Not long after the first pair arrived, they sank a British cruiser and an escort destroyer without loss or damage to themselves in the Battle of Sept-Îles in October 1943.

During the action of 26 April 1944 and subsequent operations, Allied forces intercepted three Type 39s of which two were lost, although they sank a Canadian destroyer in exchange.

All of the remaining Type 39s were committed to the Baltic Sea from April 1944, where they escorted convoys, laid mines and provided naval gunfire support to Axis forces and operations.

In May, with the collapse of Germany imminent, their role changed to evacuating people from areas that were threatened by the advancing Soviets, and they helped to rescue hundreds of thousands before the German surrender.

Grand Admiral (Großadmiral) Erich Raeder, commander-in-chief of the Kriegsmarine, was unhappy with the proposed Type 1938B-class destroyer in early 1939 and ordered that a smaller 1,265-metric-ton (1,245-long-ton), 95-meter-long (311 ft 8 in), all-purpose torpedo boat design be evaluated on 8 July.

The Type 39s used the same troublesome high-pressure boilers as the earlier designs, but their propulsion machinery was arranged into separate units so that one hit could not completely immobilize the ship.

[5] The main armament of the Type 39 class consisted four 42-caliber 10.5 cm (4.1 in) SK C/32[Note 1] guns in single mounts; one forward of the superstructure, one between the funnels, and two aft, one superfiring over the other.

In January–February 1944, T22, T23, T24 and T27 had their bridge wing guns replaced by quadruple mounts, FuMB7[Note 4] "Naxos" and FuMB8 "Wanz G" radar detectors fitted and a 2-meter (6 ft 7 in) rangefinder installed on the searchlight platform amidships.

The ships were ordered in two batches from Schichau, T22–T30 on 10 November 1939 (originally as Type 37 torpedo boats), followed by T31–T36 on 20 January 1941.

Together with other torpedo boats, they escorted Italian blockade runners in their attempts to break out into the Atlantic through the Bay of Biscay in November and again in April 1943.

The sisters returned to the bay in July, reinforced by the arrival of T24 and T25, and they were all grouped together in the 4th Torpedo Boat Flotilla.

They were tasked to escort submarines, convoys and blockade runners through the bay for the next several months, interspersed with the occasional minelaying mission.

On 22/23 October the flotilla was providing distant cover for the blockade runner Münsterland as she sailed up the Channel when they discovered a British force attempting to intercept her off the coast of Brittany.

The Allies were aware of them through their Ultra code-breaking efforts and positioned cruisers and aircraft in the Western Atlantic to intercept them in Operation Stonewall.

An Allied bomber had spotted them on the morning of 28 December and the German ships were intercepted by the British light cruisers Glasgow and Enterprise that afternoon.

The Allied ships were faster than the torpedo boats and closed the range despite the German attempt to disengage.

While maneuvering, T27 accidentally ran aground and the Canadian destroyer continued to engage until she started a large fire and then returned to the site where Athabaskan had sunk to rescue survivors.

Despite the expenditure of over 50 torpedoes and large quantities of ammunition, they were generally unsuccessful, only sinking the destroyer HNoMS Svenner on 6 June.

[24] On the night of 21/22 July, T28 and three E-boats departed Le Havre for Germany, reaching their destination on the 27th, having evaded multiple Allied ships on their voyage.

Off Le Verdon-sur-Mer on 24 August, T24 and Z24 were attacked by rocket-firing Bristol Beaufighter fighter-bombers that sank the torpedo boat and badly damaged the destroyer.

[25] While engaged in gunnery practice with the radio-controlled target ship Hessen in the Baltic on 20 November, T34 struck a mine and sank.

On 20–21 August, T23 and T28 helped to escort the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen as she supported a German counterattack near Tukums, Latvia.

[26] Prinz Eugen, two destroyers, T23, T33 and T35 supported a German counterattack against advancing Soviet forces near Cranz, East Prussia, on 29–30 January 1945.

T36 rescued more than 500 passengers from the torpedoed ocean liner MV Wilhelm Gustloff on the night of 30 January.

The Allies divided the surviving ships of the Kriegsmarine amongst themselves in late 1945 and the British were awarded the first pair, the Soviets received T33 and the Americans T35.

[28] After protests by France, the Royal Navy turned theirs over in February 1946, which the French renamed L'Alsacien and Le Lorrain.