High-tech police trio readies for action

The comment came from Thomas Boelke, a spokesman for the Bundespolizei See – the marine arm of the German Federal Police. It follows the delivery of Bad Düben, the last of three 13.4m wide identical patrol boats completed by Fassmer and costing €180 million. Two hulls were built and partly outfitted at Western Baltija Shipbuilding in Lithuania.

The crews for Bad Düben have entered land-based introductory systems training in Cuxhaven prior to full operation in the new year, along Germany’s North Sea and Baltic coasts as well as in international waters if needed. The newbuild will join identical sisters Potsdam and Bamberg. Boelke told Maritime Journal crews on the first two ships were only now completing familiarisation training.

Experience with the ships had been very good, he said, and shortcomings had been removed as they cropped up on each newbuilding. “Particularly impressive has been the positive sea-holding compared with previous ships”, he told Maritime Journal.

One training sector is flight familiarisation, Boelke noted. All three new patrol ships have NATO standard helicopter landing pads and are capable of handling the biggest helicopter currently serving with the Bundespolizei – the Super Puma. “A lot of training hours are required for both ship crews and the helicopter pilots to guarantee safe co-operation”, he said.

Training is also needed to handle the crane lifting and stowage below deck of the five 20ft containers each ship carries. The biggest challenges however, according to Boelke, were faced by the on-board technicians. “Ships of this size with so many capabilities, carry a great deal of very specialist technology and it all has to be learned”, he said. It would be “a few months yet before all three ships are ready to take over their set tasks with all their capabilities available”, he told Maritime Journal.

Each of the new boats has two Wärtsilä 12V 26F/4080kW/1000rpm main diesels and two Caterpillar 3508 SCAC gensets as well as two Piening CPP propellers with 2.75m diameter blades. They also carry scrubbers and two transverse thrusters. Fassmer described the engines, providing 21 knots, as “particularly eco-friendly”.