discussion Tunisian Patrol Boat V101

[Guest]

I spotted this wooden hulled patrol boat in Sousse, Tunisia when I was on vacation last week. The general configuration and details remind me of some British boats from WWII. Does anyone know any more details of this craft ?

It has (in my opinion) a lot more character than many modern military boats.

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[Guest]

Still looking. She looks to be about what 60 or 70 feet?

The only info I've been able to find is here: http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss/balance/Tunisia.pdf

Probably Bremse or Socomena, if you can find pictures. I'll have to dig out some old stuff to be able to look it up.

 

[Guest]

Just went in to the squadron library and found a neat excerpt on your boat.

Chantiers Navals, located in Cannes, are well known for their ability to build ships from wood. Nowadays they build luxury yachts. The great thing about using wood is it's cheap, and even more importantly, it can be used to help seek magnetic influence mines without setting them off. One of the biggest fears during the cold war was that the Soviets and the Eqyptians might mine the straights of gibraltar as well as other important ports in the Mediterranean. Likely this boat was both cheap, and could fill these types of uses. A 47 year old wooden boat! Not bad.

 

[Guest]

Lips

That's fantastic !! I am pretty good at identifying strange aircraft, but not as good on boats.

Thank you very much for taking the trouble. She's in beautiful condition for such an old lady, isn't she.

Chris P / sx976

 

[Guest]

Yeah she sure is in great shape. At Annapolis, we had several 30 or so year old wooden hull boats called YPs that we used for seamanship training and myriad other roles. It always surprised me how beneficial a wooden hull could be - much less corrosion and hassle.

Glad I could help!