German rescue group gets new boats

Actually, not one but three new rescue boats units were joining the DGzRS fleet during ceremonies in Bremerhaven marking the 150^th anniversary of the service.

Being handed over in Bremerhaven on May 30^th along with the 27.9m cruiser newbuilding – still known only as SK 35 prior to that date – was that boat’s 8.2m docked tender TB 39, the name of which was also being revealed at the anniversary ceremonies. The tender carries a Steyr SE 236 E40 engine of 170kW providing 18 knots.

Spokesman Christian Stipeldey told Maritime Journal it expected to take delivery of the next two new 28m Class cruisers in 2017 and 2018 as part of a fleet modernisation and he revealed that they, like SK 35, would also be built by the specialist Fassmer Werft in Berne. SK 35 will serve out of Amrum and replace the 23.3m Vormann Leiss and its tender Japsand. At 30, Vormann Leiss is the oldest serving DGzRS boat on the Schleswig-Holstein west coast.

Stipeldey said the second new boat would be stationed in Laboe and replace the 27m Class Berlin. No decision had as yet been taken about where the third new cruiser will serve. SK 35 was floated out at Fassmer in March and has been under close inspection by the yard, the DGzRS and the public since then. Among immediately noticeable features are a completely closed-in deck house with observation position for search missions and a separated multi-purpose room with hospital.

The 28m Class is a completely new design to succeed the organisation’s 27.5m Class boats. The newbuilds will be 27.9m long, 6.2m wide, draw 2m and displace 120t . SK 65 has two 16-cylinder MTU Type 16V 2000 M72 engines with a combined output of 2880kW providing up to 24 knots. They are complemented by a rough kit facility which makes it possible for engines to operate even when listing badly and also by MTU Blue Vision new generation automation control. MTU, which has delivered engines to the DGzRS since the 1950sa, will also build the engines for the next two cruisers.

At similar ceremonies in Bremen on May 29^th , the DGzRS was taking delivery of a third newbuild – its latest 9.5/10.1m Class rescue boat SRB 65.

That 10.1m, 4m wide boat has a Cummins QSB 6.7 engine of 280kW providing 18 knots and is the first new DGzRS ship to be built at Tamsen Maritim. In 2012 that small Rostock yard modified the biggest DGzRS boat, the 46m Hermann Marwede.

By Tom Todd