SMS G39
1915 G37-class large torpedo boat
SMS G39 was a 1913 Type Large Torpedo Boat (Großes Torpedoboot) of the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) during World War I, and the 15th ship of its class.
Construction
Built by Germaniawerft in Kiel, Germany, she was commissioned in August 1915. The "G" in G39 refers to the shipyard at which she was constructed.
Service
G39 was assigned to the High Seas Fleet of the Kaiserliche Marine when she participated in the Battle of Jutland. She served as the leader of the First Torpedo Boat Flotilla in this action under the command of Commander Conrad Albrecht. Admiral Hipper transferred from Lützow to G39 during the Battle of Jutland prior to his transfer to the Moltke.
After the end of hostilities, G39, as a part of the 1st Torpedo Half Flotilla under Kapitänleutnant Reinhold Henrici (SMS G. 38, SMS G. 39, SMS G. 40, SMS G. 86 and SMS V. 129), was interned at Scapa Flow and scuttled.
One of the crew members on her last voyage was Leopold Bürkner, who later became head of foreign affairs intelligence during the Third Reich. He was interned until 29 January 1920.
The boat was salvaged by Ernest Cox on 3 July 1925.
“SMS G39” enters the record as 1915 G37-class large torpedo boat. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what G37-class, large and torpedo can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 11, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7391328. Authority coordinates are 58.855, -3.186. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1913, 1915, 1920 and 1925.
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This entry incorporates text from “SMS G39” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.