The torpedo retrieval ships of the Class 430/430A of the Federal German Navy were built in the mid-to late sixties, replacing the 438/439 classes, which were remnants of the Kriegsmarine from WW2. The ships had a crew of 6-8 men that lived on 11 m^2 with showers only available on land or via bucket. The ships were used to retrieve training torpedos from torpedo boats and u-boats. The ships had a complete wooden hull made from mahagoni and two diesel generators and an engine that brought the ship to a top speed of 15,5kn. The torpedos were located via acoustic detectors and then picked up via the ramp at the transom. The ships also carried an underwater telephone to communicate with u-boats. In case of war, the ships would have funtion as a 'relais-station' and served under command for coastal defence.
The class consisted of nine ships, named TF-1 through TF-6 and TF-106 through TF-108. In the early nineties, all of the ships were decomissioned, except for TF-5. She was in service until 2008 and sold in 2009. TF-5 is now a museum ship in Leer, Germany.
_________________
My worklist
Any help and source material is always welcome.