After the steady growth of the S138 batches, the V1 class reversed course to a 570-ton hull carrying four 500 mm torpedo tubes and two 88 mm guns. Wilhelm von Lans pushed the design through because he believed small, inexpensive boats could supply numerical strength. Contemporary British destroyers carried heavier gun batteries, while the experimental HMS Swift showed how much larger a destroyer could become. The V1s proved poor sea boats and unstable platforms for their torpedoes as well as their guns. Two were sold to Greece as counters to larger S138-derived boats sold to the Ottoman Empire. Despite the V1s' newer design, the preference expressed here is for the larger Ottoman boats.
Chapter · 48:37-53:57
The V1 class sacrificed capability for cheap mass
Vice Admiral Wilhelm von Lans forced the 570-ton V1 design toward cheap numerical strength, producing boats with weak seakeeping and gun power.