Torpedo boat - Gyoraitei (English spelling) motor torpedo boat

A high-speed boat whose main role is torpedo attacks on surface ships. A type of warship. It has the same role as the torpedo boats of the past, but is a completely different type in terms of technology, such as its hull shape, being small, light, and much faster and more seaworthy. The first torpedo boats were used by the British in World War I, who called them Coastal Motor Boats (CMBs) and equipped them with torpedoes on small motor boats with planing hulls. Around the same time, Italy adopted the stepped high-speed MAS boats, and Germany adopted the round-hulled LM boats. The CMBs achieved success in the Kronstadt raid and the MAS sank an Austrian D-class battleship, but they could not be used on rough seas. Between the two world wars, improvements were made to the hull shape to improve seaworthiness and to increase speed by improving the main engine, and Britain built the V-hull Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB), Italy built the improved MAS, Germany built the round-hulled Schnell Boat (S-boat), the United States built the Patrol Craft Torpedo Boat (PT boat) which was similar to the MTB, and Japan built a large number of torpedo boats.

During World War II, both the Axis and Allied powers built hundreds of boats for use in operations such as torpedo attacks, local escort, anti-submarine warfare, patrol, mine-laying, minesweeping, rescue, transport, and communication. Motor Gun Boats (MGBs), equipped only with artillery instead of torpedoes, were also built. After World War II, many were built as boats that could be quickly converted into torpedo boats, gun boats, submarine chasers, minelayers, etc., by changing their armaments, and these came to be called fast patrol boats. Hydrofoil types were also built.

Currently, they are collectively referred to as fast attack craft (FAC), along with gunboats, patrol boats, submarine chasers, and missile boats with a standard displacement of 500 tons or less and a speed of 30 knots or more, and those equipped with torpedoes as their main armament are classified as FAC-torpedo. However, torpedo boats have hardly been built since the end of the 1970s, and they have been succeeded by missile boats equipped with anti-ship missiles (SSM).

[Yasuo Abe]

"New Modern Warships" by Hori Motomi and Ebata Kensuke (1987, Hara Shobo)" ▽ "World's Ships No. 502 Special Feature: Modern High-Speed ​​Combat Crafts" (1995, Kaijinsha) ▽ "Introduction to Naval Ship Studies: A Thorough Study of the Roots of Warships" by Ishibashi Takao (2000, Kojinsha) ▽ "Antony Preston Strike Craft (1982, Bison Books)" ▽ "Christopher Chant Small Craft Navies (1992, Arms & Armour Press)" ▽ "Stephen Saunders Jane's Fighting Ships 2010-2011 (2010, Jane's Information Group)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

水上艦船に対する魚雷攻撃を主任務とした高速艇。軍艦の一種。往時の水雷艇と同任務だが、船型など技術的にはまったく別種のもので、小型で軽快、しかもはるかに高速で航洋性がある。第一次世界大戦で、イギリスが滑走型船体の小型モーターボートに魚雷を積み、コースタル・モーターボート（CMB）と称して使用したのが最初。ほぼ同時期に、イタリアは段付高速型船体のマス（MAS）、ドイツは丸型船体のLMボートを採用した。CMBによるクロンシュタット襲撃、MASによるオーストリアのド（弩）級戦艦撃沈などの戦果をあげたが、波の高い海面では使用しえなかった。両大戦間に、船型改善による凌波(りょうは)性向上、主機改良による高速化が図られ、イギリスはV型船体のモーター・トーピドー・ボート（MTB）、イタリアは改良型MAS、ドイツは丸型船体のシュネル・ボート（Sボート）、アメリカはMTBに似たパトロールクラフト・トーピドー（PT艇）、日本は魚雷艇を多数建造した。

　第二次世界大戦では、枢軸国、連合国ともに数百隻を建造し、雷撃、局地護衛、対潜、哨戒(しょうかい)、強行機雷敷設、掃海、救助、輸送、連絡などの作戦に使われた。また魚雷にかえて砲兵装のみ装備したモーター・ガン・ボート（MGB）＝砲艇もつくられた。第二次世界大戦後は、短時間で兵装を積み換えて魚雷艇、砲艇、駆潜艇、敷設艇などに変更しうる艇として建造されるものが多く、これらは高速哨戒艇と称されるようになった。また水中翼艇タイプのものも建造されている。

　現在は、基準排水量500トン以下、速力30ノット以上の砲艇、哨戒艇、駆潜艇、ミサイル艇などとともに高速戦闘艇fast attack craft（FAC）と総称され、魚雷を主兵装とするものはFAC‐torpedoと区分されているが、魚雷搭載艇は1970年代末ごろからほとんど建造されなくなり、対艦ミサイル（SSM）搭載のミサイル艇がその後継者になっている。

［阿部安雄］

『堀元美・江畑謙介著『新・現代の軍艦』（1987・原書房）』▽『『世界の艦船第502号　特集　現代の高速戦闘艇』（1995・海人社）』▽『石橋孝夫著『艦艇学入門――軍艦のルーツ徹底研究』（2000・光人社）』▽『Antony PrestonStrike Craft（1982, Bison Books）』▽『Christopher ChantSmall Craft Navies（1992, Arms & Armour Press）』▽『Stephen SaundersJane's Fighting Ships 2010-2011（2010, Jane's Information Group）』

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例