Magnificent shot!!!
i still remember this kind of small vessels when the fleet of torpedo boats going for torpedo exercises, there where always one of them following the torpedo fleet. There were always little ...things missing from them ..potable water, provisions, electrical power, etc as have been designed with limited autonomy. The link is the photo of the P-56 TYPHON, an ex German Navy P6073 Geier, Seeadler-Class http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2405312. It was very interesting the way that they recover from sea the unarmed torpedoes.

Thanks for posting!

Thank you very much, Brian!

Just had time to look up my archives:

This is the former TF4 (Y854) of the Federal German Navy.

Builder: Schweers, Bardenfleth
Keel laid: 24. March 1965
Launched: 21. December 1965
Commissioned: 8. February 1966
Homeport: Eckernförde
Dimensions: Length 23.50 m - Beam 5.4 m - Draught 1.66 m
Displacement: 63 t

Speed: 17 Knots
Crew: 6...8 Man

Retired: 28.09.1990, to Greece via CONDOCK III

Best regards,

Michael.

Hi Michael thanks for that interesting bit of information. Using that information I founf this...

The torpedo retrieval ships of the Class 430 of the Federal German Navy were built in the mid-to late sixties, replacing the 438/439 classes, which were remaining R-class boats of the Kriegsmarine. The ships had a crew of 6-8 men that lived on 11 m2 with showers only available on land or via bucket. The ships were used to retrieve training torpedos from torpedo boats and u-boats. This included ventures into the Skagerrak, Kattegat, but also north of Bergen, Norway. In the later years of their career, the class was upgraded to Class 430A.

The ships had a complete wooden hull made from mahagoni and two diesel generators and an engine that brought the ship to a top speed of 15,5kn. Almost all of the ship's systems were installed twice, for a high amount of redundancy. The training torpedos were located via acoustic detectors and then picked up via a hydraulic ramp at the transom. The ships also carried an underwater telephone to communicate with u-boats. In case of war, the ships would have function as a 'relais-station' and served under command for coastal defence.

The class consisted of nine ships, named TF-1 through TF-6 and TF-106 through TF-108. In the early nineties, all of the ships were decomissioned. Three of them were sold to Greece and remain in service there. TF-5 remained in service of the German Navy until 2008 and was sold in 2009. TF-5 is now a museum ship in Leer, Germany.

Regards, Brian

Indeed of german origin:

Class 430 Torpedofangboot (Torpedo recovery boat) TF 5 or a sister.

See this article for a picture https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torpedofangboot

Best regards,

Michael.

Looks like a former german boat.
Regards Dirk