Made during WWII for the German home market and sold in department stores, this silent film “Hussars of the Sea” was created by Swiss documentary filmmaker Dr. Martin Rikli and photographed by Kurt Stanke. The film shows the German Navy’s motor torpedo boats. These should not be confused with the so-called schnellboote (or as the British called them E-Boats), which were smaller craft (seen at 7:57). The Kreigsmarine’s torpedo boats were of various classes and sizes, and included WWI era vessels. All were armed with torpedoes and were seagoing vessels, the largest of which were comparable to destroyers. The film shows a motor torpedo boat crew preparing for sea in port, heading out to sea and performing a torpedo launch exercise. Practice torpedoes are retrieved (2:56). At (3:37) a radioman receives a message from naval headquarters and joins an exercise with larger warships. At (4:40) a U-boat surfaces as part of the war game. At (5:30) a torpedo boat drops a depth charge on the “enemy” submarine. At (6:46) an air raid alarm is signaled aboard one of the vessels and the crew scrambles to their anti-aircraft guns. At (7:22) a torpedo boat marked JR on the hull maneuvers at high speed.
At (7:57) a second film “Speed Boats Night Raid” shows the Schnellboote “fast boats” (or as the British called them E-Boats). These were typically armed with torpedoes and flak guns, and capable of achieving over 40 knots.
The film shows a typical night raid, probably in the vicinity of the English Channel or Baltic Sea. They also operated during the war on the Black Sea.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
