At the suggestion of many people, such as the director of naval affairs of the Military Commission, the Guangdong navy general Chen Ce, and the Italian consultant of the Thunder School of the Military Department, Chiang Kai-shek decided to buy torpedo speedboats for the Yangtze River defense.
Italian and British arms dealers have been selling torpedo boats to the naval departments in Beijing and Nanjing, but it seems that the central navy insists that the viability of such boats in wartime is extremely limited. Instead of buying them, it is better to save money to buy cruisers and destroyers that they are obsessed with. According to the experience of inspection in Europe and the understanding of CMB and Malaysia Airlines ordered by Guangdong Army, it is suggested to choose Italian speedboat.
Comparatively speaking, among the small speedboats in Britain and Italy, China and Pakistan launch torpedoes by rear throwing, while MAS can launch torpedoes from both sides. It is generally believed that the latter launching method has less interference to direct torpedo and higher accuracy. In the process of secretly contacting Britain and Italy to buy speedboats, the "God of Wealth" of the Ministry of Finance first signed four CMB (soon increased to eight) with Britain.
In addition, Nanjing nominally participated in the international league's action to sanction Italy for Ethiopia, so the Italian speedboat that looked more suitable was out from the beginning. ...
Eight British speedboats arrived in China in two groups, first in two batches and then in two batches.
The first and second batches of speedboats were organized into the first squadron in Dianlei School, which was called "Wen Tianxiang Squadron". These speedboats were named Wen 17 1, Wen 93, Wen 42 and Wen 88. The third batch and the fourth batch of speedboats form the second squadron, which is called Shi Kefa Squadron. These speedboats were named Shi 18 1, Shi 223, Shi 34 and Shi 102. [I don't know what the numbers in the naming of speedboats in the electric school mean]
According to the usage of CMB, TVC decided to buy another eight. The first two new ships arrived in Hong Kong, and the rest arrived one after another.
Affected by the domestic war, only the first four of the eight new ships were transported to Wuhan via the Guangzhou-Kowloon and Guangdong-Han railways, and were named "Yan Gao Qing Squadron" (the fifth squadron). The boats were renamed Yan 16 1, Yan 53, Yan 92 and Yan 65438. Two of the remaining four ships arrived in Guangzhou and were assigned to the Guangdong Navy, numbered "New 1" and "New 2". Two of them were used to exchange vehicles and other urgently needed equipment with the British authorities in Hong Kong, and were used by the British troops stationed in Hong Kong, numbered MTB26 and MTB27.
A CMB promoted by Nanjing Admiralty is 55 feet long and 1 1 foot wide. The main engine consists of two 450-horsepower or 500-horsepower gasoline engines, 12 cylinders, and the other 36-horsepower four-cylinder gasoline engine is used for low-speed cruising with a design speed of 38 knots. It is said that the actual trial speed exceeds 4 1 knot under the condition of full oil and full ammunition.
The 55-foot CMB purchased by China can carry two 18-inch torpedoes and two depth charges, and can be equipped with two 0.303-inch double Lewis machine guns for self-defense and air defense, with five crew members.
It is worth noting that the main engine models and horsepower used by these speedboats are different, and it is still inconclusive. However, judging from the records of 40.6 knots and 40.8 knots of the first batch of boats on the Yangtze River, this model is probably recommended by the British side 1000 horsepower (the Japanese side recorded the captured Yan 92 as 1000 horsepower).
On the occasion of the delivery of the first batch of British speedboats, the Nanjing government ordered eight S-type torpedo speedboats from Germany. According to the original contract, five of them are old ships in stock and can be handed over to the Chinese side, and three are newly built ships. Due to the outbreak of the Spanish civil war, Germany proposed to replace five old ships with new ships using diesel engines. With the consent of the Chinese side, Germany turned to provide old boats to the Spanish National Army.
The three new boats (numbered C- 1 to C-3) originally planned have all arrived in China, and Dianlei School listed them as the third squadron, known as Yuefei Squadron. The speedboats are Guangdong 253, Guangdong 37 1 and Guangdong 22 (Guangdong 54 is missing). The other German speedboat squadron (the fourth squadron) is planned to be named "Lu Xiufu Squadron", and the names of the boats are scheduled to be "Lu 3 1", "Lu 103", "Lu 82" and "Lu 82".
Regarding the models of these German speedboats, the five old boats originally planned were German S- 1 to S-5 (that is, five were for Spain) and S-2 to S-6. From a technical point of view, the main engine of S-6 is a diesel engine instead of a gasoline engine, and the torpedo tube is 533 mm instead of 500 mm, which are different from the previous models, so perhaps the former statement is more credible. According to the hull size and main engine model recorded by China, these three newly-built boats should be newly-built S-2.
The five new boats modified by the contract are still a mystery-according to the general description of overseas data, China ordered eight more S boats, and then S-30 to S-37 were reserved by the German Navy (it is said that the original numbers were C-4 to C- 1 1).
It can be seen that at this time, the five new boats in the Sino-German contract have not been fulfilled. How can we order eight new ships? What is the relationship between the five new ships that have not seen the commencement record and the eight new ships that are recognized overseas as "ordered by China" needs further historical data to explain.
During the Anti-Japanese War, Shi 102, Shi 34, Shi 18 1, Shi 223 and Yue 22 were sunk successively. The Thunderbolt School was closed and the speedboat brigade under its jurisdiction was changed to the command of the Navy General Command. Wen Tianxiang Squadron is still the first squadron, Yue Fei Squadron is changed to the second squadron, and Yan Gaoqing Squadron is changed to the third squadron. On the eve of Wuhan's retreat, the surviving speedboat was assigned to the fourth war zone in Guangdong.
However, during the transshipment process, it was found that the German speedboat was too large for the existing railway vehicles to transport, so the "Yuefei Squadron" temporarily retreated to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. After the other eight CMB ships arrived in Guangzhou, they joined the Guangdong Navy "Xin 1" and "Xin 2" and retreated to the Xijiang River together. Among them, the "Yan 92" boat was unfortunately rounded up by the Japanese army while performing its mission in Sanshui.
The defense department of Yingxing River in Guilin was established, and nine speedboats were renamed as Wumu, Miao Zhuang, Tian Xiang, Gaoqing, Jiguang, Kefa, Chenggong, Tingbi and Shichang, respectively, and were organized into two detachments in Wuzhou and Zhaoqing. During the Battle of Yuxianggui, the situation in Guangxi was critical. Because the oil and accessories of speedboats were used up, it was difficult to continue fighting, so nine speedboats were sunk in Liuzhou and Shilong respectively. At this point, all the British torpedo speedboats imported from China were completely annihilated.
The "Yan 92" boat captured by the Japanese army was later used as a "torpedo tracking boat" (that is, a mine fishing boat) used by the Japanese naval mine school, with the serial number "nominal number 1 149". The ship survived after the war and its history is unknown. 【NominalNo。 1005 and the nameNo. Old Japanese Naval Mine School 1006 were 45-foot anti-smuggling speedboats "Guan Wei" and "Guanfu" of Huaqiang former customs, and their whereabouts were also unknown after the war.
After the two German speedboats retreated to the Chuanjiang River, they were received by the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs and compiled into the "Yue Fei Team of Torpedo Speedboats of the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs", and then docked in Chongqing for safekeeping; After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he returned to Nanjing from Chongqing and handed over to the Navy, which was temporarily under the direct jurisdiction of the Navy General Command, known as "Kuai 37 1" and "Kuai 253".
The boat is equipped with a Japanese 25mm cannon, two13.2mm machine guns and two Lewis machine guns, as well as two light machine guns, four submachine guns and two pistols, which are used as patrol gunboats. These two boats were incorporated into the Navy's Fifth Patrol Boat Team and later transferred to the First Mobile Patrol Boat Team (stationed in Nanjing). The name of the ship was changed to "Kuai 10 1" and "Kuai 102", in which 102 (the original 253 ship) was in a semi-abandoned state.
"Kuai 10 1" joined the People's Liberation Army with the Second Fleet of the Kuomintang Navy in Nanjing Uprising, while 102 was still being repaired in Shanghai. After that, the boat 102 was towed back to Zhoushan and eventually sank due to a typhoon, so the establishment was cancelled. "Kuai 10 1" was named "Haijing", which was the first torpedo speedboat of the People's Navy and the only German-made ship known to the People's Navy.
The "Marine Police" boat was transferred from the Navy of East China Military Region to Qingdao Speedboat School as a training boat. During the design of 0 108 round bilge high-speed escort boat, the naval Qingdao base and 30 1 factory (4808 factory) mapped the boat line shape as the design master model. This is the last record of a German torpedo speedboat in China.
Of course, if Dianlei School only bought two kinds of speedboats, Britain and Germany, it might not be called "stamp collecting". After all, the Central Navy has newly installed 14 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, and it has to buy three brands of "Elkan", "Suluotong" and "Bei Leita" at one go.
The electric school applied to the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs to buy a team consisting of two "mine-chasing boats" (that is, speedboat-type mine-laying fishing boats) to recover torpedoes launched during training. The electric school ordered two Italian speedboats, 9.65 meters long and 2.2 meters wide, with a draft of 0.5 meters, a displacement of about 3 tons and a speed of 34 knots. Two mining ships arrived in Yangon, Myanmar, and were originally planned to be transported back to China via the Yunnan-Myanmar Highway and distributed to Wanxian Naval School and Guilin Hangying River Defense Office.
Because the carrier, Hong Kong Southwest Transportation Company, reflected that the boat was too large to be loaded by the cars under its jurisdiction, the navy thought that the boat could not be used as a minesweeper and its use was limited, so it decided to sell it on the spot. The thunder faction's wish to assemble Qi Ying, Germany and Italy speedboats was finally not realized.