BAAINBw press release
As a testing center for ships, naval weapons and maritime technology, WTD 71 has a total of nine sea-going vessels with special capabilities for the performance of its tasks. The procurement now under contract will replace the Class 745 “Breitgrund” and “Mittelgrund” multipurpose ships after 32 years of service, as well as the Class 741 “Wilhelm Pullwer”, which were on duty for 55 years.
“WTD 71 is looking forward to the new ships with their modern and contemporary equipment, which will be delivered in 2023, and which will be then the highly visible expression of defense-related investigations and tests in the Eckenförder Bay for the next 30 years.”
Project Manager Thomas Wallner from WTD 71.
The two new ships “Messboote Seeversuche Küste” are identical ships, designed according to civilian standards and modified for the special requirements of defence tests.
The concept of the multi-purpose vessel makes it possible to adapt the equipment for completing the tasks simply, flexibly and individually to the respective mission and testing purpose and thus always to produce a targeted configuration of the ship’s capabilities.
In the future, the new experimentation and support vessels will support, among other things, the securing and recovery of torpedoes during trials, the escorting of submarines during shallow water trials, but also the deployment of underwater autonomous vehicles (UAV) as well as diving missions within the scope of defense-related investigations of diving devices and equipment.
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