I. Communist, Neutral, and NATO North
With the rapidly rising cost of modern naval systems, the acquisition of small warships for defensive purposes has become more and more attractive to the less affluent nations and to many large maritime powers as well. Cruisers and destroyers, once symbols of power but now increasingly vulnerable to modern weapon systems, are no longer cost-effective tools for the necessary functions of coastal patrol and interdiction. The destroyer’s primary role of antisubmarine warfare seems an increasingly obsolete concept as the submarine’s capability to escape detection continues to outstrip the ability of the destroyer to find and destroy it.
In short, the large surface combatants are becoming a liability. Enormously expensive to construct and maintain, requiring considerable manpower to operate, and no longer designed with speed or armament capable of defeating their principal opponent, the submarine, the destroyer and frigate become the hunted rather than the hunters. The provision of area anti-aircraft defense remains the principal field where destroyers and frigates excel over smaller platforms—although surface-to-air systems like Seacat and Blow Pipe can be carried on craft as small as 100 feet overall.
What have the small combatants, the missile cutters, fast gunboats, torpedoboats, and the like, to offer? Relative economy of construction is one answer—a missile gunboat can be purchased for less than a tenth the cost of a destroyer. Firepower is another answer; missile-armed patrol boats are in many ways more than a match for far larger ships. Except for ASW, many missile boats, West Germany’s new Type 143, for example, are better armed than some contemporary destroyers ten times their size. Speed is still another answer; destroyer and frigate speeds have dropped to where 30 knots is a typical sustained maximum, while displacement-hulled fast patrol craft are up to ten knots faster; planing-hulled boats are available with speeds of over 50 knots, and hydrofoil speeds of 100 knots are feasible. Range is no longer entirely an advantage to the larger ships; one of the motor gunboats described below has a range near 5,000 nautical miles at economical speed, while at flank speed the ranges of many modern destroyers do not exceed those of some of the fast patrol boat designs. Size is not necessarily a component of seaworthiness, either. Small combatant constructors in Europe routinely deliver 100-foot gunboats to Latin America and Africa under their own power, and gyrofin stabilizers are available to reduce rolling to a minimum.
Nor is antisubmarine warfare beyond the capability of the small combatant. Although the concept has not been fully explored, several nations, notably the United States and Canada, have built hydrofoil ASW craft with hull-mounted or towed sonars and homing torpedo launchers. A number of slower, conventional craft have been given depth charge and ASW rocket launchers and have sonars with capabilities up to that of the U. S. AN/SQS-17. One French design even envisions carrying a torpedo-armed helicopter on a coastal ASW patrol boat. While the value of the small combatant for trans-oceanic convoy protection is probably negligible, sheer numbers might prove as effective for shepherding coastal convoys or even local hunter-killer operations as the much smaller number of large ships which could be acquired for the same expenditure.
The sinking of the Eilat in 1967 brought home with considerable emphasis that the larger and more complex warship is not necessarily the best for all tactical situations. In a very short time (if not already), the entire Mediterranean from Algeria to Syria, and from Greece to France, will be rimmed with navies possessing accurate anti-shipping missiles mounted on small, difficult-to-detect, high-speed, seagoing platforms. How does one counter a sea-skimming missile, either homing on infrared emissions or guided by a sophisticated, nearly unjammable radar seeker, fired from 25 to 50 miles away by a small elusive platform which may not even appear on the target ship’s radar screen? The U. S. Navy, with its ships armed only with a few guns or surface-to-air missiles or, for the foreseeable future, with anti-shipping missiles far outranged by European and Soviet-designed weapons, is in a particularly vulnerable position.
Missiles are by no means the only threat. Modern, wire-guided anti-shipping torpedoes and advanced gunnery systems of up to 6-inch bore have been installed on small combatants and have been combined with lightweight, near-automatic, track-while-scan, computerized radar fire control systems. It is entirely possible to place the armament of a modern Western, if not Soviet, destroyer on a 250-ton hull. Ammunition supplies of several hundred rounds per barrel for 76-mm. and several thousand for smaller caliber guns can be carried.
Small combatant construction has become a profitable and competitive enterprise for the more successful shipbuilders involved. European shipyards compete just as strongly for foreign orders as do aircraft and arms manufacturers. Unlike large warships, which tie up valuable ways space for far longer periods than merchant vessels, small combatants are built fairly quickly.
This is important in a field where the government which placed the order may not be the one that takes delivery. A case in point would be the 2,500-ton frigate which Yarrow contracted to build for Ghana in 1965; by the time the unnamed vessel was completed in 1968, Nkrumah was deposed, and the new government was no longer interested in the ship. The forlorn ship may yet be joined in mothballs by the Yarrow Mk. 7 frigate building for Libya. In Great Britain, the specialty shipyards like Vosper Thornycroft and Brooke Marine are in far better financial shape than many of the larger shipbuilders, while small-craft yards in France are reaping the rewards of a non-restrictive government policy on overseas sales. Various armaments and electronics manufacturers have devised combat systems tailored to small combatants which can be fitted to ship designs from different yards with little or no modification; thus, while small combatant construction is a matter of national competition, the outfitting of the craft is an international operation. A British-built gunboat may have German diesels, Swiss and Swedish guns, Dutch fire control, and Italian missiles.
This article limits itself almost exclusively to seagoing small combatants and includes hydrofoils and military hovercraft. With but one or two exceptions, the size cut-off point is about 400 tons full load displacement. For purposes of definition, a missile gunboat is a boat whose principal armament is anti-shipping missiles backed up with guns; a motor gunboat is a craft whose principal armament is guns and whose maximum speed is generally somewhat lower than that of the missile boats or torpedoboats. There are some craft which defy precise definition, carrying guns, missiles, torpedoes, and other ordnance. The discussion is organized chiefly, as will be seen in Part II, by country of design and construction (rather than by user) and by geographic area. Part I, presented here, begins with the major designer, constructor, and user of small combatants, Soviet Russia, continues through its European satellites, covers Communist China, the European neutrals, and concludes with NATO’s northern members.
Part II, to be published next year, will discuss the remaining NATO builders and users, including the United States, as well as Japan and Australia. In general, the nations discussed in Part I are, with the exception of the Soviet Union, nations with coastal fleets only, while those in Part II are mainly those with oceanic fleets. By and large, the latter have been inclined to build for export rather than domestic use.
All the countries discussed either are major constructors of small combatants or have made some contribution to improving the design of these craft. An attempt is made to describe the evolution of small combatant design within a country. Beyond a few major structural details of some of the more significant efforts, no attempt is made to describe the craft other than by size, armament, and performance.
The Communist States
The Soviet Union:
With the current emphasis on Russia’s efforts to shoulder its way into first position on the high seas, there might be some tendency to forget that for most of its history the Soviet Navy has been primarily a coastal force. Beginning in the 1920s with designs derived from the World War I British Thornycroft 55-foot Coastal Motor Boat (CMB), the Soviets built up a large force of hydroplane torpedoboats. During World War II, these craft provided much of the minimal glory achieved by the surface forces.
Throughout the conflict, most of the Communist coastal force consisted of the 1935-vintage G-5 class, a 15-ton craft built of aluminum-alloy which carried her two 21-inch torpedoes in a trough at the stern, discharging them tail first and then swerving out of the way as the torpedo sped toward its target. The defensive armament on the 63-foot boat was from one to four 12.7-mm. machineguns. The turtleback hull had a single bottom step below the streamlined conning position. Power was provided by a pair of 650-brake-horse-power (b.h.p.) gasoline engines, which gave a top speed of around 50 knots. Some carried 24 small depth charges in lieu of the torpedoes—although then as now Soviet torpedoboats carried no sonar equipment. The G-5 class continued in construction through most of the war and was supplemented by a smaller number of D-3 class craft which displaced 35 tons and reached 47 knots on three engines. Armament was similar.
The first postwar torpedoboat, the P-4 (Soviet class name, Komsomolets), continued the aluminum-hulled, stepped-hydroplane concept when she entered service in 1951, but introduced torpedo tubes and lightweight diesel propulsion, yielding speeds of better than 50 knots. The P-4 is about the same length as the G-5 was, but has a slightly greater beam and displaces about five tons more. The two 18-inch torpedo tubes are mounted abreast the conning position. The original boats had two twin machinegun mountings (probably of 14.5 mm. caliber), but later P-4s had a surface-search radar in place of one of the mounts. A few small depth charges or smoke floats could be carried on individual tilt-racks near the stern.
A serious defect of the stepped-hydroplane from a tactical standpoint is that, when travelling at maximum speeds, maneuverability is severely restricted by the craft’s marginal stability; to attempt a high-speed turn is to risk capsizing. Thus, once committed to an attack, the P-4 cannot radically change course without slowing down.
The P-4 has been widely exported to Soviet client states (12 to Albania, 8 to Bulgaria, about 70 to Communist China, 12 to Cuba, 6 to Cyprus, about 40 to North Korea, 8 to Romania, and a dozen to North Vietnam, among others) and a few are believed to remain active in the home country.
At the close of World War II, some two hundred Higgins, Vosper, and Elco torpedoboats were delivered by the United States to the U.S.S.R., and the lines and general layout of the P-4’s successor were derived from the Elco 80-footer design. The 65-ton P-6 represents a complete departure from previous Russian practice in that she is a broad-beamed, planing-hulled craft of wooden construction. The P-6 entered production around 1954 and nearly six hundred were completed, if the Komar and MO-VI variants are included in the total. The hull form strongly resembles that of the Elco 80-footer, from which the lines were evidently taken off, but the P-6 is three to five feet longer. Maximum speeds of about 45 knots were achieved by four diesels and four screws when the boats were new. Range at a 30-knot cruising speed is probably around 450 nautical miles. With the P-6, the Soviets returned to the 21-inch torpedo, and again two were carried, in tubes angled slightly outboard. Defensive firepower was increased to two twin 25-mm. power-operated cannon (the forward mount being positioned slightly to port of the centerline, possibly to give the coxswain a better view over the bow) and a number of depth charges, in two sizes. Early boats had a thimble-shaped radome similar to that of the U. S. SO-13 radar, and later units have a drum-shaped radome, nicknamed “Pot Head” by NATO.
The P-6 has been even more widely distributed abroad than the P-4, and the standard naval references credit the U.S.S.R. with having given away or sold 12 to Cuba, 6 to Algeria, 36 to Egypt, 25 to East Germany, 24 to Indonesia, 12 to Iraq, 20 to Poland, 6 to North Vietnam, and 6 to Guinea; additionally, Communist China has constructed about 80 duplicates, some of which may have been exported to North Korea.
The P-6 has been adapted as a small submarine chaser, the MO-VI, latest in a line of fast coastal ASW launches. The MO-VI is armed with two depth charge mortars and two depth charge racks, with 24 charges total, in place of the torpedo tubes. About 80 of these craft were constructed or converted from P-6s during 1956 to 1960. The superstructure is considerably larger than that of the P-6, and both of the twin 25-mm. gun-mounts are on the centerline. Loaded displacement was increased to 79.5 tons with a corresponding drop in maximum speed to 38.5 knots. Three were sold to Nigeria, and others may also have gone abroad.
Two variants of the P-6 design seem now to have disappeared. Built only in small numbers, the P-8 and P-10 both had a gas turbine booster power plant on an additional centerline shaft. The P-8 additionally had stabilizing hydrofoils fitted to the hull sides forward, while her stern planed on the sea’s surface. The gas turbine plant is likely to have used the exhaust from the four regularly-installed diesels and probably did not add much to top speeds, while the P-8’s foil system may have provided a bone-jarring ride in addition to its intended purpose of stabilizing the boat during high-speed firing runs. Both types had a short cylindrical stack abaft the conning position and had then forward 25-mm. mounting on the centerline.
The most significant alteration to the basic P-6 was the addition of two launch containers for Styx surface-to-surface missiles. This was the first application of guided missiles to fast patrol craft, although during World War II both the U. S. and British navies had mounted unguided rockets on PT-type craft. Known in the West as the Komar (Mosquito), the new P-6 variant employs the hull and propulsion plant of its parent. A single, twin 25-mm. gunmount is located on the foredeck, while abaft the bridge are positioned the two open-ended, oval-sectioned missile containers with U-shaped launch rails protruding from either end. The launch tubes are mounted on sponsons which partially overhang the craft’s sides. No after gunmount is possible, not only from a weight standpoint, but also because of the blast from the twin RATO boosters on the Styx missiles. The open-mesh, parabolic antenna for the target acquisition radar is mounted as high as possible atop a lattice mast so as to take the best advantage possible of the range of the missiles, which is over 20 miles. The weight of the missile system, the need for aluminum sheathing over the decks to protect against blast, and the weight of the sponsons added perhaps an additional 15 tons to the displacement (the Komar squats noticeably lower at the stern than does the P-6) and probably dropped maximum speeds to something below 40 knots.
The Komar has been given away in great numbers and only about 20 are listed as still being active in the Soviet inventory. Recipients include Algeria with 8, Cuba with 18, Indonesia with a dozen, Syria with 10, and Egypt with 8. Communist China is reported to have three or more, possibly acquired before the Sino-Soviet rift. Despite her age and probable lack of stability, the Komar is still a formidable coastal defense weapon, capable of attacking far larger ships before they note her presence. Then, too, the Styx, now some dozen years in service, still has a range greater than that of any Western system currently in operation.
The P-6 class is now somewhat dated, and even with the best of care, a great many are believed to have been discarded. Although around 200 are still carried as being in the active order-of-battle of the U.S.S.R., probably a large number of these are cocooned ashore. Others have been downgraded to patrol boat status by the removal of their torpedo tubes. Still others have functioned as radio-controlled targets for missile and gunnery training; these can be distinguished by large arrays of radar corner reflectors placed amidships.
The beginning of the 1960s saw the introduction of a new generation of coastal patrol craft for the Soviet Navy. For the first time steel was employed, and more powerful high-speed diesels were developed to propel the new boats, which were far larger than their predecessors. Introduced at about the same time as the Komar, the Osa (Bee) was more than twice as large and carried twice the missile complement—in addition to two twin mountings for a new lightweight, fully-automatic 30-mm. gun with remote control. The 200-ton Osa has three diesels to drive her at her 35-to-36-knot top speed. This requires each engine to be more than three times as powerful as those in the earlier boats in order to produce the total of 11-to-12,000 h.p. needed for the Osa. At first the Osas lacked radar fire control for the guns, but later, a “Drum Tilt” (NATO nickname) was added on a platform between the after pair of missile tubes. The missile target acquisition radar remained the same as on Komar, but the Styx launch rubes were redesigned and were fully enclosed, with doors at both ends. The Komar is loaded from the after end of her tubes, while in the Osa the missile is lowered into the forward end of the launch tube, in the mid-1960s, a new version of the Osa missile tube appeared; the new oval-sectioned tubes were smaller in diameter and were supported on legs rather than on a solid base. This Osa II variant probably carries an improved version of the Styx, possibly with folding wings, considering the smaller internal diameter of the tube. The lesser cross-section of the new launch device would reduce wind resistance and weight as well, with both factors combining to improve stability.
The 130-foot Osa has also been produced as a submarine chaser, code-named Stenka. This version retains the two twin 30-mm. gunmounts, but substitutes four fixed 16-inch ASW torpedo tubes and two depth charge racks in place of the missiles. The superstructure is high and massive, and bulwarks have been added at the bows. A speedboat is carried for boarding and inspection purposes, for in peacetime the Stenka is operated by the KGB Border Guard.
Although none of the 30 or so Stenkas built has as yet been exported, Osas have been, and in considerable numbers. These Styx-launching craft now appear in at least eight navies, including those of Poland, East Germany, Yugoslavia, Romania, Egypt, Algeria, Communist China, and the U.S.S.R. During February and March 1971, eight Osas were shipped to India as deck cargo on Soviet merchant ships, marking the introduction of the missile gunboat to the Indian Ocean arena.
The latest development in Soviet missile craft is the Nanuchka, about which little reliable data has as yet been released. The 198-foot Nanuchka carries six missile tubes in two pyramidal groups and has a twin 57-mm. dual purpose gunmount aft, of the type found on the newer Soviet missile cruisers. Full load displacement is reported to be about 650 tons, which places the new vessel in the ship rather than craft category. If this figure is correct, then it is probable that the Nanuchka carries a new missile, larger and longer-ranged than the Styx. Soviet press photos show the ship to be considerably taller than previous missile boats, with the superstructure surmounted by a large radome, possibly containing the missile control radar. On her forecastle is what appears to be a cylindrical mounting identical to the retractable SAM launcher on the new Krivak-class missile destroyer.
Several years after the Osa appeared, a new generation torpedoboat was introduced. The Shershen, displacing around 150 tons loaded, is at least twice as large as the P-6. She employs a diminutive version of the Osa hull, about 110 feet in length, with pronounced rounding of the upper edge of the hull, probably to aid in shedding water coming over the bow. The Shershen is believed to have the same propulsion plant as the Osa, but by reason of her smaller size is expected to have a top speed of nearly 45 knots. Gun armament is the same as that of the Osa, with the Drum Tilt radar carried more nearly amidships. In place of the missile launchers are four fixed 21-inch torpedo tubes for conventional anti-shipping torpedoes, and two depth charge racks and two short mine rails are located at the stern. The surface search radar antenna is enclosed in a larger version of the pot-type radome found on later P-6 class units. Again, the Soviets have generously distributed this latest and largest of their torpedo boats, with units going both to trusted allies like East Germany and to less trustworthy friends like Egypt and Yugoslavia. At least 60 have been constructed.
Although the Soviets are the world leaders in the employment of hydrofoils for commercial purposes, they do not seem much interested in naval applications. Aside from the abortive P-8, the single military hydrofoil design, nicknamed “Pchela,” seems to have gone out of production after about two dozen were constructed. The Pchela is probably operated by the KGB Border Guard and has an armament of two twin aircraft-type, remotely-controlled gunmounts, reportedly of 23-mm. bore. Considering that the Pchela appeared about four years before the Soviets introduced automatically controlled foil surfaces in commercial craft, the naval unit probably uses simple, fixed surface-piercing foils for “flying.”
During recent naval displays at Leningrad, the U.S.S.R. has demonstrated naval hovercraft of considerable size. Although in the most recent instance the craft were used in an amphibious role, this type of craft could be adapted for patrol duties. The two different designs noted had flexible skirts for clearing low obstacles and appeared to use reciprocating aircraft-type engines for propulsion.
This discussion has been limited so far to fast patrol types, but some mention should be made of the numerous larger coastal patrol craft available. Inshore ASW patrol is accomplished by the 90 or more 250-ton SO-1 class subchasers, a 140-foot design armed with four five-tubed ASW rocket launchers, two depth charge racks, and two twin 25-mm. gunmounts (some recently noted units have had two fixed 16-inch ASW torpedo tubes substituted for the after gunmount and half the depth charge complement). The SO-1 dates from 1958 and, like most Soviet craft discussed here, has been widely exported. Larger patrol types include the remaining units of the low-freeboard Kronshtadt-class patrol gunboats built in 1948-1956, and the sophisticated Poti-class subchaser, a gas turbine and diesel-propelled 500-ton, 197-foot design introduced around 1960. The Poti is the largest of the strictly ASW and coastal patrol types known to be constructed by the Soviets and is armed with two automatically reloading, 12-tubed ASW rocket launchers, four fixed 16-inch ASW torpedo tubes, and a twin automatic 57-mm. dual-purpose gunmount. Thus far, only Romania has received exported Potis, with three such craft being delivered during 1970. The vast numbers of Soviet minesweepers are also available for coastal patrol, and classes like the T-43 and T-58 are equipped with antisubmarine ordnance and considerable gun firepower—in fact, far more so than their Western contemporaries.
Riverine warfare has not been neglected by the Soviet Union, either. Even before World War II, the Soviet Union possessed a number of what were essentially floating tanks, with tank turrets mounted on armored hulls. During the war, numbers of these craft gave a good account of themselves on Russia’s immense river system and, after the war, new classes continued to be introduced. The latest of these was first noted by the West during the Ussuri River confrontations between Communist China and the U.S.S.R., and during a 1970 tour up the Danube by a flotilla of these craft, an opportunity was presented to examine the design. Unlike earlier “BK” craft, the new design has a relatively large superstructure, well pierced by large windows which can be covered by small-arms-proof steel shutters. The craft are reported to be about 89 feet long and capable of 22 knots on their two diesel engines. The main armament consists of a PT-76 amphibious tank turret set into the foredeck, mounting a 76-mm. semi-automatic gun with a 7.62-mm. sighting machinegun while aft a twin 25-mm. cannon is mounted in a rather exposed position. The craft also carry four smoke canisters and are equipped with mine rails. From the four prominent lifting padeyes attached to the hull sides, it would appear that the craft can be rail-transported to any potential danger area, much as the small M-class submarines were during World War II.
The Soviet Navy is still equipped with an immense number of small combatant craft designed for defense of the home country. Armed with missiles, guns, and torpedoes, these craft could be expected to present a formidable obstacle to any invading force. While their ASW equipment is relatively simple, they also present a considerable deterrent to submarines attempting to operate in Soviet coastal waters, if only by their sheer numbers.
Communist Eastern Europe:
Although the Warsaw Pact navies have received considerable numbers of their small combatants from the Soviet Union, both Poland and East Germany also produce their own designs to supplement Soviet assistance.
Poland has built a series of patrol and ASW gunboats for its Coastal Border Guard, based on the World II German R-boat minesweeper. The nine or so wooden-hulled Oksywie class were completed around 1960. The five succeeding Gdansk class were of steel, and the Obluze class, now under construction, may use steel hulls with aluminum superstructures. Although the naval annuals differ on their characteristics, all of the boats appear to share a hull about 134 feet long with a 19-foot beam. The two earlier classes have single Soviet 37-mm. AA mountings fore and aft with local control, while the newest group has two twin Osa-style 30-mm. mountings with the Osa’s drum-shaped fire control radar. Their ASW ordnance is limited to two internal depth charge racks, with the charges exiting through ports in the transom stern. Maximum speed is in the vicinity of 20 to 25 knots.
East Germany’s first attempt at a torpedoboat, the Forelle (trout) class, was apparently a failure, and the two boats completed around 1956 have now been relegated to the Coastal Border Guard. Displacing 55 tons, they were powered by a duplicate of the P-6 class plant for speeds near 40 knots. Their current armament is reported as one twin 25-mm. mount and two twin 14.5 mm. heavy machineguns.
Far more successful—or probably so, as 40 or more have been built—is the tiny Iltis class, the world’s smallest modern torpedoboat at 20 tons and 49 feet overall. Iltis means “skunk” in German, and—like the skunk—she discharges her weapon over the stern. The torpedo is ejected tail first, with the boat swerving out of the way as the torpedo gathers speed toward its target. The two tubes appear angled upward toward the stern when the boats are at rest, but when they are travelling at high speeds, the tubes are horizontal. The Iltis has a search radar and communications gear for her two or three-man crew, but she does not carry any defensive armament. A larger version of the Iltis is reported with three tubes which are interchangeable with mine rails.
Communist China:
The convoluted coastline of Communist China, with its numerous offshore islands and deep river estuaries makes ideal operating conditions for small combatants, and it is no surprise that the Communist Chinese Navy consists largely of swarms of high-speed patrol craft. In addition to the Osa, Komar, P-4, and P-6 classes supplied by Soviet Russia or built under Russian supervision in Chinese shipyards (and without supervision after 1960), a number of quite successful indigenous designs have been put into large-scale production. Most numerous of these are the well-over-100 Shanghai class, the 50 or more smaller Swatows, and the more than 60 hydrofoil torpedoboats of uniquely Chinese design.
The 120-ton, 130-foot Shanghai in her definitive form is a heavily-armed and fairly speedy motor gunboat with four diesel engines, quite probably of the M50-F Soviet design. Armament includes two twin 37-mm. AA, two twin 25-mm. AA (both of Soviet design), and a recoilless rifle on the bow. Additionally, the boats have a few depth charges and a pair of mine rails. A surface search radar of the same type as is installed on the P-4-class torpedoboat is normally carried. A small number of earlier Shanghai-class gunboats were about 10 feet shorter in length and lacked the 25-mm. guns. This class has been exported to North Vietnam and North Korea and has been in production for about ten years.
The Swatow, while loosely resembling the P-6 motor torpedoboat, is apparently constructed of steel and may be somewhat broader of beam. The armament consists of two twin 37-mm. AA and two single machineguns. The Swatow predated the Shanghai and, while reported to have a speed approaching 40-knots, is not likely to be too seaworthy, as her topweight is considerable. Several were given to North Vietnam.
The Hu Chwan (“Little Tiger”—the Western nickname) class is reported to be hydrofoil-equipped. About the same size as the P-4, which she may be intended to replace, the craft has an armament of two 21-inch torpedo tubes and four 14.5-mm. machineguns in twin mountings; a radar is carried as well. A larger hydrofoil torpedoboat is reported to be operational, but this may be a misinterpretation of Hu Chwan reporting.
In addition to the classes described above, a number of smaller designs are also being built, including a craft very much resembling the U. S. Navy’s Swift Boat and other small gunboats armed principally with heavy machineguns. Communist China also makes a practice of arming both wooden fishing junks and the larger, steel-hulled fishing trawlers its yards have been turning out since the mid-1950s, and it is probable that a potential invader of the Chinese mainland would be confronted by thousands of armed vessels, including not only small craft, but also Communist China’s not inconsiderable major combatant surface force and large submarine fleet. Certainly none of the vessels is individually a match for modern Western or Soviet naval ships, but in the aggregate they might prove too numerous to overwhelm.
Neutral Europe
Yugoslavia:
Yugoslavia enjoys the benefits of receiving aid from both Soviet Russia and the Western powers in the equipping of its fleet. The current fleet of small combatants includes craft supplied, or equipped and paid for, by both sides. Most recent designs are of Yugoslavian concept, although using armaments, electronics, and engineering plants of foreign origin.
Around one hundred duplicates of the wooden-hulled U. S. Higgins 78-foot motor torpedoboat class were constructed in Yugoslavia after World War II, using either surplus Packard gasoline engines or lightweight diesel engines of German origin. Most of these are still in operation, armed either as torpedoboats (with two 17.7-inch torpedoes, one 40-mm. AA, and two twin .50-caliber machineguns) or as motor gunboats (with two 40-mm. AA, and two twin .50-caliber MG, or two single 20-mm. AA). These now elderly craft are supplemented by Osa and Shershen-class boats delivered by the Soviet Union or built under license in Yugoslavian yards.
U. S. Military Aid Program equipment and financing was used in the construction of 25 PBR-501-class ASW patrol gunboats launched between 1953 and 1956, plus two larger successors, the Momar and Borac. A single NATO 174-foot PC, the PBR-581, was built in France for Yugoslavia with U. S. funds. The PBR-501 class (also referred to as the Kraljevica class) is 134.5 feet long and displaces 245 tons full load. Powered by two 1,650-b.h.p. West German diesels, the craft could reach 20 knots, and at 15 knots has a range of 1,500 nautical miles. Six were sold to Indonesia during 1958, and another pair were transferred to Sudan after being towed around the African continent during 1969. The armament varies from boat to boat, with the majority carrying a U. S. 3-inch/50-caliber single-fire gun on the low forecastle, a 40-mm./60-caliber AA aft, two twin and two single 20-mm. AA, two Mousetraps, two K-guns, and two depth charge racks. A few substitute a fixed Hedgehog for the 3-inch gun and the Mousetraps. All carry a Decca radar and have sonar and communications gear furnished from the United States. The 400-ton, 18-knot Momar and Borac are similar, but their flush-decked hulls are 170 feet long, and have two 3-inch and two 40-mm. each, as well as a pair of 20-mm. guns and two Hedgehogs.
The current construction PC-130 class is a gunboat unique chiefly for carrying six 20-mm. license-built Hispano-Suiza AA in triple mountings. About ten of these 105-foot, 120-ton craft have been completed since 1967. Two diesels of approximately 1,500 b.h.p. each give the PC-130 class a near 30-knot top speed. They resemble the PBR-501, but are smaller, with a low, streamlined funnel and characteristic Yugoslavian “knuckle” to the hull lines at the bow. Yugoslavian yards have also built for export, and samples of the 100-ton, 115-foot Trogir-class gunboat were sold to India, Libya, and the Sudan during the early 1960s; lessons learned with this design were apparently applied to the PC-130 class.
Finland:
Today Finland is forbidden by treaty from employing torpedo armaments, but the Finnish Navy operates high-speed patrol craft as motor gunboats. Finland’s experience with small combatants dates back to the 1920s, and, like her neighboring Baltic neutral, Sweden, the inspiration for the designs of Finnish boats came largely from Italy.
MTV-1 and MTV-2 were 1916-vintage Italian boats purchased in 1920. They carried their two 18-inch torpedoes in drop-slings and could make 26 knots. MTV-3 was a Finnish-built near-copy completed in 1926. MTV-4 through MTV-7 were Thornycroft 55-foot Coastal Motor Boats, the first pair built in England in 1928 and the remaining pair in Finland the following year. These 40-knot boats had their two 18-inch torpedoes in stern troughs. Those seven craft, by then quite elderly, were the total torpedoboat order-of-battle at the beginning of World War II. Five U. S. Higgins boats ordered in March 1940 could not be delivered.
Seventeen torpedoboats, all of Italian design, were acquired during the war. Five brand-new craft delivered in 1942 were near-sisters to the Baglietto-designed Swedish T-21 class, to be discussed shortly. Hurja-1 through Hurja-5 displaced 20.5 tons, were 54 feet 9 inches long and had two 1,800-b.h.p. Isotta-Fraschini gasoline engines good for 40 knots and two 100-b.h.p. auxiliaries good for 8.5 knots. Initially they had two 18-inch torpedoes and a single machinegun, but after World War II they were rearmed as gunboats with two single Madsen 20-mm. AA. They were discarded in 1963. Four boats transferred from Italian resources were delivered during June 1943 on Lake Ladoga in Russia. MAS-526 through MAS-529 became Jussi-1 through Jussi-4 and were armed with a 20-mm. AA and two 18-inch torpedoes in drop slings. The 61-foot 4-inch boats displaced 25.5 tons and reached 44 knots on their two Isotta-Fraschini gasoline engines for a range of 400 nautical miles. These craft also had auxiliary cruise engines which gave a range of around 1,000 miles at 6 to 8 knots. The twin-stepped hydroplanes lasted until 1961.
The Finnish Turun Veneveistamo Shipyard also managed to construct eight Baglietti-designed two-step hydroplanes during 1942-1943. Two tons heavier than the Hurjas and four feet longer, the seven surviving Taisto-class boats were armed postwar with a 40-mm./60-caliber Bofors AA amidships in the cockpit and a 20-mm. Madsen AA at the stern. These gasoline engined boats were all discarded by 1966.
No further patrol boats were acquired until 1957, when two British Dark-class craft ordered in 1955 from Saunders-Roe (Anglesey), Ltd., were delivered. In deference to the peace treaty, Vasama-1 and Vasama-2 were not equipped as convertible gunboat/torpedoboats but instead have always carried an armament of two 40-mm./60-caliber AA in Royal Navy mountings. Like all Darks, these craft were powered by two Napier Deltic diesels and had composite construction hulls. The Vasamas were used as models for a new class more suited to Baltic conditions and Finnish operational requirements; the new craft would be the first of their type designed in Finland.
The Nuoli class was constructed by Laivateollisuus Shipyard at Turku with four completing during 1961, and the final unit, Nuoli-13, being delivered November 1964. Although similar in dimensions and lines to the 70-ton Darks, the Nuoli class displaces 23 tons less and are constructed of steel. The 13 Nuolis are powered by three Soviet-supplied M50-F series diesels and can easily reach 40 knots. The first nine of these 72-foot boats originally had a 40-mm./60-caliber Bofors aft but later were rearmed with the power-operated 70-caliber model, which was installed from the start on Nuoli-10 through Nuoli-12. All had a Madsen 20-mm. cannon on the foredeck. Nuoli-13 was equipped as the seagoing testbed for the British-manufactured Hispano-Suiza A32 30-mm. cannon, with twin mountings fore and aft for the lightweight weapon, which can fire 600 rounds per barrel per minute. This gun is also employed on the two Turunmaa-class gas-turbine-driven escorts built by Finland in 1966-68. All Nuolis can carry mines, depth charges, or smoke floats on quick-release racks aft.
No further high-speed gunboats have been built, but during 1970 Finland completed a unique craft, the Isku, the first non-Soviet design equipped to fire the Soviet Styx anti-shipping missile. Four Soviet Osa-I type tubes are paired on the Isku’s rectangular hull, and the Osa target acquisition radar was also supplied. At the stern is a Soviet twin 30-mm. automatic cannon. The 86-foot Isku displaces 115 tons, or about one-half of the weight of an Osa. Her barge-like hull has prominent longitudinal grooves in the bottom, apparently to aid in directional stability when the craft is moving at higher speeds. The propulsion plant is reported to be four Soviet diesels (probably M50-Fs) for a maximum speed of 25 knots—considerably less than the Osa’s 36-knot speed. Whether more craft of this type will be built is not known.
Finland also has five convertible minesweeper/gunboats in two classes. The two Rihtniemi-class patrol boats were completed by Rauma Repola during May 1957. With two 700-b.h.p. diesels, the 109-foot, 110-ton craft made 18 knots when new and were armed with 2 40-mm./60-caliber Bofors AA forward and a 20-mm. Madsen AA aft. Two years later, the first of three larger Ruissalo-class boats was completed by Laivateollisuus. The 114-foot, 130-ton Ruissalos have the same gun armament as the earlier pair but could alternatively be equipped with sweep gear, a dozen mines, or a British Squid 3-barrelled ASW mortar aft. Their speed is 20 knots. Three near-sisters were built as customs launches for Colombia during 1963-64; these craft carry a single 20-mm. AA. All five R-boats were redesignated as “Small Patrol Craft” during 1969, which probably indicates that the minesweeping role has been abandoned.
Sweden:
The navy of Sweden is a coastal defense force, with no less than 42 torpedoboats, and an additional dozen on order, and others in the planning stage. Although the Royal Swedish Navy has several times announced the demise of its cruiser-destroyer force in favor of an all small-combatant surface force, the destroyers linger on, possibly due to the resistance to their abandonment by older big ship men. The growing cost of naval armaments, however, practically guarantees that any new construction will be quite small.
Swedish experience with motor torpedoboats dates back to the mid-1920s, but very few were procured prior to 1940. Although four MTBs had been purchased from Great Britain during 1939 (two from Vosper and two from British Power Boat), it was to Italy that the Royal Swedish Navy turned for a pattern for series production. Three 17-ton Italian-built boats were purchased in 1940 and became T-11 through T-13. For production at home, a slightly larger design by Baglietto Shipyard, Varezze, Italy, similar to the Italian Navy’s MAS-443, was selected. Steel-hulled, the craft was a two-stepped hydroplane and was propelled by two 1,500-b.h.p. Isotta-Fraschini gasoline engines. This lightweight engine was to be used in every subsequent small torpedoboat down to the T-36. The plant in the first Swedish class, T-13 through T-18, produced about 50-knots and a range at cruising speed of 250 nautical miles. The 61.5 foot, 22-ton T-13 class was completed during 1941 by Kockums at Malmö and survived until 1957. They were armed with two 18-inch torpedo tubes and a 20-mm. cannon. T-21 through T-31, which followed, 1941 to 1943, were similar but again larger. At 66 feet overall, and 27 tons full load, they carried 21-inch tubes and could reach 49 knots. These craft, also built by Kockums, were again long-lived and were not scrapped until 1959-60.
All subsequent units of the small torpedoboat type were in inventory through the 1960s. T-32 through T-40 were single-step hydroplanes constructed by Kockums during 1950-52 and added a third Isotta-Fraschini engine. Initially, these 74-foot, 43.5-ton boats carried a 40-mm./60-caliber Bofors cannon aft, a twin 8-mm. machinegun in a cupola forward, two 21-inch torpedo tubes, and eight small depth charges in quick release racks. Later, the machinegun mount was replaced by a six-celled launcher for 57-mm. rocket flares, and a single rail for 103-mm. flares was placed further forward on the foredeck; the machineguns were relocated as single mountings on the edge of the conning position, and the depth charges were removed. The boats also carried a chemical smoke generator and were equipped with a Decca radar. The T-32s were finally discarded in 1970.
The T-41 was a single-boat prototype for a new Vee-bottom, stepless hull form and was later used as a test platform for the new Bofors 40-mm./70-caliber power-operated mount. T-42 through T-56 were based on the T-41 and were the last torpedoboats built by Kockums. They were completed from 1956 to 1960 and were the last small, planing-hull torpedoboats built for Sweden. They were given the same armament and propulsion plant as the T-32 class, but were slightly heavier, reducing speeds to about 43 knots maximum. Both the T-32 and T-42 classes could negotiate the Swedish canal system and could be transferred from coast to coast without having to put out to sea. But with their gasoline-fueled engines, they were very vulnerable targets, and were limited by short ranges and marginal habitability.
As early as the late 1940s, Swedish naval authorities realized the limitations of the small torpedoboat for other than quick-reaction tactics and in 1949 began designs for a much larger and more heavily-armed torpedo and gun boat with longer endurance and a long, narrow round-bilged hull designed for operating in the short, choppy seas of the Baltic. The new boats were also to be readily convertible for offensive minelaying tasks. The Perseus (T-101), built by Karlskronavarvet 1950-51, proved to be the only one of her class and was the only large torpedoboat built in Sweden during the 1950s. Lessons learned from this 160-ton, 147-foot craft were applied to the design of the 11 sisters of the Plejad class ordered in 1953. The Perseus remained an odd unit and at one time apparently substituted a gas turbine for one or more of her Mercedes-Benz diesels; she was scrapped during 1967.
The Plejad class was constructed in West Germany by Friedrich Lürssen Werft, Bremen-Vegasack, as the first Swedish warship order placed with a foreign firm since 1940 and the largest naval order ever built outside of Sweden. Experience gained in their design and construction was later applied by Lürssen to their Jaguar class for the West German Navy. The flush-decked Plejad class have a very high length-to-beam ratio of 8.66:1 and are 157 feet 6 inches long by 18 feet 3 inches in beam. They carry Bofors 40-mm./70-caliber power-operated mountings fore and aft and, with six tubes, have two more torpedoes than the Perseus did. In recent years, the open gun mountings have been provided with fiberglass weather shields to protect guncrews both from the elements and possible atomic fallout. A Bofors remote lead-computing gunsight is located on the open bridge. The two torpedo tubes forward and four aft are all bolted to the mine rails and can be removed when the ships take on a load of mines. Illumination is provided by a multi-celled 57-mm. flare launcher at the stern, and four rails for 103-mm. rocket flares are located two on either side of the bridge structure. Propulsion for the 170-ton boats is furnished by three Maybach-Mercedes-Benz 3,000-b.h.p. diesels, which provide a top speed of 37.5 knots and a range of 600 nautical miles at 30 knots. The Plejad class was completed between 1955 and 1960.
The succeeding Spica class show marked technological improvement over the Plejads and was Swedish-constructed, with three each being finished by Götaverken and Karlskronavarvet between 1966 and 1968. Although shorter, at 141 feet, than their predecessors, they are considerably beamier (23 feet 4 inches), allowing them to mount a heavier gun. They displace around 200 tons full load. Propulsion is entirely by gas turbine engines, employing three Rolls-Royce Proteus engines for a total of 12,720 shaft horsepower and a maximum speed of over 40 knots. The engines are located far aft, as in British boats; their exhaust is directed dead astern with the residual thrust contributing to the speed of the boat. A single 57-mm. dual purpose gun is located on the foredeck; this weapon is a late-1930s Bofors design somewhat disguised by its new fiberglass weather shield. Torpedo armament is again six dismountable 21-inch tubes, bolted to mine rails which run nearly three-fourths of the ship’s length. The after tubes are fixed, but the forward tubes must be trained outboard a few degrees prior to firing. Fire control for the gun and for the torpedoes is by a Hollandse Signaal Mk.22 track-while-scan radar, and the wire-guided torpedoes employed are equipped for acoustic homing. There is a separate navigational radar. Four 103-mm. rocket flare launch rails are located on the sides of the tall enclosed bridge, and a 57-mm. Hart launcher is located before the bridge. The entire superstructure is positioned very far aft in order to give the gun a maximum field of fire.
Although naval annuals confidently predicted the construction of larger and more potent small combatants, recently the Swedish Navy—mainly for financial reasons—settled on a repeat Spica class with some modification. Twelve Spica-II class boats have been ordered from Karlskronavarvet. They will displace 208 tons full load and will be two feet longer than the first series. The gun will be a new model 57-mm/ 70-caliber automatic dual purpose weapon from Bofors and the fire control radar will also be of a new type, no longer mounted within the familiar plastic ovoid of the Mk.22 system. A large, possibly infrared searchlight is to be positioned above the enclosed bridge, and the enlarged lattice mast will mount a radome which may house an ECM antenna. When the first of these craft is completed this year, the gasoline-engined small torpedoboats will probably at last begin to disappear from the Swedish order of battle. Denmark is about to commence construction of four Spicas under a license agreement and plans to build four more.
The Royal Swedish Navy still has hopes of adding additional craft to its inventory, and has ordered a modified Storm-class gunboat from Norway’s Boatservice, Ltd., for delivery in 1972. The craft will carry a Bofors 57-mm./70-caliber forward in place of the 76-mm. mount used on the Norwegian Navy boats. Other armament is to include mine rails and—possibly—the Penguin missile, which is shown mounted on the stern in a recent Swedish press-release painting of the new gunboat design. At present Sweden has no surface-launched antishipping missiles other than the large, obsolescent Rb-08A fired from the destroyers Halland and Småland. The single Norwegian-built boat will undergo evaluation as the possible prototype for a series of 30 such craft for construction in Sweden. In the meantime, planning continues on Swedish designs for larger coastal craft to be built later in the decade.
NATO North
Norway:
Until World War II, Norway operated neither fast patrol craft nor motor torpedoboats, although then—as now—her fleet was intended primarily for coastal defense. The current Royal Norwegian Navy consists of about 60 small combatants and mine craft for inner defense, 15 small submarines to form an outer barrier, and seven modern escorts for shepherding coastal convoys and open ocean ASW work.
A number of British-built craft supplied during the war were supplemented afterwards by some captured German S-Boats, and these were succeeded in 1951 by some 80-foot U. S.-built Elco-design PT boats. In that same year, the first Norwegian-designed torpedoboat, the Rapp, was laid down by A. S. Westermoens Boatyard, Mandal, which under its later name of Boatservice, Ltd., has built all subsequent Norwegian small combatants. The six 75-ton, 87-foot Rapps remained in inventory until 1970, although their later years were spent in land storage. In concept, they were an enlarged Elco 80-footer, with four Packard gasoline engines instead of three. The wooden boats had a 41-knot top speed and carried an armament of four short 21-inch torpedoes, a 40-mm. and a 20-mm. AA gun. By the end of the 1950s, replacements were needed for the British and American boats.
As with Vosper in Great Britain, Boatservice preceded the sale of large numbers of high-speed craft with a privately financed prototype, the Nasty, completed 1958. This all-wooden craft used a keel and frames of ash and oak, with a double skinning of mahogany. Twenty subsequent naval units (the Nasty was never incorporated into the Navy) were similar except for using an uprated version of the 18-cylinder Napier Deltic diesel, two of which gave a total of 6,200 b.h.p. instead of the prototype’s 5,000 b.h.p., and a top speed of 45 knots (Nasty: 43 knots). The range of these boats at 25 knots is 600 nautical miles on the 10.6 tons of fuel carried. The Nasty had an armament of two single Bofors 40-mm./60-caliber hand-worked AA and four 21-inch torpedo tubes, while the 20 Tjelds which followed between 1960 and 1966 had the same torpedo armament, but used the faster-firing, power-operated Bofors 40-mm./70-caliber aft (240 rounds per gun per minute rather than 120 rpgpm in the older weapon) and an Oerlikon 20-mm./70-caliber AA forward. A British Mk.5 rocket flare projector was also carried. The Tjelds displace 76 tons full load and are 80 feet 4 inches overall by 24 feet 6 inches in beam.
The initial foreign sales were two boats to West Germany for that country’s fast patrol boat research program in 1959-60. Turned over to Turkey under a war reparations agreement in 1964, these craft were initially armed with two 40-mm./70-caliber in powered mountings, plus the four tubes; later this was reduced to one gun and two tubes. Six more were built for Greece and delivered during 1967, although one was lost through accident in 1969. Armament again differed, with the Greek craft carrying a power-operated 40-mm./70-caliber aft and a hand-worked version of the gun forward, along with the standard four torpedo-tubes.
In 1962, the U. S. Navy realized a requirement for fast patrol craft for operations in Asian waters. With only two torpedoboats remaining in U. S. service (the prototypes PTF-1, ex-PT-810 and PTF-2, ex-PT-811) and no domestic capability to build such a boat, the United States turned to Norway, for whom she was financing a five-year naval building program. After negotiations, the just-completed Skrei and partially-completed Hvass were altered to become the U. S. Navy’s PTF-3 and PTF-4. The boats were successful and were followed by PTF-5 through PTF-8, delivered in April 1964 and PTF-9 through PTF-16, delivered in September 1964. These 14 boats were all built at Mandal, but a third group, PTF-17 through PTF-22, was produced in knocked-down form in Norway and assembled by John Trumpy & Sons, Annapolis, Maryland, during 1967-68. The U. S. boats were equipped strictly as gunboats, carrying a 40-mm./60-caliber cannon aft, an over-and-under .50-caliber machinegun/81-mm. mortar forward, and two single 20-mm. cannon port and starboard just forward of the bridge structure. The U. S. boats had extended range through carrying additional fuel in compartments originally intended for berthing. Six of the 20 were stricken in 1965-1966, either through loss or through being completely worn out under arduous Vietnamese operating conditions.
The Nasty-Tjeld design, while economical to construct, was too small to take advantage of the latest developments in armaments and electronics. Additionally, the craft were not really suited for operation on the open ocean outside of the fjord areas, and the Deltic is a temperamental engine, requiring constant attention not always available when the boats are deployed. Thus a new prototype was constructed, this time for a steel-hulled, 125-ton gunboat with a glass-reinforced plastic superstructure. The 118-foot Storm, completed in May 1963, was fully instrumented and was tested under all possible conditions. The first of 20 production boats was completed late in 1965, and one of the final members of the series was named Storm after the now-scrapped prototype. The class featured an integrated weapon system consisting of a Bofors 76-mm./50-caliber low angle gun forward, a Bofors 40-mm./70-caliber AA aft, both controllable by a remote visual sight used in conjunction with the Hollandse Signaal Mk.26 fire control radar. The after mount can also be fired in local control. The 76-mm. weapon has a low above-decks profile and is tended entirely from below. The gun has a rate of fire of about 35 rounds per minute and, with an elevation of only 36 degrees, is limited to surface targets. Two Maybach diesels deliver 35 knots.
Concurrently with the development of the Storm class came Norway’s entry in the surface-to-surface missile field, the Penguin. Under test for many years, the 9-foot 7-inch anti-shipping missile entered service during 1970. The missile weighs 740 pounds, including its 264-lb. warhead. Total weight including its shipping container/ box launcher is only 1,100 pounds. The Penguin is fired on an inertially-guided heading and homes passively on infrared emissions. Tested at sea on the Storm-class boat Traust Penguin will eventually be fitted in a battery of six on all 20 boats without the necessity of removing any of the original armament. The range of the Penguin is variously reported as between 10 and 15 nautical miles, and either way, this weapon adds considerably to the potential of the gunboats which carry it.
Six replacements for the discarded Rapp class began entering service in 1970 with the completion of the first of the new Snögg class, a torpedoboat version of the Storm. Sharing the Storm hull and propulsion plant, the Snöggs have a different armament: a single 40-mm./70-caliber cannon is carried forward, while on the beam are four 21-inch torpedo tubes. On the fantail, four Penguin launch containers can be positioned. Fire control is by the new joint Norwegian-Dutch Spento system which, while operationally similar to the H.S.A. Mk.20, carries its track-while-scan radar antenna in the open rather than in a dome. There is a separate navigational radar.
Boatservice, Ltd., continues to develop modern patrol boat designs in addition to its other line of research, the commercial hydrofoil. Already offered are updated and enlarged versions of its Nasty and Storm classes, employing steel hulls and using a variety of European armaments and either gas turbine or advanced diesel propulsion plants. Early in 1970, the first foreign sale of a Storm hull, that for Sweden, was announced, and in the fall of 1971, Boatservice’s hydrofoil-building spin-off firm, Westermoens, announced an order for six Storms for Venezuela. When the Tjeld class requires replacement in a few years, doubtless the Royal Norwegian Navy will again turn to Boatservice for the new ships.
Denmark:
The Royal Danish Navy’s first motor torpedoboats were acquired during 1947-48, when 11 former German S-boats were transferred from among enemy stocks allocated to Great Britain after the war. In 1951-52, a further seven German boats were received from Norway, which had in turn received them from the U. S. share of war spoils and was exchanging them for planing-hulled U. S. Elco 80-footers more suited to Norwegian operational needs. The group now under Danish control was by no means a homogeneous lot and ranged from the early S-64 and S-68 to four boats in the S-301 series, which were considerably more powerful than their predecessors. The majority were powered by three Daimler-Benz, 20-cylinder diesels 2,500-maximum b.h.p. each for speeds of 39 knots These long, narrow-hulled, Lürssen-designed boats ideally suited to the short-swelled, Baltic seas where their displacement-type hulls ride easier than planing hulled boats, which tend to pound, even at moderate speeds. Most were 114.5 feet long and 16.75 feet in beam and displaced about 105 tons full load; the four larger boats were 121-feet long and had three 3,000 b.h.p. diesels. In their later years, all carried one 40-mm./60-caliber and one 20-mm. AA aft and two 21-inch tubes beneath the half-deck forecastle. Some of the S-boats had seen hard service; scrappings began in 1955, one was lost through collision in 1957, and the last two were discarded in 1965.
When the Danes began to construct their own motor torpedoboats, they not unnaturally chose the successful S-boat design as a model, and the six-boat Flyvefisken class ordered in 1952 were essentially duplicates of the later German boats. At 110 tons full load, they were 120 feet long with an 18-foot beam and were powered by three Daimler-Benz diesels, which yielded a top speed of 40 knots. The Bofors 40-mm. AA mounted aft was controlled by a director in a tub amidships; a 20-mm. AA formerly carried in a pit in the half-deck forecastle has been removed. Two 21-inch tubes are fitted forward and spare torpedoes are carried for each; the craft have provision for laying mines. Three each were completed in 1955 by the Royal Dockyard, Copenhagen, and Frederikssund Vaerft; they were paid for with U. S. Offshore Procurement funds and for accounting purposes had U. S. hull numbers PT-813 to PT-818 assigned.
The more powerful Falken class, completed in 1962-63 by the Royal Dockyard, Copenhagen, still bear strong resemblance to the German prototype but carry their four 21-inch torpedoes in separate tubes amidships which are trained outboard a few degrees to fire. Gun armament includes a Bofors 40-mm./70-caliber aft (with rocket flare tubes on either side) and a 20-mm. AA in the forecastle pit; again, mines can be carried. Two of the four (Falken and Gribben) were U. S.-funded and had hull numbers PT-819 and PT-820 assigned. Triple-screw propulsion consisted of three 3,000-b.h.p. Mercedes-Benz diesels driving the 119-ton craft at over 40 knots maximum. These units are the largest PTFs currently in Danish service.
Denmark then turned away from the narrow, displacement-hull type PT boat to build four—and purchase two more—British Vosper planing-hulled boats. The 114-ton, wooden boats, completed in 1965-1967, have four enclosed, heated tubes for 21-inch torpedoes (though lately, only the forward pair have been carried) and a pair of Bofors power-operated 40-mm./70-caliber antiaircraft guns, with a remote, lead-computing director on the bridge. Recently fiberglass weather shields have been installed over the gunmounts. Three Proteus gas turbines yield 54 knots, while a pair of General Motors diesels can drive the boats 2,300 miles at 10 knots.
In the spring of 1971, an order was announced for 16 Proteus gas turbines with an option for a dozen more from Rolls-Royce. This large order presages construction of eight boats of the Swedish Spica class with an armament incorporating a larger gun (probably the OTO Melara 76.2-mm. Compact) at the expense of two of the six tubes. The first completions could take place by early 1973.
Denmark possesses a number of slower small combatants, the most significant of which are the nine Daphne-class subchasers completed from 1961 to 1965 at the Royal Dockyard, Copenhagen (three being paid for by the United States as PGMs 48-50). These steel-hulled, 195-ton craft are the NATO equivalent of the Soviet S.O.1 class and bear the brunt of patrol duties in the narrow entrances to the Baltic. The ASW ordnance on the 121.5-foot by 22.5-foot subchasers consists of two K-guns and two racks for depth charges. With speeds barely in excess of 20-knots, the craft are hardly a threat to modern submarines. Their gun armament is a single 40-mm./70-caliber, and mine rails are fitted. Two 12-cylinder Maybach 1,300-b.h.p. diesels drive the outboard shafts, while a small centerline screw is powered by a 100-b.h.p. Foden diesel for 4-knot loiter cruising.
Considering Denmark’s strategic position astride the mouth of the Baltic Sea, a greater number of small combatants and minelaying craft than are available would seem to be needed. Unfortunately, a great deal of naval construction money was spent on two CODOG destroyer escorts of dubious utility (they have no ASW capability and are incapable of defending themselves against missile armed opponents), while more useful—if less glamorous—projects languished. The newly-ordered fast patrol craft may considerably aid the Danes in their task of bottling up the Baltic.
West Germany:
West German expertise in the design and construction of fast patrol craft and other small combatants dates back to World War I. The same firm which dominated the field during both World Wars, Friedrich Lürssen Werft of Bremen-Vegasack, remains the leading supplier. Added to Lürssen’s undoubted leadership in the design of displacement-hulled fast patrol boats, are the long-time experience of such other firms as Abeking & Rasmussen (fast, wooden-hulled minesweepers), Krögerwerft (patrol craft, minesweepers, and Lürssen-designed torpedoboats), Schlichtingwerft (hydrofoils, torpedoboats, minesweepers), and Schürenstedt (fast minesweepers). Also available in West Germany are some of the world’s most reliable high-speed marine diesels, from Maybach, Mercedes-Benz, and M.A.N.[1] Many of the German diesels powering high-performance craft today date back 30 years or more in design and have been continuously updated and improved.
With the advantages of native design for propulsion and hull and local construction capacity, it is logical that the West German Navy would have among its forces a large, up-to-date small combatant arm for Baltic operations. Unfortunately, as of 1971, this was not the case. Of the fifty motor torpedoboats incorporated into the Bundesmarine since May 1956, nine have been sold, one scrapped, 30 are overaged and obsolescent, and only ten—the Type 142 Zobel class—are equipped for modern warfare. No new torpedoboats have been completed since 1964, and the last of thirty 24-knot gunboat/minesweepers was completed 1963. Increasing costs, the slow progress with a now outdated missile program, and indecisions in official policy have delayed the introduction of modern craft and forced the Ministry of Defense in Bonn to turn to the embarrassing expedient of acquiring the first of its new missile boats, even though they are of German design, from a foreign supplier. Even with the ordering of ten Type 148 missile boats in France in 1970, West Germany will not have operational craft of this type available until 1973, at the earliest.
The well-known German Jaguar-class motor torpedoboat traces her origins to 1926 and the completion of a 70-foot, 23-ton experimental craft to test the design theories of the Friedrich Lürssen Werft. In 1929 came the German Navy’s S-1, first of over three hundred motor torpedoboats to be built by Lürssen along similar lines: a long, narrow, round-bilged displacement hull, constructed of mahogany planking over a metal frame and powered by three Daimler-Benz diesels. Since the S-1, the craft have gotten larger (and with the Jaguars added another engine), but the basic layout has remained much the same. We have already seen how the S-38 and S-100 designs of World War II influenced Danish design in the 1950s. Spain, too, duplicated the German craft, with LT-27 through LT-32 built from 1953 to 1956 at La Carraca, Cadiz, following the S-100 design. The first postwar warships built for West Germany were also derivatives of the earlier craft.
The Silbermöwe class was originally intended as S-1 to S-6 for the West German Coast Guard, a paramilitary organization which preceded the current Bundesmarine. The first three operated briefly in British occupation service and then were commissioned into the renascent German Navy on 29 May 1956. The three others of the class, all of which were built by Lürssen, were commissioned in 1956-57. The Silbermöwes were 114 feet 2 inches long by 16 feet 9 inches in beam and displaced 130 tons full load. Three Daimler-Benz 20-cylinder diesels provided 9,000 b.h.p. for 43-knot top speeds and a sustained speed of 40 knots for 265 nautical miles. They could steam nearly 1,000 nautical miles at 34 knots. At first they carried a gun armament of two twin 20-mm. AA, but the after mounting was later replaced by a single 40-mm. In common with their predecessors, they had two 21-inch torpedo tubes half-buried beneath a low forecastle. The Seeschwalbe was de-rated to training craft status as UW-9 in 1961 and later conducted trials with wire-guided torpedoes before being scrapped. The other five were decommissioned in March 1967. In January 1969, they were sold to Greece as Drakon (ex-Silbermöwe), Delphin (ex-Sturmmöwe), Phoinix (ex-Eismöwe), Polikos (ex-Raubmöwe), and Polydeykes (ex-Wildschwan). The two Norwegian Nasty class and two Vosper torpedoboats purchased by Germany for evaluation during the early 1960s were also sold.
Of the 40 Jaguar, Seeadler, and Zobel-class torpedoboats completed from 1957 to 1964, 32 were built by Lürssen, and eight by Krogerwerft, Rendsburg. Lürssen also completed eight Jaguars for Indonesia in 1959-60, nine Zobels for Turkey from 1965 to 1968, and two Zobels for Saudi Arabia in 1969. Two Italian-built PTFs are a derivative of the basic Jaguar design. With the exception of four of the Indonesian units, which had all-metal hulls, all of these craft shared the same hull form and construction. A sandwich of two layers of diagonally-laid mahogany planking surrounds a layer of teak; framing is of aluminum. Proportionately, the hull is broader than the older S-boats to accommodate a fourth screw, and the bow has increased flare for spray protection. Underwater, the after portion of the 139-foot hull tapers downward slightly to act as a trim device to keep the stern from “squatting” at higher speeds. In general, the displacement-type hull provides greater seaworthiness over the planing hull at the expense of some maximum speed for the same horsepower; on the other hand, in poor sea conditions the displacement hull is able to sustain higher speeds. Most Jaguars and all Zobels have four Mercedes-Benz diesels of 3,000 maximum b.h.p. each. The Seeadler group (Type 141) of ten boats have Maybach diesels of the same horsepower. The boats, ranging in full-load displacement from 183 to 190 tons, have a maximum speed of 42 to 43 knots; ranges have not been released, but are probably about the same as the earlier S-boats. Originally the Zobels differed in appearance from the earlier boats in having a more streamlined pilothouse and a large cowling amidships over the engine intakes. All three types have a crew of 39, four officers and 35 enlisted men.
The Jaguar, Seeadler, and Zobel classes were originally armed with two Bofors 40-mm./70-caliber single mountings and four 21-inch torpedo tubes. The forward gun was located in a crescent-shaped tub scooped into the low forecastle deck. Both guns could be controlled by a Bofors short-range director on the open bridge or in local control. The forward torpedo tubes were further aft than on earlier Lürssen designs, and were entirely free of the forecastle. A reload torpedo could be carried for each of the forward tubes, while the after tubes were dismountable to provide space for up to eight mines.
With assistance from General Dynamics, Germany began during the mid-1960s to develop a surface-to-surface missile to rearm the Jaguar and Zobel boats against the threat of Soviet missile craft. The weapon involved was a derivative of the U. S. Tartar and Bullpup missiles, using the engine and airframe of the former, and the warhead and guidance systems of the latter. The launchers were to be a pair of missile containers at the extreme after end of the boats, fixed in train and elevating to fire over the superstructure. A spare missile for each launch container could be inserted after launching the original missiles. A series of trial firings at sea from the Nerz, one of the Zobel class, began in 1967. The missile launchers themselves were almost invisible in stowed position, but the large, egg-shaped dome of the associated Hollandse Signaal Mk.22 fire control radar was unmistakable. As trials progressed with the missile, two things became apparent: first, that, by the time the system was operational, most of the earlier Jaguars and Seeadlers would be too old to justify its installation, and second, that the boats were in any case too small to carry the missiles, retain the 40-mm. guns, and mount the new wire-guided anti-shipping torpedoes under parallel development. Accordingly, while plans were prepared for a new, much larger craft to carry the new armament, the Jaguar rearmament was cancelled, and the remaining Zobels were refitted for the new torpedo system only, which, while more accurate than the old unguided torpedoes formerly mounted, is also bulkier. In their modernized form, the Zobels, all of which were to have been converted at Lürssen Werft by the end of 1972, carry the H.S.A. Mk.22 fire control radar to direct the two 40-mm. AA and the wire-guided 21-inch torpedoes. The latter are fired nose-first from two tubes aimed aft over the stern. The four conventional torpedo tubes have been removed.
The delays of the Tartar-Bullpup missile system nearly spelled the end of the new missile boat program as well. Designated Type 143, the basic plans for the ships were ready by the end of the 1960s. In the end, the decision made in March 1971 to go ahead with construction was probably based not a little on many of the components, such as guns and fire control systems, already having been ordered. (The Lürssen-designed Type-148 class, ordered in France in 1970, could not carry the wire-guided torpedoes for lack of space but will carry Exocet, a missile both longer in range and more sophisticated in concept than the one based on American components the Germans had been working on for so long.)
The Type 143, coming into service two years later than the Type 148 should not, in logic, have a lesser combat capability; this spelled the end of the Tartar-Bullpup for small combatants, and the Type 143s were ordered modified in design to carry four Exocets, as on their smaller cousins. Other planned armament includes two OTO Melara 76-mm./62-caliber Compact dual purpose gunmounts, and two tubes for wire-guided torpedoes firing over the stern. Fire control will be by the AGIS (Automatisierte Gefechts und Informationssystem Schnellboote) tactical data system in conjunction with the H.S.A. Mk.27M track-while-scan radar.
Ten Type-143 class are to be built, probably by Lürssen, with the first becoming operational in 1976—a good deal later than originally planned. The ships will measure 400 tons full load displacement and will have a hull 182 feet long by 25 feet in beam. Reportedly, construction will be composite wood and metal, as on the Jaguar class, although the Type 143 seems overly large for this method and would be the longest warship of that type to be constructed. Four Mercedes-Benz diesels of 3,500 maximum b.h.p. each on four shafts will give a maximum speed of 38 knots and a sustained speed of 36 knots.
On 18 December 1970, the French and German governments announced agreement on the construction of the first ten of an ultimate 20 Type-148 missile gunboats to be built at C.M.N., Cherbourg. The Type-148 was intended as an interim solution to Germany’s pressing need for small combatants for the Baltic, until the long-delayed and larger Type-143 missile gunboats could be ready. Essentially, the Type-148 is the La Combattante II design. The first will run trials in January 1973 and the last in December 1974. Needless to say, the order in a foreign yard caused some discontent in German maritime circles, but a large portion of the equipment will be of German manufacture, including the four Maybach diesels providing 14,000 b.h.p. to the four shafts. Sustained speed is expected to be 36.5 knots, with a range of 600 nautical miles at 30 knots. Armament will be two pairs of Exocet launchers staggered amidships, an OTO Melara 76-mm./62-caliber Compact mount on the forecastle, and a Bofors 40-mm./70-caliber AA aft; two sets of rails aft will hold eight mines. Crew will be 31; four officers and 27 enlisted men.
In addition to the German torpedo and missile boat already described, Lürssen has been involved in many other naval projects. The 2,540-ton motor torpedoboat tender Neckar, one of the Rhein class, was built at Vegasack and powered with six of the same engines used in the Jaguar class. The firm has also designed and constructed customs launches and gunboats for several foreign customers, including the Thai Marine Police and Customs services, the French Navy, and the Colombian Customs Service. The two-boat General Vasquez Cobo class for Colombia was completed 1955-56; the ships displace 178 tons and are 127 feet overall. Powered by two Maybach 900-b.h.p. diesels, they could reach 21 knots when new, and were armed with a 20-mm. AA. The large Damrong Rajanuparab completed for Thailand in 1968 is 213 feet long and has made 24 knots; she followed three smaller, 95-foot boats completed in 1959-60 which resembled the 32-meter gunboats built for France the year earlier as VC-1 and VC-2. These, in turn, had been developed from a series of 93-foot launches completed for the German Coast Guard during the early 1950s.
Empresa Nacional Bazan de Construcciones Navales, Cadiz, Spain, completed four steel-hulled motor torpedoboats for Chile in 1965-66 under license from Lürssen. The Guacolda class displace 132.7 tons full load and are 118 feet 8 inches long. Powered by two Mercedes-Benz diesels of 2,400 b.h.p. each, the craft have a rather low top speed for a modern torpedoboat, 32 knots and their range at 15 knots is 1,500 nautical miles. Armament is two single 40-mm./70-caliber AA and four 21-inch tubes, with six torpedoes aboard. Three similar craft were completed by the designer in Germany for Ecuador in late 1970-early 1971, the principal difference being a propulsion plant of three Mercedes-Benz diesels whose combined 9,000 b.h.p. give a 41-knot top speed. The Ecuadorian boats have an Oerlikon twin 81-mm. automatic unguided rocket launcher forward in place of one 40-mm. AA.
The Coastal Border Police (Bundesgrenzschutz See), established in 1964, received the last of eight new motor gunboats on 5 November 1970. Seven of the Neustadt class were built by Lürssen, and one, Uelzen, was constructed by Schlichtingwerft, Travemünde. Steel-hulled, the 203-ton craft have aluminum superstructures and are 126 feet 4 inches overall. Unlike most police patrol craft of other nations, the German craft are well armed; two Bofors 40-mm./70-caliber AA are carried. Just aft of amidships a stout davit supports a rubber motorized rescue dinghy. For normal cruising, the controllable-pitch center-line screw is driven by a 685-b.h.p. diesel for speeds up to 9 knots. When high speeds are required, two 3,600-b.h.p. diesels are lit off to drive two high-speed screws on the outboard shafts for 30 knot speeds. The robust Neustadts are well equipped with navigational aids and have three 60-kw. diesel generator sets.
Abeking & Rasmussen, Lemwerder, began building wooden-hulled minesweepers for the German Navy during World War I and in 1930 began work on designs which resulted in the well-known R-boat fast minesweeper classes of 1939-45. During World War II, the firm built 250 of these fast, well armed minesweepers for the Reichsmarine, and between 1954 and 1956 delivered ten duplicates of the R-218 design to Indonesia. The 30 Schütze-class minesweepers now in German service are an Abeking & Rasmussen design, and the parent firm built 20 of the total between 1959 and 1964. The 280-ton composite-hulled craft weft designed as convertible gunboat/minesweepers. As gunboats, two 40-mm./70-caliber AA are carried, and as minesweepers, the after mounting is replaced by a cable drum and sweep winch, while various mine sweeping paraphernalia are stowed about the decks. There are also two sets of dismountable mine rails. The Schütze class is distinguished from minesweepers in other navies by its high speed, for a maximum of 24 knots can be achieved. Range at 20 knots is 718 nautical miles. The 154-foot 10-inch craft have four Maybach diesels totalling 4,120 b.h.p., which drive two controllable-pitch screws. During 1970, Aratu, the first of four or more Schütze-class boats for Brazil, was launched in Germany; later members of the class will be built in Brazil. Abeking and Rasmussen also built the prototype inshore minesweeper Holnis in 1966; her planned 19 sisters were cancelled.
The 20 other inshore minesweepers in the Bundesmarine were all constructed by Krogerwerft, Rendsburg between 1956 and 1968. Like the larger and faster Schützes, the two Niobes, eight Ariadnes, and ten Frauenlobs were also intended as convertible gunboat minesweepers. They were originally designated “Coast-guard Boats” and carried W-pendants. In 1968, they were given M-pendants as minesweepers, but in 1970 they were again redesignated as patrol boats and given Y pendants as yardcraft. Although their status seems somewhat ambiguous, the 14-to-15-knot boats are armed with a 40-mm./70-caliber AA and carry a variety of minesweeping equipment.
During World War II, Germany became the first nation to operate naval hydrofoils, and although ambitious plans for hydrofoil torpedoboats never reached fruition, at least six 39-foot patrol hydrofoils and one 104-foot, 41-knot supply hydrofoil were completed and operated. Most of these craft were designed following the concepts of Baron von Schertel and were built at Sachsenburg Brothers Shipyard, Roslau. In 1952, the Schertel patents were organized in Switzerland under the name Supramar, and the firm has since licensed the construction of its naval and commercial designs worldwide. Schlichtingwerft, at Travemünde, began construction for the Bundesmarine during the mid-1960s of a gas turbine-propelled naval version of the Supramar PT-150 commercial hydrofoil. Although construction was abandoned after the hull had been completed, sufficient details are available to describe the craft: displacing over 100 tons, the boat was to have been powered when foiling by two Rolls-Royce Proteus gas turbines, each driving screws at the ends of two of the after foil supports. Maximum speeds of 48 knots were expected, and the craft was to have had a 200-s.h.p. gas turbine for hull-borne maneuvering. No armament details were made public. There are no German hovercraft builders.
The Bundesmarine has not been able fully to exploit the resources available to build up a high speed coastal force of the type ideally suited for carrying out naval operations in the Baltic. For several years to come it will have to rely on craft which, although outstanding in their day, are now at the end of their useful lives. Although not employing gas turbine propulsion, the new Type-148 and Type-143 missile gunboats will be in other ways technically advanced and should in large measure make up for the current deficiencies of the Jaguars.
Major Small Combatant Designs Operational, 1972
U.S.S.R.
Type: PT—Motor Torpedoboat
Class: P-4
Displacement: 21 tons full load
Length: 63 feet
Beam: 14 feet
Propulsion: two M50-F diesels = 2,000 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 50+ knots max.
Armament: two 18-in. torpedo tubes
one twin 14.5-mm. AA
depth charges
Countries operating or acquiring:
U.S.S.R.: 20 +
Albania: 12
Bulgaria: 8
Communist China: 80
Cuba: 12
Cyprus: 6
North Korea: 40
Romania: 8
North Vietnam: 12
Yemen: 2
__________
Type: PT—Motor Torpedoboat
Class: P-6
Displacement: 65 tons full load
Length: 85 feet
Beam: 21 feet
Propulsion: four M50-F diesels = 4,800 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 45 knots max.; 30 knots = 450 nautical miles
Armament: two 21-in. torpedo tubes
two twin 25-mm. AA
depth charges or mines
Countries operating or acquiring:
U.S.S.R.: 200-250
Cuba: 12
Algeria: 6
Egypt (UAR): 36
East Germany: 25
Indonesia: 24
Iraq: 12
Poland: 20
North Vietnam: 6
Guinea: 6
Communist China: 80*
* indigenous production
__________
Type: PTG Guided Missile Patrol Craft
Class: Komar
Displacement: 80 tons maximum
Length: 85 feet
Beam: 23 feet over sponsons
Propulsion: 38-40 knots max.; 30 knots = 400 nautical miles
Armament: two Styx SSM
one twin 25-mm. AA
Countries operating or acquiring:
U.S.S.R.: 20
Algeria: 8
Cuba: 18
Indonesia: 12
Syria: 10
Egypt (UAR): 8
Communist China: 3
__________
Type: PTFG—Large Guided Missile Patrol Craft
Class: Osa-I and Osa-II
Displacement: 200 tons full load
Length: 130 feet
Beam: 23 feet
Propulsion: three diesels = 11-12,000 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 35-36 knots max.; est. 25 knots = 600-800 nautical miles
Armament: 4 Styx or Styx variant
two twin 30-mm. AA
Countries operating or acquiring:
U.S.S.R.: 100
Algeria: 2-5
Communist China: 7
Cuba: 2
East Germany: 12
Egypt (UAR): 12
India: 8
Poland: 12
Romania: 4-5
Yugoslavia: 10
__________
Type: PGG—Guided Missile Gunboat
Class: Nanuchka
Displacement: 650 full load
Length: 198 feet
Beam: 40 feet
Propulsion: diesels = over 20,000 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 32 knots; range not available
Armament: two triple SSM launchers
one twin 57-mm. DP
possible SAM system
__________
Type: PT—Motor Torpedoboat
Class: Shershen
Displacement: 150 tons full load
Length: 110 feet
Beam: 23 feet
Propulsion: three diesels = 11-12,000 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 45 knots maximum
Armament: four 21-inch torpedo tubes
two twin 30-mm. AA
12 depth charges
Countries operating or acquiring:
U.S.S.R.: 30-50
East Germany: 4-12
Yugoslavia: 10
__________
COMMUNIST CHINA
Type: PGM—Motor Gunboat
Class: Shanghai-II
Displacement: 120 tons full load
Length: 130 feet
Beam: 18 feet
Propulsion: four diesels = 4,800 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 28 to 30 knots max.
Armament: two twin 37-mm. AA
two twin 25-mm. AA
one recoilless rifle
mines, depth charges
Countries operating or acquiring:
Communist China: over 100
North Korea: 4
North Vietnam: 4
Tanzania: 4 or more
__________
FINLAND
Type: PTF—Fast Patrol Boat
Class: Nuoli
Displacement: 46.5 tons full load
Length: 72 feet, 2 inches
Beam: 22 feet
Propulsion: three M50-F diesels = 3,600 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: over 40 knots
Armament: one 40-mm. AA; one 20-mm. AA
mines; depth charges
Countries operating or acquiring:
Finland: 13
__________
Type: PTG—Guided Missile Patrol Boat
Class: Isku
Displacement: 115 tons full load
Length: 86 feet, 6 inches
Beam: 28 feet, 6 inches
Propulsion: four M50-F diesels = 4,800 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 25 knots max.
Armament: four Styx SSM
one twin 30-mm. AA
Countries operating or acquiring:
Finland: 1
__________
Type: PGM—Motor Gunboat
Class: Ruissalo
Displacement: 130 tons full
Length: 114 feet
Beam: 18 feet, 8 inches
Propulsion: two MB820 diesels = 2,500 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 20 knots max.
Armament: one 40-mm. AA;
one 20-mm. AA
one Squid ASW mortar
mines; sweep gear
Countries operating or acquiring:
Finland: 3
Colombia: 3
__________
SWEDEN
Type: PTF—Fast Patrol Boat
Class: Plejad
Displacement: 170 tons full load
Length: 157 feet, 6 inches
Beam: 18 feet, 3 inches
Propulsion: three Mercedes-Benz diesels = 9,000 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 37.5 knots max.; 30 knots = 600 nautical miles
Armament: six 21 inch torpedo tubes
two 40-mm. AA
mines; flares
Countries operating or acquiring:
Sweden: 11
__________
Type: PTF—Fast Patrol Boat
Class: Spica/Spica-II
Displacement: 200/208 tons full load
Length: 141/143 feet
Beam: 23 feet, 4 inches
Propulsion: three Proteus 1274 gas turbines = 12,720 s.h.p.
Speed/Range: over 40 knots max.
Armament: six 21-inch torpedo tubes
one 57-mm. AA mines; flares
Countries operating or acquiring:
Spica—
Sweden: 6
Spica-II—
Sweden: 12
Denmark: 4 plus 4
__________
NORWAY
Type: PT—Motor Torpedoboat
Class: Nasty/Tjeld
Displacement: 76 tons full load
Length: 80 feet, 4 inches
Beam: 24 feet, 6 inches
Propulsion: two Deltic diesels = 6,200 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 45 knots max.; 25 knots = 600 nautical miles
Armament: varies—see text
Countries operating or acquiring:
Norway: 20
Greece: 6
Turkey: 2*
U.S.A.: 20
* ex-West German
__________
Type: PGM—Motor Gunboat
Class: Storm
Displacement: 125 tons full load
Length: 118 feet
Beam: 20 feet, 6 inches
Propulsion: Two Maybach 1082 diesels = 7,200 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 35 knots max.
Armament: one 76-mm. DP
one 40-mm. AA
six Penguin SSM
Countries operating or acquiring:
Norway: 21
Sweden: 1 (29 more planned)
Venezuela: 6
__________
Type: PTF—Fast Patrol Boat
Class: Snögg
Displacement: 125 tons full load
Length: 118 feet
Beam: 20 feet, 6 inches
Propulsion: Two Maybach 1082 diesels = 7,200 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 35 knots max.
Armament: four 21-inch torpedo tubes
one 40-mm. AA
four Penguin SSM
Countries operating or acquiring:
Norway: 6
__________
DENMARK
Type: PTF—Fast Patrol Boat
Class: Flyvefisken
Displacement: 110 tons full load
Length: 120 feet
Beam: 18 feet
Propulsion: three MB518 diesels = b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 40 knots max.
Armament: two 21-inch torpedo tubes (two reloads)
one 40-mm. AA; one 20-mm. AA
mines
Countries operating or acquiring:
Denmark: 6
__________
Type: PTF—Fast Patrol Boat
Class: Falken
Displacements 119 tons full load
Length: 118 feet
Beam: 17 feet, 10 inches
Propulsion: three MB518 diesels = 9,000 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 40 knots max.
Armament: four 21-inch torpedo tubes
one 40-mm. AA; one 20-mm. AA
mines; flares
Countries operating or acquiring:
Denmark: 4
__________
WEST GERMANY
Type: PTF—Fast Patrol Boat
Class: Jaguar/Seeadler/Zobel
Displacement: 183 to 190 tons full load
Length: 139 feet, 5 inches
Beam: 23 feet
Propulsion: four MB518B or MD871 diesels = 12,000 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 42 to 43 knots max.; est. 32 knots = 1,000 nautical miles
Armament: As built: two single 40-mm. AA
four 21-inch torpedo tubes
mines
Countries operating or acquiring:
West Germany: 40
Indonesia: 8
Turkey: 9
Saudi Arabia: 2
__________
Type: MSI/PGM—Inshore Minesweeper/Motor Gunboat
Class: Schütze
Displacement: 280 tons full load
Length: 154 feet, 10 inches
Beam: 22 feet, 3 inches
Propulsion: four Maybach diesels: 4,120 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 24 knots max.; 20 knots = 718 nautical miles
Armament: one or two 40-mm. AA
mines
minesweeping gear
Countries operating or acquiring:
West Germany: 30
Brazil: 4 (6 additional planned)
__________
Type: PGG—Guided Missile Gunboat
Class: Type 143
Displacement: 400 tons full load
Length: 182 feet
Beam: 25 feet
Propulsion: four MB518D diesels = 14,000 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 38 knots max.; 36 knots sustained
Armament: four Exocet SSM
two OTO Melara 76-mm. DP
two 21-inch torpedo tubes
Countries operating or acquiring:
West Germany: 10
__________
Type: PTFG—Large Guided Missile Patrol Boat
Class: Type 148
Displacement: 265 tons full load
Length: 154 feet, 2 inches
Beam: 23 feet, 4 inches
Propulsion: four Maybach MD872 diesels; 14,000 b.h.p.
Speed/Range: 40 knots max.; 20 knots = 1,600 nautical miles
Armament: four Exocet SSM, one 76-mm.,
one 40-mm. AA,
mine rails
Countries operating or acquiring:
West Germany: 20
Countries operating or acquiring La Combattante II or variants:
France: 2
Greece: 4
Israel: 12 (Saar variant)
Malaysia: 4
Singapore: 2 or more
__________
Bibliography:
This essay was prepared employing only published, unclassified sources, both printed documents and photography. The interpretations are those of the author alone and do not necessarily represent those of the Department of Defense.
PERIODICALS:
Armed Forces Journal for Nihart, Brooke, “Harpoon: the Navy’s Answer to Soviet Missile Boats,” 16 November 1970, pp. 22-23—refers to Nanuchka class PGG.
Atlantische Welt 10 October 1970 for “Vor Tartarschnellbooten erst 20 andere Boote” (p. 2) and “S-Boote mit Raketen” (p. 12)—on Type-143.
Aviation Week and Aerospace Technology, 4 January 1971, p. 51, “Norwegian Navy Gets Penguin Missiles.”
Die Bundeswehr January 1970, p. 21 for “Neuen Schnellboot Geplant.”
Flight International, 3 October 1970, p. 575 for “Exocet or Martel.”
French Shipbuilding News March 1971, “New Orders” describes Type-143, and La Combattante IIs for Greece and Malaysia in considerable detail. Good source for other foreign-order combatant data.
Interavia, various issues for characteristics of European and Warsaw Pact ships, ordnance, electronics, and missile systems.
International Defense Review June 1971, p. 239, “Small Warships, 1971” and p. 244, “Armament & Fire Control.” Various earlier issues for characteristics of ships, ordnance systems, electronics, etc.
Marine Rundschau, April 1970, p. 238 on Neustadt-class police gunboats, various other issues for data on German and other European activities.
The Motor Ship, July 1955, pp. 146-150, “H.M.S. Dark Aggressor Commissioned” on Dark-class and Deltic diesel.
Naval Record September/October 1967, vol. 2 #5, “Special Light Naval Craft Issue.” Magazine unfortunately defunct, gave much information on current naval construction. Editor Henry Lenton.
Navy (U. K. Navy League publication), June 1970, “Ferocity, Tenacity, Duplicity?” and “Look, no teeth!” on Sabre class; November 1970 for “Exposition Naval, Le Bourget 1970,” and “Exocet” by John Marriott. Good source for current U. K. naval and merchant marine activities.
La Revue Maritime, 1971, p. 251 for Type-148 characteristics, and p. 528 for SA’AR data.
Revista Marittima—various issues for worldwide construction information.
Schiff und Hafen, March, 1970, p. 270 for Neustadt class.
Shipbuilding and Shipping Record, 7 August 1970 for “High Speed Training Craft for Royal Navy from VT” (p. 31); March 1965, pp. 26-32, for H. T. Lenton, “Post-War Developments in Naval Light Craft”—mostly Royal Navy. Used to be a good source for naval ships but now confined mostly to commercial vessels.
Soldat & Technik December 1969 for data on Type-143 and Nerz; May and June 1970 for Siegfried Breyer, “Schnellboote der Sowjetmarine”—not too reliable. Good source on current Soviet development through numerous articles by Breyer.
Svensk Sjöfarts Tidning, April 71 for news of Swedish order of a Storm from Boatservice, Mandal.
Sekai no Kansen (“Ships of the World”)—various articles on Asian craft.
Sveriges Flotta—general continuing source on Swedish Navy activities.
U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings, March 1971 for Wm. D. O’Neil, H. T. Lenton, “The Missile-Armed Fast Patrol Boat,” also Sidney Gladwin, “Missile Armament for the FPB;” also 1967 article on the Asheville-class gunboat.
BOOKS, ANNUALS, & REPORTS
Abeking & Rasmussen Shipyard, pamphlet, 1970.
Friedrich Lürssen Werft, pamphlet, 1955.
Bagnasco, Eerminio, I MAS e le Motosiluranti Italiane. (Rome: Ufficio Storico Della Marine Militaire, 1967)
Gröner, Erich, Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe, vol. I. (Munich: J. F. Lehmanns, 1966)
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The author also wishes to express his appreciation for the advice and guidance offered by Commander Detlow M. Marthinson, U. S. Navy, OP-032, the Pentagon.
[signed] Arthur Davidson Baker III
[1] In July 1969 these firms amalgamated their high-speed diesel and gas turbine activities to form M.T.U. (Motoren und Turbine Union), Friedrichshafen. Daimler-Benz is the parent company of both Maybach and Mercedes-Benz.