S73 HERMELIN

Allgemeine Informationen

Kurs/Position

Die neuesten Nachrichten

Speedboat reached last port

On Sep 1, the 'Happy Sky' has successfully completed the unlaoding of seven German Navy missile speedboats of the Type 143A Gepard class from Kiel, to Aliaga, The boats have now reached their final destination where they will be dismantled.The seven boats, part of a series of ten, are all identical and were commissioned between 1983 and 1984. In 2015 and 2016 they were decommissioned and one of their sister ships, the ex-S74 'Cheetah', was preserved in 2016 and has been on display at the naval museum in Wilhelmshaven. The seven vessels now transported were the ex-S72 'Puma', ex-S73 'Hermelin', ex-S75 'Zobel', ex-S76 'Frettchen', ex-S78 'Ozelot', ex-S79 'Wiesel' , and ex-S80 'Hyäne'. They each weigh approximately 330 metric tonnes, and are 58 metres long. The 'Happy Sky' stowed two of the boats in her hold, while the remaining five were secured on deck. In order to accommodate three boats side by side, the 'Happy Sky'’s weather deck was extended by using the vessels’ tweendeck hatch covers. A wide range of equipment was mobilised for the laoding operation; A-frames were used, as well as cut-to-shape dunnage, lifting beams, chains featuring BigLift’s new speed lashing system, and heavy load platforms (HLPs). Since technical information of the boats was limited and outdated, and each boat turned out to have a slightly different centre of gravity because of their age and maintenance history. the rigging was selected with sufficient contingency, resulting in a heavier than usual setup to make sure lifting remained safe. On Sep 1, all boats were delivered at their final berth. The 'Happy Sky' had already sailed on Aug 28, en route to Piraeus. Report with phtos: https://www.bigliftshipping.com/en/latest/happy-sky-ships-historic-german-schnellboote-to-final-berth?fbclid=IwY2xjawMkzLNleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHice8BJv4TwYU3GlvuSbOW3tkXp89j6s2wgZ5rPiXEk4HkBUebocwNvvPspi_aem_fAjbfgnWj37mBBwomuvUHg

Fast patrol boat loaded onto Happy Sky to be taken to recyclers in Aliaga

Since July 28, 2025, the 'Happy Sky' has berthed in the Naval Depot in Kiel in order to take on board seven former German fast patrol boats, which will be transported to Aliaga for recycling. first boat to be loaded was the 'Ozelot' on July 30, followed by the 'Frettchen', 'Hermelin', 'Hyäne', Puma', 'Wiesel' and 'Zobel'. The boats were decommissioned in 2016 with the 7. Speed Boat Squadron in Rostock. A first attempt toto load the boats had failed in November 2024 because too much marine growth had accumulated on the hull due to the long lay-up, so that the straps could not be safely attached. Divers have meanwhile removed the obsttructions, and loading operations were underway as of Aug 4. Report with photo: https://www.kn-online.de/lokales/kiel/sieben-schnellboote-der-marine-werden-in-kiel-verladen-ziel-tuerkei-XZ56XB3A6VB63G3YM4CO34OAFE.html

Mutiny was a joke

The trial of six German naval crew members of the "Hermelin" being accused of mutiny by writing racist slurs on a superior officers legs after tying him to a table opened on Sep 24, 2013, with a confession - it had all been a revenge prank. A defendant in the trial of six first mates accused of attacking the ship's bosun said it had been meant as a joke. The 27-year-old bosun told a court in the north eastern coastal city of Rostock that the men had wanted to pay their victim back for an offensive remark. The first mates were accused of dragging their German-born superior officer of Thai descent out of his bunk late at night. They then used five-centimetre-wide tape to restrain the half-naked man to a table before scrawling “this is where the mongs live” in permanent marker on his lower legs. When an officer had asked during a medical examination where the officers and crew slept, the bosun replied: "Officers sleep in the cabins, the mongs sleep on deck." The defendant went on to explain that the alleged mutinous attack had been a spontaneous prank to get their own back on the bosun, who they normally got on well with. At the time questions were raised over whether the use of the word "mongs" suggested a racist motive to the attack, but the sailor said the word was often used on board the ship and had nothing to do with the bosun's ethnic origin.