The hull of the second ship, Bayreuth, BG25, is also now being completed in Lemwerder.

The third vessel, BG27, is being named Eschwege. The ships, which reports have said are costing about ?45m apiece, will replace seven Type 157, 38.5m long units of the Neustadt Class, in service in German coastal and Economic Zone waters.

The new 14 man vessels, which also boast ten further emergency bunks, have a mean draught of 3.2m. They are driven by a combined diesel-mechanic/ electric, single-wave propulsion system (hybrid propulsion) which consists of a Type 1163, 5200kW MTU main engine working directly on the shaft via gears. A low-noise electrical supplementary drive plant of 600kW is also available for patrols at an economical 12 knots, but can also serve as a booster for the main engine plant to provide 21.5 knots.

To improve manoeuvrability, the propulsion plant and the bow and stern thrusters are equipped with Simovert Master Drive units. Each boat also has a ?7melectro, navigation and safety technology package supplied by Siemens Marine Solutions.

The punchy new Coast Guard ships are designed to monitor sea traffic and violations of marine pollution regulations, illegal immigration. The German Coast Guard has three main offices in Cuxhaven, Neustadt/holstein and Warnemunde and has nine ocean-going vessels at its disposal.