The German-built, former Royal Norwegian Navy Type 207 submarine Stord was recommissioned at Oksywie, Poland, as the Sokol on 4 June 2002. Under an agreement signed on 13 May, the four remaining active Type 207s were to be transferred to Poland, along with a fifth boat of the class for use as a pierside trainer, in a $17.4 million package that also included training, spares, and some 30 Bofors Type 613 and U.S. NT-37C wire-guided torpedoes. The second of the 524-ton (submerged displacement) submarines transferred, the Skolpen, was renamed the Sep after arrival in July along with the previously retired Kobben, which has been renamed the Jastrzab and will be the pierside trainer. The Svenner is to be handed over to become the Bielek next year, and the Kunna will become the Kondor in 2004. Completed between 1964 and 1967, the active quartet has at least a decade of useful service remaining, and their small size makes the submarines especially suited to Baltic operations. Poland's single Russian-built Project 877E Kilo-class submarine, the Orzel, has been refitted for service with NATO forces, while the Russian Project 641K Foxtrotclass submarines, Wilk and Dzik, were offered for sale at the end of 2001.
The first of two new survey ships for Britain's Royal Navy, the Echo, was launched on 4 March 2002 and is seen here arriving at Portsmouth on 12 August for final fitting out by Vosper Thornycroft, which had subcontracted the construction of the 3,500-ton Echo and her sister, the Enterprise, to Appledore Shipbuilders, in Devon. The 295-foot pair are replacing older survey ships, of which the Bulldog and Beagle were retired in July 2001 and February 2002, respectively, and the Roebuck is to be retired next April. The Echo and Enterprise will have rotating naval crews employing 23 personnel in each of three "watches" per ship, with two watches on board and one ashore at any one time so the ships can each operate for up to 334 days per year. Accommodations for 35 extra personnel are available so the pair can be employed in their alternate role as mine countermeasures support ships. The Enterprise was launched on 24 August, and both ships are to enter service next spring.
The Italian Guardia Costiera operates j more patrol and rescue craft than does the U.S. Coast Guard and employs nearly 11,000 personnel for its fleet of more than 400 ships and craft. Italy also has several other "paranaval" forces, including the 5,400-strong Guardia di Finanza, Servizio Navale, with a 350strong fleet of patrol craft and launches, many of them armed; the Caribinieri, with nearly 190 small patrol boats; the National Polizia di Stato, with more than 100 patrol boats and launches; and the small patrol boat fleet of the Polizia Penitenziaria (Prison Police). All but the Prison Police also operate fixed-wing surveillance aircraft and/or helicopters. The newest Guardia Costiera rescue craft design is Class 200, of which 30 have been ordered to date; numbered CP 265 through CP 295, the last of the boats will be delivered next year. Shown here is the 53-ton (full load), 82-foot CP 279, which was delivered this July by Cantieri Navale Rodriquez at Messina. Capable of 34 knots on three 1,200-bhp Isotta Fraschini diesels (the centerline engine drives a waterjet and the outboard engines propellers), the unarmed craft have a range of 900 nautical miles at 18 knots and 630 nautical miles at 31 knots.