Shipbucket

Hello everyone,

As a break between other projects, I'm taking a detour back to small boats.
This thread will cover the few classes of locally developed small torpedo boats in East German Navy service in the 1950s to 1980s.
Though the evolution of technology would create widely different boats over the years, all generations of East German torpedo boats share the same basic concept of the lightest and cheapest hulls meant to attack en masse a single surface target, according to tactical concepts developed during WW2.
While the Soviet industry moved towards ever larger boats with heavier torpedo payloads, the East Germans' decision to keep the displacement to a minimum served both to drive costs down by making the boats easier to manufacture, and reduce the manning requirements. Most classes were developed with bolt-on benches to carry combat swimmers, making further use of the high speed of the torpedo boats to insert divers closer to their targets.
As a consequence of their light displacement, the light materials used in construction and their intensive use in service, the lifetime of these boats did not exceed 10 years across all classes.
One other specificity shared by all classes is the rearward ejection of forward-running torpedoes. While most earlier and contemporary torpedo boats fired their weapons forward from tubes located above deck, all the boats presented here had their tubes under the stern, open to the rear, and dumped the torpedoes in their wake before turning away from the target. On such small boats, this solution helped simplify construction and keep the center of gravity down.

Let's start at the end, with the last class to enter service.
Work on the first prototype of Project 131 "Libelle" (Dragonfly) KTS was started in October 1971, the boat being handled to the Volksmarine for trials in 1972 and followed by two more prototypes. Series production then saw 30 more units built between 1974 and 1977, numbered 401 to 430.
In service, the boats were split in two light torpedo boat brigades, each made up of three groups, within the 6th Flotilla based in Bug/Dranske on the island of Rügen.
Following the established pattern, the boats carried two anti-ship torpedoes inside the stern of a mostly classical planing hull, propelled to 52 knots by three Soviet M-50F diesels on three shafts. A quixotic amount of self-defense was provided by a single rear-firing, manually-operated mount for the ubiquitous ZU-23/2 twin 23mm AA gun. If the boat was engaged by another adversary than their target, the best defense was of course in their speed and agility.
Conceptually obsolete and structurally worn out, the first boats of the class were removed from service in the mid-1980s, some soldiering on as diver transports until the reunification of Germany. Naturally, none were taken over by the FRG for further service, but a few were preserved for display in museums within Germany.

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Soviet Century/Cold War 2020 Alternate Universe: Soviet and other Cold War designs 1990-2020.
My Worklist

Fantastic drawings!
I've got a soft spot for Schnellboote, so keep them coming

P.S.:
These pages might contain some useful material:
http://www.ship-model-today.de/modellpaene.htm
http://s-boot.net/sboote-volksmarine.html

P.P.S.:
It seems like there's a black pixel missing on the bow of the "loaded" version.

Great Work CL

I must say old chap, I DO find your work on Eastern Block vessels most enjoyable, as they are a subject that I readilly admit to my shame, I know nothing about and your detailed commentary is most educational.

Thank you

Kind regards,

Andy

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https://discord.gg/5PHq8Dk
My artwork is posted here: https://www.deviantart.com/adenandy/gallery/all

ive always found how interesting east Germany's military was

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Wansui!

That's very nice work.
Drawing small boats this size in SB is a tough job, and you've done a good job here, keeping the details but not overloading them.

I saw these on your worklist the other day and it reminded me I'd done a load of East German never-were designs a couple of years back. Sadly Imageshack has swallowed those images now (damn you image hosts! damn you all to hell!), but perhaps when the new site is up I'll be able to reload them. I don't think most of them made onto the SB archive sadly.

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Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

Thats a darn shame Hoody old boy, I would have been very interested in getting a good look at them

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https://discord.gg/5PHq8Dk
My artwork is posted here: https://www.deviantart.com/adenandy/gallery/all

looks really good

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Shipbucket mainsite, aka "The Archive"
New AU project "Aravala"

Hood:

If I remember correctly, Timothy C, gathered together a large amount of the old files. It could be that your drawings may have made there way in there. I don't remember where the link to those files is, but someone should be able to tell us all.

Great work!

Beside this, I can afirm that I have seven Volksmarine drawings made by Hood on my external drive. I'm pretty sure they belong to these never-weres.
I can upload them if necessary.

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http://cascadiasb.deviantart.com/?rnrd=191663