Type 37 torpedo boat

T21 at sea, 2 July 1946, en route to be scuttled with her load of poison gas
Class overview
Operators	Kriegsmarine  Soviet Navy
Preceded by	Type 35 torpedo boat
Succeeded by	Type 39 torpedo boat
Built	1938–1942
In commission	1941–1959
Completed	9
Lost	3
Scrapped	6
General characteristics (as built)
Type	Torpedo boat
Displacement	888 t (874 long tons) (standard) 1,139 t (1,121 long tons) (deep load)
Length	85.2 m (279 ft 6 in) o/a
Beam	8.87 m (29 ft 1 in)
Draft	2.8 m (9 ft 2 in)
Installed power	4 × water-tube boilers 31,000 shp (23,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed	35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range	1,600 nmi (3,000 km; 1,800 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Complement	119
Armament	1 × single 10.5 cm (4.1 in) gun 1 × single 3.7 cm (1.5 in) AA gun 2 × single 2 cm (0.8 in) AA guns 2 × triple 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes 30–60 mines

The Type 37 torpedo boat was a class of nine torpedo boats built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. Completed in 1941–1942, one boat helped to escort a commerce raider passing through the English Channel into the Atlantic Ocean in late 1941, but their first major action was in early 1942 when they formed part of the escort for a pair of battleships and a heavy cruiser through the Channel back to Germany in the Channel Dash. Two pairs of boats were sent to France at different times in mid-1942 and were part of the escort during an unsuccessful attempt to pass a different commerce raider back through the Channel in October. One boat was assigned to the Torpedo School as a training ship in mid-1942 and the others followed in the next year.

Three boats were sent to Norway in early 1943 for escort duties, although one of them returned to Germany after only a couple of months. Two others were transferred back to France where they laid minefields and were unsuccessful in escorting an Italian blockade runner through the Bay of Biscay into the Atlantic. One boat was sunk by American heavy bombers in December. By the end of the year, all of the Type 37s were either refitting or serving as training ships for either the Torpedo School or U-boat flotillas. Advancing Soviet forces caused them to be recalled to active duty during 1944 to support German forces operating in the Baltic. One boat apiece was sunk in 1944 and 1945 and another was so badly damaged that it was written off as a constructive total loss and later scrapped. Five survived the war and were seized by the Allies as war reparations. Only the Soviet Union actually made use of its vessel and it was eventually used as a test ship before being scrapped in 1960.