- Yes
- No
TL;DR:
Coastal vessel, Nasty-class patrol boat with souped-up weapons, including an 81mm Oerlikon rocket launcher.
Overview:
The 11th Norwegian-built Nasty-class patrol boat, PTF-13 was commissioned in 1965. Unlike its sisters which were sent to Vietnam, PTF-13 was retained as a training boat for PTF sailors in Boat Support Unit 1. Additionally it was also used to as a weapons testing boat. In 1966 it was used to test the Redeye MANPAD’s feasibility from firing on a moving vehicle. During testing it was able to shoot down 30 Firebee drones expending 31 missiles. In 1967 it underwent a large weapon refit, it’s frontal 81mm mortar was replaced with a twin Oerlikon rocket launcher, its 20mm by an enhanced 20mm Hispano-Suiza with double the rate of fire and enhanced reliability, and the 40mm Bofors with one in a new stabilized powered mounting. Interestingly none of these weapons seem to have been accepted, the rocket launcher was dismantled and later sold to the Ecuadorian Navy, and the modified 20mm and the power mounting also not adopted (though it was tested on other ships, and a different power mounting was eventually adopted in the 1980s).
In spring 1969, it hit some debris during a night time patrol and was heavily damaged, and for whatever reason was never fully repaired. It was then converted into a targeting drone for harpoon missile testing, with the missiles specifically set to miss the boat. It was decommissioned in 1972 (much earlier than its sisters), and sold in 1977 to a San Francisco company. Its further fate is unknown.
Specifications: (1967)
Armament:
1x1 40mm Bofors L/60 Mk.3 in Naval Ordnance Laboratory experimental power mount
2x1 (or 1x1?) 20mm modified Mk.16 (~1500 rpm)
1x2 81mm Oerlikon Typ 3Z 8Dla rocket launcherDisplacement:
~81 tons standard
~86 tons fullLength: 24.5m
Beam: 7.5m
Draft: 2.1m
Propulsion: 2 Napier-Deltic diesel engines, 6200 hp, driving 2 shafts
Speed: 42.5 knots (78.7 km/h)
Range: 1050 nmi (at 20 knots)
Crew: 19
Systems:
LN66 navigation radar
Images:
Videos:
https://youtu.be/lH4sNPJhbew
Sources:
Friedman, N. (1987). Motor Gunboats and PTFs. In U.S. Small Combatants: Including PT-Boats, Subchasers, and the Brown-Water Navy: An Illustrated Design History (p. 257). Naval Institute Press.
https://www.ptfnasty.com/ptf9Leadingpart.html
https://www.ptfnasty.com/ptfWeapons.html
http://www.ptfnasty.com/ptf13.html
https://www.warboats.org/BSUInfo.htm