Storm-class patrol boat (original) (raw)

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Lithuanian Navy Skalvis (ex-Norwegian Steil)
Class overview
Operators	Royal Norwegian Navy Estonian Navy Latvian Naval Forces Lithuanian Naval Force
Built	1965–1967
Completed	20
General characteristics
Type	Patrol boat
Displacement	138 tons
Length	36.5 m (119 ft 9 in)
Beam	6.2 m (20 ft 4 in)
Draught	1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)
Propulsion	2 × Maybach diesel engines (7,200 hp (5,400 kW) total)
Speed	30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement	19 in Norwegian Navy 24 in Latvian Navy
Armament	6 × Penguin anti-ship missiles 1 × Bofors 76mm TAK 76 cannon 1 × Bofors 40 mm L/70 cannon

The _Storm_-class patrol boat was a series of fast patrol boats (FPB) consisting of 20 vessels built for the Royal Norwegian Navy.

In Norwegian these boats were called missilkanonbåter (MKB) meaning boats with missiles and guns. They were operated by the Coastal Combat Flotilla together with the MTBs, or missile torpedo boats. None of the boats are currently in service with the Royal Norwegian Navy. The design was Norwegian and all of the boats were built by Norwegian ship yards from 1965 to 1967. In the 1990s, Norway donated vessels of the class to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The Storm class was designed by Lieutenant-Commander (later Captain) Harald Henriksen. The same man was also involved in the design of the _Rapp_-class motor torpedo boats - the first Norwegian-built MTBs. Later, he also designed the _Snøgg_- and _Hauk_-class MTBs. Henriksen's wife, Margot Henriksen, christened the first KNM Skjold (P 963), delivered to the Norwegian navy in February 1966 from Westermoen yard in Mandal.

The prototype Storm, completed 31 May 1963, was later scrapped and replaced by a second boat taking the same name and pennant number P960; the last of the class completed in 1968. After 1970 Penguin missiles were fitted to these boats in addition to the original armament.[1]

Operational history

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Norway donated a _Storm_-class vessel each to Estonia and Lithuania and three to Latvia in 1995. In the Lithuanian Navy, the ex-Storm class are designated the Dzūkas class, and in the Latvian Navy, the ex-_Storm_s were designated the Bulta class. Since the 1999 edition of The World Defence Almanac the Storm class has not been listed for the Estonian Navy.[2]

At the end of the 1990s, two vessels were sold to Lithuania and three were sold to Latvia.[3] A further three hulls may have been donated to each of the Baltic countries as spare parts.[4]

Last operator was the Lithuanian Navy which operated two _Storm_-class boats, Sėlis (transferred 2001) and Skalvis (transferred 2001).[5]