The T Craft-class patrol vessels are a class of inshore

patrol boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and the ...

currently in service with the South African Navy. Comprising three vessels, the class was constructed in South Africa and entered service in 1992. Known just as T craft or by their pennant numbers until 2003 when the vessels received new names.

Design

These boats are twin-hulled catamarans of glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) sandwich construction, with a complement of 16 personnel including one officer. The displace fully loaded and are

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draught of . The boats are propelled by two

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

water-jets powered by two ADE 444 Tl 12V

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

s creating . This gives the vessels a maximum speed of and a range of at . Each vessel possesses a Racal-Decca I-band surface search radar unit and a single heavy

Browning machine gun Browning machine guns are a family of machine gun designs by John Browning, a prolific weapon designer. These include: *M1895 Colt–Browning machine gun, based on a design dating to 1889, was the first successful gas-operated machine gun to ent ...

. Each boat is designed to carry a small seaborne complement of commandos as well as a

rigid-hulled inflatable boat A rigid inflatable boat (RIB), also rigid-hull inflatable boat or rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), is a lightweight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a rigid hull bottom joined to side-forming air tubes that are i ...

in the stern well in order to board other vessels at sea.

History

Three vessels were ordered in mid-1991, and were built by T Craft International in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. The first vessel was commissioned into the South African Navy as ''P1552'' in June 1992. The second vessel was commissioned as ''P1553'' in June 1996 and the third as ''P1554'' in December 1996. Three vessels of this type were also built for Israel in 1997. In 2003, the three vessels were given new names, keeping their old names as pennant numbers. ''P1152'' became SAS ''Tobie'' (P1552), ''P1553'' became SAS ''Tern'' (P1553) and ''P1554'' became SAS ''Tekwane'' (P1554).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:T Craft Class Inshore Patrol Vessel Ships of the South African Navy Patrol boat classes