The German torpedo boat T34 was one of fifteen Type 39 torpedo boats built for the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) during World War II. Completed in mid-1944, the boat was still working up in the Baltic when she struck a mine in November and sank. Design and description The Type 39 torpedo boat was conceived as a general-purpose design, much larger than preceding German torpedo boats. The boats had an overall length of and were long at the waterline. They had a beam of , a draft of at deep load and displaced at standard load and at deep load. Their crew numbered 206 officers and sailors. The Type 39s were fitted with a pair of geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller, using steam from four high-pressure water-tube boilers. The turbines were designed to produce which was intended give the ships a maximum speed of . They carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of at . As built, the Type 39 ships mounted four SK C/32 guns in single mounts protected by gun shields; one forward of the superstructure, one between the funnels, and two aft, one superfiring over the other. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by four SK C/30 AA guns in two twin-gun mounts on platforms abaft the rear funnel and a dozen C/38 guns. One quadruple mount was positioned on the aft superstructure and two more were fitted on the bridge wings. They carried six above-water torpedo tubes in two triple mounts amidships and could also carry 30 mines; the full complement of 60 mines made the ships top-heavy which could be dangerous in bad weather. For anti-submarine work the boats were fitted with a S-Gerät sonar and four depth charge launchers. The Type 39s were equipped with a FuMO 21 radar and various FumB radar detectors were installed late in the war. Construction and career T34 was ordered on 20 January 1941 from Schichau, laid down at their Elbing, East Prussia, shipyard on 5 March 1943 as yard number 1516, launched on 23 October 1943 and commissioned on 12 August 1944. Freiherr von Lüttitz was appointed in command. As part of her lengthy working up, she conducted gunnery practice with the radio-controlled target ship in the Baltic on 20 November, the boat struck a mine laid by Soviet submarine L-3 and sank off Cape Arkona at with the loss of 62 crewmen. Notes