Iltis () was
laid down at the
Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven (Navy Yard) on 8 March 1927
launched on 12 October 1927 and
commissioned on 1 October 1928.
Second World War Iltis supported the
North Sea mining operations that began on 3 September 1939. On 17–19 October the ship, together with her
sister ships and , and three
destroyers patrolled the
Skagerrak to inspect neutral shipping for
contraband goods. On 13, 18 and 19 November, the 6th Flotilla and one or two
light cruisers met destroyers returning from
minelaying missions off the English coast. Two days later the flotilla made another contraband patrol in the Skagerrak before returning to port on the 25th.
Iltis accidentally rammed and sank the submarine on 30 January 1940. The boat began a refit in
Wesermünde shortly afterwards that lasted until May. On 26 July
Iltis and her sister, , sortied from
Stavanger, Norway, to meet with the crippled
Gneisenau en route from
Trondheim to
Kiel for repairs. They rendezvoused with the battleship at 12:45 and an explosion occurred aboard
Luchs at 15:49. She broke in half off
Jæren and sank with the loss of 102 men. The other escorts made an unsuccessful search for a submarine and rescued the few survivors. Now assigned to the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla,
Iltis, her sister and the torpedo boats , , , , and escorted minelayers as they laid a minefield in the southwestern North Sea on 14–15 August. The flotilla escorted other minelaying missions in the same area on 31 August – 2 September and 6–7 September.
Iltis and
Jaguar laid a minefield off Dover on 29–30 October and then again on 2–3 December.
Iltis, the torpedo boat and the destroyer were the escorts for a minelaying mission at the northern entrance to the Channel on 23–24 January 1941.
Iltis and
Jaguar laid a minefield off Eastbourne on 25–26 February and then again on 5–6 March. The pair escorted the
battleships and into
Brest, France on 22 March after their
North Atlantic raid.
Iltis began a refit the following month at the
Wilton-Fijenoord shipyard in
Rotterdam,
Netherlands, that lasted until June. She was transferred afterwards to the Skagerrak where she was on convoy escort duties until October. The ship was then transferred to France in January 1942, rejoining the 5th Flotilla. They joined the escort force for
Scharnhorst,
Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser on 12 February off
Cap Gris-Nez during the Channel Dash. From 12 March to 2 April, the flotilla escorted the
commerce raider through the Channel despite heavy British attacks, damaging the British destroyers and . The flotilla escorted the commerce raider through the English Channel from 12 to 19 May. In
heavy fighting on the 13th, British
motor torpedo boats torpedoed
Iltis, which broke in half with the loss of 115 crewmen. ==Notes==