Biggest boat yet for German coastal police

The 34.2m long and 26 knot

Sylt

, which has cost about €6m, is the second of four big coastal boats for German maritime trouble spots in Baltic and North Sea shipping regions.

Sylt

will patrol a busy triangle of German North Sea waters from the Danish border to Heligoland to the Elbe Estuary.

Speaking at the naming in the North Sea port of Husum, north of Hamburg, State Interior Minister Lothar Hay said, ‘We take our responsibilities for maritime security very seriously’. He was referring not only to longstanding local fears of a pollution disaster in German waters, or to fisheries protection, but also to vessel identification and documentation as part of the terrorism threat.

Built at Fassmer, Sylt carries a crew of up to eight and is of marine aluminum alloy. It is 7.2m wide, draws 2m and displaces 120 tons fully laden. Classed GL + 100 A5 K Patrol Boat (+) MC, the vessel is driven by two electronically controlled and monitored, watercooled MTU diesel engines of Type 16V2000, each of 1,440kW at 2,250 rpm.

Gears are two ZF 4540A units and two Schaffran FPP 1,100mm diameter fixed propellers are installed. Also fitted is a Kraeft 720mm bow thruster of 9kN thrust and two 400/230V Hansa diesel gensets of 110kWand 53kW cater for on board electrical supply needs.

Sylt and three 27m long patrol boats were ordered at Fassmer in 2006. They are part of a police fleet renewal programme up to 2013 costing more than €25m. The first of the 27m boats, Falshöft , was handed over last April and another eight boats will join the fleet over the coming years.

By Tom Todd