (I Torpedo Flotilla) of 12 modern torpedo boats forming an outer patrol line about 25 nmi North and West of Heligoland, with an inner line of older torpedo boats of the 3rd Minesweeping Division at about 12 nmi. The 5th Torpedo boat flotilla, including G9, together with four German light cruisers waited near Heligoland, and was ordered from Heligoland to investigate sightings of British submarines. G9, at the head of the flotilla, sighted several ships ahead and the flash of guns, but uncertain whether the ships were friendly or enemies, continued to close until the unknown ships could be clearly identified as British destroyers, when she opened fire and turned away to escape the trap, as did the rest of the flotilla. The torpedo boat SMS V1, which along with SMS S13 (1911) could not make full speed and lagged behind the rest of the flotilla, was hit by British shells before the arrival of the German cruiser SMS Stettin allowed the 5th Flotilla to escape. The torpedo boat SMS V187 of the outer screen did not manage to evade the British force and was sunk. The intervention of the supporting British forces resulted in the sinking of the German cruisers SMS Mainz, SMS Cöln (1909) and SMS Ariadne (1900). The British light cruiser HMS Arethusa (1913) and destroyers HMS Laurel (1913), HMS Laertes (1913) and HMS Liberty (1913) were badly damaged but safely returned to base. G9 was undamaged.

On 23 January 1915, a German force of Battlecruisers and light cruisers, escorted by torpedo boats, and commanded by Admiral Franz von Hipper, made a sortie to attack British fishing boats on the Dogger Bank. G9, part of the 10th Half-Flotilla, formed part of the escort for Hipper's force. British Naval Intelligence was warned of the raid by radio messages decoded by Room 40, and sent out the Battlecruiser Force from Rosyth, commanded by Admiral Beatty aboard HMS Lion (1910) and the Harwich Force of light cruisers and destroyers, to intercept the German force. The British and German Forces met on the morning of 24 January in the Battle of Dogger Bank. On sighting the British, Hipper ordered his ships to head south-east to escape the British, who set off in pursuit. The armoured cruiser SMS Blücher was disabled by British shells and was sunk, but the rest of the German force escaped, with the German battlecruiser SMS Seydlitz and the British battlecruiser HMS Lion (1910) badly damaged. On 3 February 1915, G9 as part of the 5th Torpedo boat Flotilla and together with the cruisers SMS Strassburg, SMS Graudenz, SMS Stralsund and SMS Rostock, accompanied minesweepers as they searched for British minefields West of the Amrun Bank. G9 and the torpedo boat SMS V4 destroyed two British mines.

G9 was still a member of the 10th Half-flotilla of the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916. The 5th Flotilla supported the main force of the German High Seas Fleet. G9 picked up some of the survivors from the British destroyers HMS Nomad and HMS Nestor (1915), which had previously been disabled and then sunk by fire from German battleships at about 18:30–18:35 CET (17:30–17:35 GMT). From about 20:15 CET, the German torpedo boat flotillas launched a series of torpedo attacks against the British battle line in order to cover the German fleet's turn away from the British. First to attack were the 6th and 9th Flotillas, followed by the 3rd Flotilla. At 20:38, the 5th Flotilla started an attack run, but it was unable to find the British battleline due to poor visibility caused by fog and smoke, and the attack was aborted. During the night action, the 5th Flotilla was ordered to search for and attack the British fleet, but failed to encounter the British battleships. While G9 and sister ship SMS G10 did spot a "four-funneled cruiser" at about 01:00 on 1 June, they did not engage as they were not certain whether the ship was British or German. G9 was undamaged during the battle. G9 was part of the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla during the inconclusive Action of 19 August 1916, when the German High Seas Fleet sailed to cover a sortie of the battlecruisers of the 1st Scouting Group.

By late April 1917, the torpedo boats of the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla had been fitted for minesweeping and their crews trained in that task, and became increasingly dedicated to minesweeping. On 3 May 1918, G9 was sunk by a mine in the North Sea at 55.23333°N, 6.31667°W. 31 of her crew were killed.