SMS V44[a][b] was a V25-class Large Torpedo Boat (Großes Torpedoboot) of the Imperial German Navy, that served during the First World War.

V44 was the second ship in the second batch of six V25-class torpedo boats (V43–V48) ordered from AG Vulcan for the Imperial German Navy on 22 April 1914, as part of the 1914 shipbuilding programme.

338 tonnes (333 long tons) of fuel oil was carried, giving a range of 2,050 nautical miles (3,800 km; 2,360 mi) at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph).

[6] The battleships of the High Seas Fleet were deployed in support, with the hope of destroying isolated elements of the British Forces if they tried to intercept.

[11] From about 20:15 CET (19:15 GMT), V44 took part in a large-scale torpedo attack on the British fleet in order to cover the outnumber German battleship's turn to west.

[13] V44 was part of the 7th Torpedo Boat Flotilla during the inconclusive Action of 19 August 1916, when the German High Seas Fleet sailed to cover a sortie of the battlecruisers of the 1st Scouting Group.

The British Admiralty knew about this transfer due to codebreaking by Room 40, and ordered the Harwich Force of cruisers and destroyers to intercept the German torpedo boats.

he British set six light cruisers, two flotilla leaders and sixteen destroyers to intercept the eleven German ships, deploying them in several groups to make sure that all possible routes were covered.

The torpedo boats of the 6th Flotilla encountered the British destroyer Laverock and attacked with heavy gunfire and torpedoes (one of which hit the British destroyer but failed to explode), but Laverock only received light damage, and the 6th Flotilla turned back for Zeebrugge, with the drifters of the Dover Barrage unharmed.

The Treaty of Versailles allocated a battleship, a cruiser and three torpedo boats to Britain as "Propaganda ships", which could be used for a short period of time for experimental purposes or as targets.