Coordinates: 36°01′N 14°20′E / 36.017°N 14.333°E / 36.017; 14.333

Maltese patrol boat P31

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Patrol boat P31 at Hay Wharf, Floriana
History
East Germany
NamePasewalk
BuilderPeenewerft shipyard
Laid down12 December 1968
Launched18 June 1969
Commissioned18 October 1969
Decommissioned1990
IdentificationGS05
FateSold to Malta, 1992.
Malta
NameP31
Acquired1 July 1992
Decommissioned2004
FateScuttled as artificial dive site, 25 August 2009
General characteristics
Class and typeKondor I-class minesweeper
Displacement361 tons
Length51.98 m (170 ft 6 in)
Beam7.12 m (23 ft 4 in)
Draft2.3 m (7 ft 7 in)
PropulsionMD 40 diesel engines
Speed20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement20
Armament1 × quad 14.5 mm gun

Pasewalk (GS05) was a Kondor I-class minesweeper built in East Germany. After the Volksmarine was disbanded just before the reunification of Germany, she was sold to Malta in 1992 and renamed P31 and was used as a patrol boat. After being decommissioned, she was scuttled as a dive site in 2009 off Comino.

History

East Germany

The minesweeper was laid down on 12 December 1968 at Peenewerft shipyard in Wolgast. She was launched on 18 June 1969 and commissioned on 18 October of that same year. She was the eighth ship to be built within the Kondor I class, and was named Pasewalk after the town of the same name in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania federated state in northern Germany. She was used to patrol the river banks between East and West Germany, as well as a minesweeper.

After the Volksmarine was disbanded, she and the other Kondor I-class vessels were deemed too obsolete to join the German Navy, so she was decommissioned in 1990. Her armaments were removed.

Malta

The unarmed minesweeper was then purchased by Malta on 1 July 1992 along with her sister ship Ueckermünde, and they were given the pennant numbers P30 and P31. P31 became a patrol boat within the Offshore Command of the Maritime Squadron of the Armed Forces of Malta. A third sister ship, Boltenhagen, was purchased in 1997 and was given the pennant number P29. Since the former minesweepers were purchased unarmed, some light armament was then added by the AFM.

P31 was then used to secure the Maltese coast against smuggling and border control operations. Most notably was the rescue of 251 illegal immigrants from their 20-metre (66 ft) boat which was sinking 44 miles (71 km) to the south of Malta in over force 6 winds.[1][2]

P31 was decommissioned in 2004 and bought by the Malta Tourism Authority. She was cleaned and then was scuttled on 25 August 2009 off the Maltese island of Comino at a depth of 18 metres (59 ft) to serve as a diving site and artificial reef. The wreck now lies on bare sand, and it is located close but not on the important sea grass beds.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Tugboat - P31". Professional Diving Schools Association. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  2. ^ "Malta's newly scuttled wreck – The ex-Pasewalk P31 Patrol Boat". Oxygene Diving. Archived from the original on 11 March 2022. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  3. ^ "Former Patrol Boat P31 scuttled off coast of Comino". Gozo News. 25 August 2009. Retrieved 9 September 2014.

36°01′N 14°20′E / 36.017°N 14.333°E / 36.017; 14.333