Germany Sends Last Gepard Missile Boats for Utilization

Germany has sent the last seven decommissioned Gepard high-speed missile boats to Turkey for recycling.

According to the Defence Network, despite the decommissioning of the last missile boat in 2016, seven boats remained moored at the naval arsenal in Kiel.

However, on August 7, they began to be loaded onto ships for transportation to a Turkish recycler of decommissioned ships.

“The loading of the last German speedboats has begun at our naval arsenal in Kiel. The seven fast boats were decommissioned by the Bundeswehr several years ago. Since then, the naval arsenal has managed these units until they were sold to a Turkish ship dismantler through the federal trust company VEBEG,” the Federal Armed Forces Office (BAAINBw) said.

The last seven German missile boats that are now being scrapped:

• S72 PUMA
• S73 ERMINEL
• S75 SABLE
• S76 FERRETS
• S78 OCELOT
• S79 WIESEL
• S80 HYENA

The ten missile boats were built in 1982-1984. According to the Defense Network, at the time they were ideally designed for deployment in the Baltic Sea against a potential Soviet Union.

The navy of the time believed that speed was an effective defense and applied the lessons of World War II. Small, maneuverable and, above all, fast, these boats were capable of breaking through defense lines and striking the enemy with weapons or mining.

The missile boats were supposed to be replaced by Braunschweig corvettes, but they reached a maximum speed of only 26 knots (48 km/h), while the Gepard-class fast boats reached 42 knots (78 km/h). In addition, only five corvettes out of the planned ten were built.

For detailed characteristics of these missile boats, as well as the role they could play in the Ukrainian Navy, read the special material “German Gepards for the Ukrainian Navy”.