Named after the
Condor, the boat was
laid down at the
Reichsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven (Navy Yard) on 17 November 1925
launched on 22 September 1926 and
commissioned on 15 July 1928.
Second World War on the night of 8/9 April, showing how far the Germans had progressed at various times as well as their movements Now assigned to the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla,
Kondor supported the
North Sea mining operations that began on 3 September 1939. During the Norwegian Campaign, the boat was assigned to Group 5 under
Konteradmiral Oskar Kummetz on the
heavy cruiser , tasked to capture Oslo.
Kondor transported about 100 men of the invasion force and was one of the cruiser's escorts through the Baltic and Kattegat. At 02:30 the small
motor minesweepers R17 and
R21 and
Kondor were detached to occupy the naval base at
Karljohansvern, in the town of
Horten. Her sister ship, , had become separated from the main body while crippling the Norwegian patrol boat earlier that night and followed
Kondors group to Horten. The German force tasked to occupy Karljohansvern was scheduled to do so at dawn on 9 April, but
Kondors
captain,
Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant) Hans Wilck, commander of the force, decided to assault the harbor directly since the Norwegians had already been alerted. About 140 soldiers were transferred to
R17 and
R21 and the former ship was in the lead as they steamed through the harbor entrance at 04:35 at high speed, slowly followed by
Albatros, while
Kondor was transferring her embarked troops to another ship. The
minelayer engaged
R17 ten minutes later and set her on fire, but not before she unloaded her troops. The minelayer was only able to get a few shots off at
R21 before she steamed behind an island in the harbor. About this time,
Albatros was approaching the harbor mouth and exchanged fire with
Olav Tryggvason without effect. The torpedo boat, with only a single gun able to bear on the minelayer, withdrew behind one of the outer islands and started blindly bombarding the harbor.
Albatros withdrew not long after she was hit by a shell around 06:30 and the German troops that had made it ashore bluffed the Norwegians into surrendering at 07:35, but not before Wilck had reloaded his troops and sailed to regain radio communication with the German cruisers to support the attack. Later that morning,
Kondor and
Albatros were ordered to land their troops at
Son and then
Kondor and several minesweepers were able to pass through the
Drøbak Sound after the Norwegian
coastal defenses had sunk Blücher while passing through the Sound further up the Oslofjord, and search for
Blüchers survivors. During the search, she damaged a propeller on
Blüchers wreckage. Later that day,
Kondor supported German forces as they occupied
Drøbak. The following morning,
Albatros and
Kondor were engaged by coastal batteries on the island of
Bolærne and forced to turn away. After the
coast-defense guns broke down,
Kondors crew occupied the island. After the heavy cruiser had been crippled by a British submarine off the Danish coast on 11 April,
Kondor and her sister , among other ships, arrived later that morning to render assistance. Escorted by two destroyers,
Kondor,
Möwe, and the torpedo boat , minelayers laid a minefield in the
Skaggerak on 29–30 April. En route, the torpedo boat was sunk when she was accidentally rammed by the minelayer
Preussen. From 20–23 June,
Kondor was one of the escorts for the badly damaged
battleship from Norway to
Kiel, Germany. The following month, she helped to escort
Scharnhorsts sister, from
Trondheim, Norway, to Kiel from 25–28 July. Now assigned to the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla,
Kondor, her sister , and the torpedo boats , , and escorted minelayers as they laid a minefield in the southwestern North Sea on 7/8 August. The flotilla escorted another minelaying mission in the same area on 14–15 August. The following month,
Kondor was transferred to the 1st Torpedo Boat Flotilla, with ,
T2, and . On 6–7 September they escorted a minelaying mission in the English Channel. Rejoining the 5th Flotilla before the end of the month,
Kondor and her sisters,
Falke, , and laid a minefield in the English Channel on 30 September – 1 October. Reinforced by
Wolf and
Jaguar, the flotilla made an unsuccessful
sortie off the
Isle of Wight on 8–9 October. They made a second, more successful, sortie on 11–12 October, sinking two
Free French submarine chasers and two British
trawlers. The 5th Flotilla was transferred to
St. Nazaire later that month and its ships laid a minefield off
Dover on 3–4 December.
Kondor was refitted in
Rotterdam,
Netherlands, from March to May 1941. She was transferred afterwards to the Skagerrak where she was on convoy escort duties. The boat was again refitted in Rotterdam from November to December.
1941–1944 The flotilla joined the escort force for
Gneisenau,
Scharnhorst and the heavy cruiser on 12 February 1942 off
Cap Gris-Nez during the Channel Dash. From 12 March to 2 April, the flotilla escorted the
commerce raider through the English 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 (MTBs) sank
Seeadler and the torpedo boat while losing one of their own boats.
Falke and
Kondor and the torpedo boats and escorted the Italian blockade runner, , from
Bordeaux through the Bay of Biscay on 29–30 November. Another Italian blockade runner,
Himalaya, escorted by
Kondor and the torpedo boats
T2, ,
T22, and
T23, failed in her attempt to break through the Bay of Biscay when she was spotted by British aircraft and forced to return by heavy aerial attacks on 9–11 April.
Kondor,
Greif,
Falke,
Möwe and
T22 laid two minefields in the English Channel on 4–6 June. Later that month the ships returned to the Bay of Biscay to help escort
U-boats through the Bay and continued to do so into early August.
Möwe and
Kondor helped to lay two minefields in the English Channel on 3–5 September.
Kondor,
Greif and the torpedo boats , , and followed this with another minefield in the English Channel on 29–30 September. The 4th and 5th Torpedo Boat Flotillas, consisting
Kondor,
Greif,
Möwe, and the torpedo boats , , and laid minefields of 180 mines, off
Le Havre and
Fécamp, France, on 21 and 22 March. On 17–19 April 1944, the 5th Torpedo Boat Flotilla, including
Kondor,
Greif and
Möwe, sailed from
Brest, France, to
Cherbourg as distant cover for a convoy. A few days later, the flotilla laid a minefield on the night of 21/22 April. The following night the torpedo boats engaged British MTBs near
Cape Barfleur and sank one of them. On the nights of 26/27 and 27/28 April, they laid 108 mines each night near Cherbourg. While trying to evade British aerial attacks on the latter night,
Kondor struck a British mine, but was only lightly damaged. On 30 April and 1 May, the flotilla laid 260 mines in three minefields. Three weeks later, the flotilla was ordered to transfer from Cherbourg to Le Havre and departed on the night of 23/24 May.
Kondor,
Greif,
Falke,
Möwe and
Jaguar were attacked by Allied aircraft early the next day and
Greif was struck by two bombs that set her forward
boiler room on fire and caused her to take on water forward. With both boiler rooms subsequently flooded, she was unmaneuverable and accidentally collided with
Falke. The latter was only slightly damaged, but
Greifs bow was badly bent, which caused problems for
Möwe when she began to tow her sister. Around 06:00
Greif lost all power and sank a half hour later. At 07:43
Kondor struck a mine and had to be towed by
Möwe for the remainder of the voyage.
Kondor began a lengthy refit in Le Havre, but was cannibalized for spare parts after the Allies landed in Normandy on 6 June. The boat was
decommissioned on 28 June and was then declared a total loss after being hit by bombs on 31 July or 2 August. ==Notes==