LKL ''Kursis'' (M54) is a

minehunter A minehunter is a naval vessel that seeks, detects, and destroys individual naval mines. Minesweepers, on the other hand, clear mined areas as a whole, without prior detection of mines. A vessel that combines both of these roles is known as a ...

of the

Lithuanian Naval Force The Lithuanian Navy ( lt, Lietuvos Karinės jūrų pajėgos) is the naval arm of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Though formally established on 1 August 1935 its roots stretch back as far as naval engagements on the Baltic Sea in the Medieval period ...

. Built in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

in 1958 as ''Marburg'' (M1080), a (or Type 320)

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

for the

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified ''Bundeswehr'' (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Mari ...

, she was upgraded to a Type 331 minehunter in the 1970s. Germany donated ''Marburg'' in 2001 to the Lithuanian Naval Force, which renamed the ship ''Kursis''. The vessel augmented the Squadron of Mine-hunters, which had been established in 1999 with the similar donation of sister ship ''Koblenz'', which became .

References

* * Ships built in Bremen (state) 1958 ships Cold War minesweepers of Germany Lindau-class minesweepers of the Lithuanian Naval Force Minehunters of Lithuania {{mil-ship-stub