Under a contract signed 30 July 1999, the Turkish government chose Germany's Friedrich Lurssen Werft and Abeking and Rasmussen to construct jointly the first of six new low-magnetic signature, steel-hulled mine hunters, with five others to be built in Istanbul at the Pendik Naval Shipyard. The prototype Aydin Program ship, the Alanya, is seen here in the Kiel Canal during initial sea trials. The first Turkish-built ship, the Amasra, was laid down on 25 July 2001 and is to be launched in December, and the Avalik was laid down exactly one year later. The 715-ton full-load displacement mine hunters feature the extensive equipment shock-mounting employed in recent German Navy mine countermeasures ships and are 178.6 feet long by 31.8 feet beam. They are propelled by two 1,500-brake- horsepower MTU low-magnetic signature diesels driving two Voith-Schneider vertical cycloidal propellers; two electrically driven Schottel azimuthal thrusters are used for low-speed maneuvering. The ships have the Thales Type 2093 variable-depth mine-hunting sonar, which operates as a component of the NAUTIS-IIIM command system. Two remote-controlled mine location and destruction submersibles and four mine destruction divers are carried, the latter as part of the crew of 53. Defense is provided by a single locally controlled OTO Melara/Mauser 30-mm cannon, with two .50-caliber machine guns to deal with floating mines. Five additional ships of the class may be ordered later to continue the replacement of the 12 older Turkish mine countcrnieasures ships that date to 1958-1967.
Built by Bollinger Shipyards, Lockport, Louisiana, as the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Protector-class patrol boat WPB87351, the Maltese Maritime Squadron's P-51 was ordered on 30 July 2001 using $5.5 million in U.S. aid money and was delivered on 25 October 2002. Unlike her 50 sisters operating in the U.S. Coast Guard, the P-51 is painted dark gray and currently carries no armament, although provision is made to install two .50-caliber machine guns. A further 13 of the 87-foot craft are programmed for purchase for the U.S. Coast Guard, with funding for the first four provided under the fiscal year 2003 budget and five more requested under this year's budget. Of the first four new boats, the Sea Lion (WPB-873S2) was to launch on 23 September, with the Skipjack (WPB-87353), Dolphin (WPB-87354), and Hawk (WPB-87355) all to be in the water by mid-December. The 91.1-ton fullload displacement craft, whose design is of British origin, can reach 27 knots and have a range of 882 nautical miles at 10 knots. They carry crews of ten. Malta also operates nine other patrol craft ranging in displacement from 15 to 361 tons.
The Swedish Navy's two YA-81-design guided-missile patrol boats, the 335ton Stockholm and Malmo, originally were completed in 1985. Under a November 1999 contract with Kockums, the pair has been extensively rebuilt and modernized. Work on the Malmo was completed during October 2002, and the Stockholm was redelivered on 31 January 2003, with both ships in the new two-tone gray Swedish Navy camouflage seen here on the Stockholm. During modernization, the original blocky superstructures and lattice masts were replaced by a low-radar-reflectivity deckhouse and pylon mast, and the Allison 570KF gas turbine was replaced by a 5,364-shaft-horsepower TFSO turbine. With the crafts' twin 2,095-brake-horsepower MTU diesels operating, they now can maintain 30 knots. The 40-mm gun aft was removed to provide space for the gas turbine air intake, and the new armament suite comprises a Bofors 57-mm SAK-57 Mk II dual-purpose gun, four canister launchers for RBS-15 antiship missiles, and four 6-round Alecto 5-inch antisubmarine rocket launchers. Four 400-mm tubes for Type 45 antisubmarine torpedoes can be bolted on to the two mine rails, which can otherwise accommodate up to 40 mines.