The Mebo II was originally the Dutch freighter, "Silvretta", built in 1948 by De Groot en van Vliet,

Slikkerveer Slikkerveer is a village in the municipality of Ridderkerk, Netherlands. In 2004, 8550 people lived in Slikkerveer. It is located about 6 km east-southeast of the city of Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rot ...

. It had a weight of 630 tons and a length of 186 feet. In 1969, it was bought by

Edwin Bollier Edwin Bollier and his partner, Erwin Meister, founded Mebo Telecommunications AG in Zürich, Switzerland in 1969. The firm has traded in a variety of electronic and telecommunication equipment as well as acting as consultants in the construction ...

and

Erwin Meister Erwin Meister is a Swiss businessman who, with his partner Edwin Bollier, formed the company Mebo Telecommunications in 1969. They bought a Norwegian freighter, renamed it '' Mebo II'', and converted it into an offshore radio station. Radio Nort ...

, renamed and converted into an

offshore radio Offshore radio is radio broadcasting from ships or fixed maritime structures. Offshore broadcasters are usually unlicensed but transmissions are legal in international waters. This is in contrast to unlicensed broadcasting on land or within a na ...

station at the same shipyard where it had been built. It was famous for its dramatic

art nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

color scheme. From 1970–74, it broadcast as Radio Nordsee International (RNI) from

international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regiona ...

four miles off

Scheveningen Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict (''wijk'') of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is po ...

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Transmissions were on AM medium wave (max105kW), shortwave (2x10kW) and FM (1 kW). Following RNI's closure due to the Dutch Marine Offences Act, it was announced that the ship would move to Italy to broadcast as that country's first offshore radio station. However, this plan fell through, and in 1976 the ship sailed to

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

where it operated for some time in coastal waters relaying Libyan state radio. Later its broadcast operations ceased, and it was sunk in 1984Target practice in the Mediterranean
when it was targeted for Libyan rocket practice.

References

{{Pirate radio ships Radio ships Ships of Libya Ships sunk as targets