H.M Motortorpedbåt T26 (1943), T21 class

LelutooDS · May 5, 2024, 11:33pm

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H.M Motortorpedbåt T26 was a motor torpedo boat of the T21 class built by Kockums and served in the Swedish navy from 1943 to 1985. She was the sixth ship out of the eleven T21 class ships built, which was a development of the T15 class, which itself was a development of the T11 class (Italian MAS ships).
T26 served alongside her sisters in the Neutrality guard, serving in the Stockholm archipelago. T26 went on to serve quietly throughout her career until 1959. There she was used as a target towing ship for the air force until 1985 where she was sold off and is today a museum ship.
I am suggesting the T26 due to her being the only ship of the class who is still around through restoration efforts.

History

The story begins in 1936 Italy, the new MAS type of motor torpedo boats had entered service in the Italian navy and were seen as quite the capable ships. Fast, easy and cheap to produce, over two dozen were made and went on to serve well in the Italian navy. However in 1940, Sweden saw themselves lacking in naval power and they needed something that could protect and help out the bigger cruisers. Sweden went to Italy to find ships that were already built in order to get immediate reinforcements for the navy.
Mas
Mas in Italian service

In Italy, Sweden bought (Among other things not relevant to this post) 4 MAS motor torpedo boats of what would become the T11 class, these would however be deemed unsatisfactory due to the wooden hull, Sweden wanted something more durable and reliable and as such felt like the wooden construction was a big negative. Design wise however they were quite excellent, fast and efficient, just what Sweden wanted in their MTB.

Because of this, the Swedish decided to order an upgraded version of the Italian Design, only this time with a steel hull and protected torpedoes. This order was sent to Kockums varv in 1941 and would result in the T15 class. However, the Italian MAS Design, while good, could still be improved. In 1942 another order to Kockums was placed, this time the hull was to be extended, an enclosed 20mm turret added, upgraded engines and bigger torpedoes installed. This order would result in the T21 class of MTB’s.

The T21, first of her class

The T21 class turned out to be an excellent ship, being small, fast, having anti submarine capabilities as well as torpedoes for bigger ships and cannon and machine guns for enemy MTB’s and aircraft. It was truly a ship that could do it all! Eleven ships of the T21 class would end up being produced, one of these was the T26, a fine ship that would serve with her sisters in the Stockholm archipelago, she was to follow Swedish cruisers in to battle but luckily that was never necessary, instead she patrolled and protected the Swedish shores for the duration of the war.

T26 and her sister T28 during WW2

Post war she kept strong and kept in service all the way into 1959’s, attempts were made to upgrade them to the standard of more powerful MTB’s like the T38 class and Spica class with the T26 receiving a radar and illumination flares, however it was apparent that the T21 ships were beginning to grow old. As such they were retired from fighting service, the T26 was utilized by the air force as a target towing ship all the way into 1985 where she was retired and later sold off to private owners. Through restorations and maintenance she was restored into a serviceable state and is now a museum ship.

She is occasionally taken out on boating trips

Armament and stats

Displacement: 27 tons
Length: 20 m
Beam: 4.63 m
Draft: 1.56 m
Engines: 2 Isotta-Fraschini IF184 supercharged gas engines
Speed: 50-53 knots max, that is 98 km/h!
Crew: 9-11

Main armaments were the two 53cm m/41 torpedoes it carried, one on each side.
The anti-air / general armament was a 20mm akan m/40 in a turret as well as four 8mm machine guns, two on each side of the bridge.
For Anti submarine duties it carried six sink bombs.