Elbe-class replenishment ship
The Type 404 Elbe class replenishment ships of the German Navy were built to support its squadrons of Fast Attack Craft, submarines and minesweeper/hunters, as such they are usually referred to as tenders.
Tender A516 Donau in Warnemünde | |
Class overview | |
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Operators: |
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In commission: | 1993- |
Completed: | 6 |
General characteristics | |
Displacement: | 3,586 tonnes |
Length: | 100.55 m (329 ft 11 in) |
Beam: | 15.40 m (50 ft 6 in) |
Draft: | 4.05 m (13 ft 3 in) |
Propulsion: |
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Speed: | 15 knots (28 km/h) |
Range: | 2,600 nmi (4,800 km) |
Capacity: |
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Complement: | 40 (standard) + >38 (repair party, passengers, squadron staff) |
Armament: |
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Aviation facilities: | No hangar, but a heli deck was added for Sea King sized or larger helicopters |
The ships carry fuel, fresh water, food, ammunition and other matériel. They also have a medical station aboard but doctors are not part of their standard complement and will have to be flown in. The tender also manage waste disposal for the ships they support at sea and can carry out minor repairs of assigned ships. For this purpose Elbe class tenders assigned to FAC squadrons, for example, carry the SUG repair and support shop specialized for these boats on their deck in a set of 13 standard containers.
Extensive communication gear and accommodations enable them to serve as squadron flagship.
While in general all Elbe class tenders are quickly configurable to be reassigned to support other squadrons, one of the six ships is usually modified to support German submarines - carrying batteries for reloading for example. This ship - currently A515 Main - while still being of the same class, and easily reconfigurable - is often named as a separate "sub-class" due to this larger modification.
List of ships
Pennant number |
Name | Call sign |
Commissioned | Base | Unit |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
A511 | Elbe | DRHJ | January 28, 1993 | Warnemünde | 7th FAC squadron |
A512 | Mosel | DRHK | July 1, 1993 | Kiel | 5th Minesweeper squadron |
A513 | Rhein | DRHL | September 1, 1993 | Kiel | 3rd Minesweeper squadron |
A514 | Werra | DRHM | December 9, 1993 | Kiel | 3rd Minesweeper squadron |
A515 | Main | DRHN | June 10, 1994 | Eckernförde | 1st Submarine squadron |
A516 | Donau | DRHO | November 15, 1994 | Warnemünde | 1st Corvette squadron |
The ships were named after German rivers.
Gallery
- Tender A511 Elbe in Warnemünde.
- Tender A511 Elbe.
- Tender A513 Rhein in Eckernförde
- Tender A514 Werra in London
- A515 in Catania
- MLG-27 onboard Elbe class tender Rhein.
- A516 in the Belgian Navy Base of Zeebrugge.
References
- - German Navy, official homepage (in German)
- https://web.archive.org/web/20050130085054/http://www.tender-elbe.de/seiten/typenbla.htm (in German)
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