K.u.K. Torpedo Boats

[jorgeY]

Hi,

I have found a couple of fotos of the TBs of the class of the TB-26 Flamingo (same as Gaukle, Sekretär, Weihe, Marabu and Harpie) but I would like to see plans of them. Have someone a link where I could find plans of them? Or a good book about them?

thanks

[jorgeY]

I don't know if it is necessary, but just in case, K.u.K. stands for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. I thought it was a more wide spreaded name for the double headed eagle empire, but meanwhile I have surprisingly experienced, that even germans are not familiar with the name. It appears to be a usual naming only in Austria.

cheers

[Waterhen]

Hi " jorgeY," I don't know if you have visited the following site containing all the Austro Hungarian torpedo boats in commision during WW1, including some early boats that had been decommissioned by then:-

Kaiserin und Konigin Maria Theresia, which I understand to mean, in English :-

" Maria Therese, Queen and Empress."

http://mateinfo.hu/torpedoboats.pdf

Coastal defence torpedo boats included are :-

" Trieste " group, commissioned from 1909-10, Fiume Group, commissioned from 1910-11.

" Cobra " class, Yarrow built boats, ( four boats.)

" Schicau " class, 78 ton coastal defence torpedo boats, in two groups :-

(1) The " Sperber " group, commissioned from 1886-88.

(2) The " Elster " group, similar but more powerful than (1) above, commissioned from 1889-92.

" Kaiman " class, high seas torpedo boats, with the first of the class built by Yarrow, commissioned from 1905-10.

Many more plus stacks of photographs.

Trust this is of some help to you.

I thought that Thornycroft had also built some early torpedo boats for the Austro Hungarian Empire, but can't seem to find references for them at the moment.

Probably in the Thornycroft book.

[jorgeY]

Hi Waterhen,
and thank you very much for your answer.

Yes, K.u.K. stays for kaiserliche und königliche, refering to the two crowns, the austro empire (kaiserliche) and the ungarian kingdom crown (königliche). As a matter of fact, is the more usually naming for the austro-ungarian in Austria. In Vienna you see announces about earlier K.u.K. suppliers, "K.u.K. Hoflieferant", telling that a grocerie for example, was earlier supplieing the Court.

I couldn't open the link you gave me. Maybe you could check it and tell me, if you can open it?

I wrote an article about one of the torpedo boats of the class, I'm seeking more information. It's about the TB-26 ex-Flamingo. Sorry, it's in spanish (google translate?), but there a couple of pictures of boats of her class and the video of my diving at the wreck.

http://www.sensaciones.org/forsensa/showthread.php?16749-Pecios-del-Adri%E1tico-El-Flamingo

On the other hand I found a site with information of the Vosper Thornycroft. It has a list of the ships they made, but I couldn't find any TB. Maybe it's not complete.

http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/vosper_thornycroft.htm

cheers

jorgeY

[Waterhen]

Hi Jorge, sorry about that. The correct URL is :-

http://mateinfo.hu/Torpedoboats.pdf Torpedoboats needs to be spelt with an upper case T instead of lower case which I typed accidentally.

You could also try Googling, Kaiserliche und Konigliche Kriegsmarine." Imperial and Royal war Navy," that brings up quite a few web sites.

Yarrow and Thornycroft certainly built some Torpedo boats which were copied by European manufacturers. ie. The first boat of the " Kaiman " class was built by Yarrow and the remainder built by ST-Trieste.

Also Yarrow and Thornycroft type boilers were used on many of the European built boats.

Finally, Yugoslevic MTB's were Thornycroft types.

Trust this information is of some help to you and that you have better luck with the correct URL.

Sorry about that.

PS I looked at your site, it was very good but I had difficulty understanding some of the Spanish.

[jorgeY]

hi Waterhen,

thank you for your kind answer. The document is very good, really super. Very interesting. Many pictures, also. I have one or two pictures recognized, but the rest were new for me. Very interesting document, indeed.

Personally I find the k.u.k. history fascinating. Trieste, Pula, Rijeka, Opatja, the whole coast hat the remains of the old empire, full of "glanz" and tragic. I'm often there.

Thank you again for the document.

cheers

jorge

[Waterhen]

Jorge, after J. I. Thornycroft and Co. built their first 57 ft. 2nd. class torpedo boat, named " Rap," for the Norwegian Government, tested on the Thames on the 17th. October, 1873, they built some similar boats for Sweden and Denmark.

For testing purposes, " Rap " was temporarily renamed," Maelstrom," and she carried British colours, while undergoing her sea trials.

The next boats built by Thornycroft were for Austria and France.

Speed trials of an Austrian boat was carried out on the 11 th. Sept. 1875

These 2nd. class boats were 67 ft. long, 8 ft. 6 in., beam, with a draught of 4ft. 3 in., and a guaranteed speed for the Austrian boats of 15 knots for 1 hr. duration. ( The French boats were guaranteed 18 knots for 2 hrs. duration.)

The machinery fitted developed 200 i.h.p., at a steam pressure of 105 lb/sq. in., with 25 in. of vacuum.

They had thicker plating than the 57 ft. type, plus extended armour, with the spaces fwd., and aft of the machinery compartment permanently decked, instead of having moveable covers, as was fitted to the earlier boats.

On completion the Austrian boats were shipped to their destination on board a steamer.