Happy Sky ships historic German Schnellboote to final berth

This week, our Happy Sky successfully completed the transport of seven historic German Navy missile speedboats – Schnellboote, Type 143A Gepard class – from Kiel, Germany to Aliaga, Turkey. The vessels were loaded in early August and have now reached their final destination, where they will be dismantled.

The seven boats, all identical and commissioned between 1983 and 1984, are part of a series of ten vessels that were decommissioned in 2015 and 2016. One of their sister ships, the ex-S74 Cheetah, has been preserved and is on display at the naval museum in Wilhelmshaven, Germany since 2016.

The vessels transported were the ex-S72 Puma, ex-S73 Hermelin, ex-S75 Zobel, ex-S76 Frettchen, ex-S78 Ozelot, ex-S79 Wiesel, and ex-S80 Hyäne. Each vessel weighs approximately 330 metric tonnes, measures 58 metres in length, 7.90 metres in width, and stands at an estimated height of 9.3 metres.

Two of the boats were stowed in the hold, while the remaining five were secured on deck. In order to accommodate three boats next to each other the weather deck of the Happy Sky was extended by the use of the vessels’ tweendeck hatch covers. Each boat had a slightly different centre of gravity, influenced by its age and maintenance history.

A wide range of equipment was mobilised for the operation, including A-frames, cut-to-shape dunnage, lifting beams, chains featuring BigLift’s new speed lashing system, and heavy load platforms (HLPs) . Due to the limited and outdated technical data available, the rigging was selected with sufficient contingency, resulting in a heavier setup than usual.  

As of 1 September, all vessels have arrived at their final berth – never to sail again.