Some of the Maltese Patrolcraft

[JimZ]

Surprisingly, one may notice American, US and German patrol craft amongst the small fleet of the Armed Forces of Malta! Not sure which of them were out on patrol but I thought I'd post these few pics I took a couple of weeks back...... for those of you into machines!

Regards!

Jim

(It was a sunny day and I think the bridge was throwing the only bit of shade )

[JimZ]

Sisters! Any comments about why the back is painted black??

Edited August 28, 2007 by JimZ

[JimZ]

This is an ex German Navy ... Corvette (?) Two of these were sailed down from North Germany doen the North Sea, across the bay of Biscay and across the Mediterranean till Malta. Relatively good seagoers I'd say!

[JimZ]

And some more..... The white ones fly across the waves when running at full throttle!

[JimZ]

One of the ones that's up for drydocking! Landing craft ready - beware our next invasion ! Well i guess if its seaworthy (?!!?!) it might as well be tied up with the rest of them!!

[Kev in Deva]

Sisters! Any comments about why the back is painted black??

At a guess a disruptive patern, it makes the boat look smaller than it is

Great pictures anyway, thanks for shareing. I believe an Irish Military ship was due to dock in some time during August,

they had planned on attending the Romanian Naval Day ceremonies, but some paper shuffler forgot to apply to the Turkish authorties for permission for the ship to transit Turkish waters, so they were refused access to the Bosperous and Black Sea

Kevin in Deva.

[Paul R]

At a guess a disruptive patern, it makes the boat look smaller than it is

Kevin in Deva.

Nope... it is to hide carbon stainings from the exhaust (you can see the exhaust opening in the forward area of the black paint, a couple of feet above the waterline). We did that with our old '110s.

[Kev in Deva]

Nope... it is to hide carbon stainings from the exhaust (you can see the exhaust opening in the forward area of the black paint, a couple of feet above the waterline). We did that with our old '110s.

So it is disruptive camo to hide the carbon footprint

Kevin in Deva

[Paul R]

So it is disruptive camo to hide the carbon footprint

Kevin in Deva

Shhhh... that is secret information!

[Tiger-pie]

The black "boot topping" is as Paul pointed out to hide the carbon from the exhaust as it adheres to the paint and looks dirty. It reduces the amount of cleaning of the side that the crew has to do. The Malaysian and Indonesian navies do the same. Aussie patrol boats don't, but then the diesal we use is a much higher grade than what our northern neighbours use and dosen't create the same amount of streaking.

As a camo pattern, it doesn't work, the black makes them stand out like a dogs bollocks when they are in open water...

Regards;

Johnsy

[JimZ]

I believe an Irish Military ship was due to dock in some time during August,

they had planned on attending the Romanian Naval Day ceremonies, but some paper shuffler forgot to apply to the Turkish authorties for permission for the ship to transit Turkish waters, so they were refused access to the Bosperous and Black Sea

Hey Kev - I take it that's in Romania right?

Whereas I've seen the Royal Navy ships on my visit to Portsmouth and Plymouth several years back (and I vaguely remember there was a ship that had been hit by a rocket or missle in the Falklands war docked for repairs), I have yet to see the pride of the Irish Navy.

If you would oblige me with some links or pics Kev......

Cheers!

Jim

[JimZ]

Nope... it is to hide carbon stainings from the exhaust (you can see the exhaust opening in the forward area of the black paint, a couple of feet above the waterline). We did that with our old '110s.

As for the black paint to hide the carbon stains .... I can see exactly what you're talking about!! Its the same thing they do on fuel oil storage tanks when they paint a black strip down to side so that when samples are taken from the tanks they do not drip down the white sides and spend a few months looking awful!

Although having said that, I full agree with Johnsy that they do stand out like a dog's bollocks - which in a situation of warfare is not the best thing around! Of course these craft are indeed so small and ineffective in warfare situations that even if they were painted bright pink, it would not change the situation very much!

At the moment, these and other craft form part of the Frontex operations and are very active patrolling Maltese waters with a view of trying to curb the inflow of, and at times rescue, illegal immigrants on their often fatal 'boat trips' trying to get to Europe!

Jim

[Tiger-pie]

Although having said that, I full agree with Johnsy that they do stand out like a dog's bollocks - which in a situation of warfare is not the best thing around! Of course these craft are indeed so small and ineffective in warfare situations that even if they were painted bright pink, it would not change the situation very much!

Jim

Hence why those smug "warrie" bastards used to call us McHales Navy even though we did more work than them, at least prior to East Timor which then led into a high tempo operations phase for them.

Regards;

Johnsy

See link below for Irish navy.

http://www.military.ie/navy/index.htm

Edited August 29, 2007 by Tiger-pie

[JimZ]

Thanks for the link Johnsy! Interesting indeed to see and read about the Irish fleet!

Seeing that you know your way around navies, any chance of posting other black ars-ed ships? I was trying to find others but my search was not very revealing!

Jim

[Tiger-pie]

See link below. They aren't the best of images, but they show the black-ar#e. Other than this site there are few images. Janes might have some, but the computer we have in the mess linked to the defence network runs on coal...

Regards;

Johnsy

http://www.navy.mil.my/component/option,co...id,258/lang,en/

[Tiger-pie]

The Indons seem to have gone away from the grey paint scheme to a camo pattern for their smaller craft.

See link:

http://www.tnial.mil.id/Gallery/tabid/67/Default.aspx

Edited September 1, 2007 by Tiger-pie