Shipbucket

An excellent series of minesweepers.
I'd never heard of the Pr.207 before, educational.

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Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

Thanks, Hood. It's been educational for me as well. For example, until yesterday I didn't know about this:

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Worklist: Portuguese Navy and Barnegat class seaplane tenders

And yet you've drawn it masterfully

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Thank you, although it's more like a kit-bash

After the WW2 the Germans returned captured minesweepers (they used them as torpedo-retrievers) to Poland, where in 1951-1952 they were re-armed with depth charge racks and Soviet 12.7mm and 37mm guns and re-classified as patrol boats (or "dozorowiec" in Polish, hence the "D" in the pennant number).

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Worklist: Portuguese Navy and Barnegat class seaplane tenders

wow! Awesome work. Are there anymore versions you would like to draw? I might can get a copy of this class in the libary for you.

Thank you!
I'm going to draw two hydrographic vessels converted from minesweepers: ORP Pomorzanin and ORP Kompas.

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Worklist: Portuguese Navy and Barnegat class seaplane tenders

I'll check!

Here's a bit of history of the ORP Zuraw - one of the Jaskolka class minesweepers. I've already drawn her earlier in "as built" configuration.


She was obtained by Germany in the beginning of WW2 after the capitulation of Hel harbor where she was anchored. The Germans renamed her "Oxhöft" and used as a training ship. Along with her sisterships she was returned to Poland and got her original name back after the war ended. By 1948 she was assigned to the hydro-graphic Division of Polish Navy and re-classified as a hydrographic vessel.


In 1951 twelve of her officers somehow took control and drove the ship to Sweden where they asked for political asylum. The ship with the rest of her crew returned to Poland where after a series of political trials the escapees and even some of the returned crew members were convicted of treason and received death penalty (which was executed only for those who returned). After that the ship was renamed Kompas and served as a hydrographical survey and measurements laboratory.


In 1971 she was converted to floating barracks and then, after being damaged by a storm, she was salvaged in 1981.

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Worklist: Portuguese Navy and Barnegat class seaplane tenders

First of all, I would like to thank WhyMe for allowing me (some time ago already) to post it in this thread.

History of Polish minesweepers wouldn't be complete without small minesweeping boats.

Theoretically first units of this class in the Polish Navy were four ex-German small landing craft of the Pionierlandungsboot type that were adapted for that purpose in 1946. In reality, hovewer, they never actually served as such. First of them was lost in transit from shipyard to its base on 30th of november 1946, while rest of them served only in auxiliary duties.

First real minesweeping boats of the polish navy were Soviet-designed wooden riverine minesweepers of the '151' type (TR-40). They were license-produced in Poland between 1954 and 1956 - 7 for our Navy and 47 for for USSR (initial plans called for 22 ships for Poland and 49 for USSR). Also, some sources mention that 8 hulls were sold to Romania where they were finished as VD-241 to VD-248. Despite being officially "riverine" units, in Polish Navy they actually served on the Baltic Sea - initially in the Gulf of Gdańsk (based in Hel) and from november 1956 in the Pomeranian Gulf (based in Świnoujście). Their transit between the bases was made through inland waterways (Wisła, Noteć, Warta and Odra rivers) and was basically the only part of their service actually on the rivers. Their service lasted until 1970, when they were struck and later scrapped, except for two boats (TR-42 and TR-47) that served for about a year as auxiliary units (renamed K-12 and K-13 respectively).



In the 1956 Northern Shipyard in Gdańsk undertook a mass production of the Soviet-designed boats of Project '361' (K-8). In total 201 such boats were made, 60 of the '361S' variant (initially designed as communications and medical-evacuation boat) and 141 of the '361T' variant (minesweeping boats). Poland used 51 such boats. 21 in the Coast Guard (10 '361S' and 11 '361T'), 4 in the civilian maritime administration (based on '361T') and 26 in the Polish Navy, including one as diving support boat and 25 ('361T') as minesweepers. They entered service in 1958 while last four were struck in 1986. In 1978 one boat was sold to Cuba and in 1984 four to Nicaragua.



Last ships classed as minesweeping boats (or, to be more precise: "minesweeping cutters") in the Polish Navy so far are two vessels of the B410-IVS design (NATO: Leniwka), built in 1983 in Ustka Shipyard. They were based on civilian fishing trawler B410 (73 ships in several variants built for civilian operators in Poland and abroad) and their primary duty was refresher training of the sailors from the fishing fleet that in time of war would be mobilized as auxiliary minesweepers. Both these craft were struck in 2005.

Very nice boats, Eswube. They do indeed complete this thread.

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Worklist: Portuguese Navy and Barnegat class seaplane tenders