Yeah. VS 5 is becoming very popular these days because of how extremely weird it was. The idea was for a semi-submersible torpedo boat intended for speeds up to 50 knots and carrying two 21in torpedoes. "VS" means "trials speedboat," this "S" being the same as in German MTB designations. The design was based on a patent held by a Berlin dentist. The boat, completed in 1941, displaced 256 tonnes. Its fate remains unknown. All other VS boats (numbers got up to 14) were experimental hydrofoils, but only a few were completed.
What details do you want? I've seen drawings, but I don't recall any other photos. The thing looked even weirder when you could see the whole thing.
Yeah, that's one heck of a motor torpedo boat. If anyone has more pics/full details of it, that would be great. Tomba
here's the VS 8 and the VS 6 and the website I leeched them from :lol: http://www.foils.org/trag.htm FNG
for real? the thing looks like mother hubbard's shoe after a flood. why do i feel my leg getting pulled?
"Anyone have any numbers on production/dimensions?" VS 5 was 40.84m long overall but only 23.8m at the waterline (the portion you can see in the picture--the bottom part looks sort of like a torpedo that got stepped on a few times). Beam 2.82m max, draft 5.5m. I don't believe any navy was able to get a hydrofoil operational as a combatant during WWII. Even though hydrofoils had been theoretical for decades (Alexander Graham Bell had designed one), the technology was not mature enough at this time.
Do you think the designer was trying to compensate for something? :-? (Sorry for lowering the tone, I couldn't resist )
I can only guess that what we have here is a craft with about 30% more power than a typical S-boat and with a profile meant to minimize surface effects. In cross section, VS 5 looks like the child of a skinny figure-8 and a pear.
All I can say is that these are the goofiest looking watercraft I've seen this side of the American Civil War! :roll:
