The fast attack craft called E-boats in British usage were Schnellboote in German service. The German coastal fleet also included R-boats, which were smaller vessels with a different identity. General histories often let the better-known E-boat label stand in for the whole force. Keeping the names separate avoids collapsing different German coastal craft into one category.
Notable Point · 2:27:43-2:27:55
E-boats and R-boats were not the same German coastal craft
A terminology clarification separates the British E-boat label from the German Schnellboot name and recalls the smaller R-boats often lost in general accounts.