 Type 1924 (Raubtier-class) torpedo boats
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
  Germany | |
| Name | Iltis |
| Namesake | Polecat |
| Builder | Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven |
| Yard number | 110 |
| Laid down | 8 March 1927 |
| Launched | 12 October 1927 |
| Commissioned | 1 October 1928 |
| Fate | Sunk by MTBs during the action of 13 May 1942 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class and type | Type 24 torpedo boat |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 92.6 m (303 ft 10 in) (o/a) |
| Beam | 8.65 m (28 ft 5 in) |
| Draft | 3.52 m (11 ft 7 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph) |
| Range | 1,997 nmi (3,698 km; 2,298 mi) at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) |
| Complement | 129 |
| Armament |
|
Iltis was the lead ship of her class of six torpedo boats built for the German Navy (initially called the Reichsmarine and then renamed as the Kriegsmarine in 1935) during the 1920s. The boat made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. During World War II, she did not participate in the Norwegian Campaign of 1940 as she was under repair after having accidentally rammed and sunk a U-boat. Iltis spent the next couple of years escorting minelayers as they laid minefields and laying minefields herself. She also spent the latter half of 1941 escorting convoys through the Skaggerak. The boat returned to France in 1942 and was one of the escorts for the capital ships sailing from France to Germany through the English Channel in the Channel Dash. Iltis then helped to escort one commerce raider through the Channel and was sunk by British forces while escorting another blockade runner in May.