First of trio for German marine police
The first of three big ocean-going patrol ships is in test operation with the Bundespolizei, reports Tom Todd.
The 86.2m long and 13.4m wide BP 81 Potsdam drawing 3.95m was named in a ceremony at Fassmer Werft. It has now begun test operations lasting about three months, involving the shipyard and the Bundespolizei- See – the marine arm of the German Police. The test phase will end with the hand-over of the new ship to the Bundespolizei in mid March.
Potsdam’s hull was built at Fassmer, one of the country’s busiest small ship and boat specialists. For capacity reasons the other two hulls, weighing 700 tons apiece, have been built and partially outfitted at Western Baltija Shipbuilding (WBS) in Klaipeda, Lithuania. Reports said they were delivered to Fassmer last April and October and that sister ships Bamberg and Bad Düben would be completed and delivered during 2019.
The corvette-style newbuilds replace three much smaller boats, two of them nearly 30 years old and built in the former GDR, which are now being mustered out. The acquisition of the replacements follows years of lobbying for Government funding by the Bundespolizei and Parliament supporters. They warned the old boats were obsolete as of 2016 and that repairs were no longer economic.
Bundespolizei spokesman Thomas Boelke told Maritime Journal that BP 81 Potsdam, carrying a crew of 14, had two 12V 26F/4080kW/1000rpm main engines. He also reported two Caterpillar gensets and two Piening CPP propellers with 2.75m diameter blades. Potsdam also has unidentified scrubber technology and two transverse thrusters. Armament was not revealed.
Fassmer described the engines as “particularly eco-friendly” diesel-electric propulsion systems developing 21 knots. The ships also boast helicopter landing decks capable of handling big Super Puma police service helicopters.
The new ships will be owned by the German Interior Ministry but will be operated by the Bundespolizei-See, whose job is to monitor the country’s long North Sea and Baltic coastlines.
The Bundespolizei-See operates out of Neustadt north of Hamburg on the western Baltic, Warnemünde on the eastern Baltic and Cuxhaven on the North Sea. Reports have speculated that two of the three newbuilds will be stationed in Neustadt and the third in Warnemünde.
