The sleek Schnellboot was engineered for seaworthiness, yet it remained a small, light torpedo platform. Its two 21-inch tubes and four torpedoes supported a planned cycle of attacking, breaking off, reloading, and returning. Rough seas punished both the hull and the difficult task of handling those reloads underway, while later 20 mm and 37 mm cannon broadened the threat without making the boat robust. The Royal Navy's extensive defensive small-craft program reflects how seriously it took German torpedo craft. That concern may also have shaped Flower-class corvettes, whose four-inch gun and light automatic armament gave convoy escorts a direct answer to fast surface attack.
Chapter · 28:13-32:44
The Schnellboot's torpedo-focused flexibility
Schnellboote were carefully made seaworthy for their size, but their light hulls and reloadable torpedo system still constrained operations in bad weather.