The Type 148 ''Tiger''-class fast attack craft are a group of

missile boats A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They a ...

built to a Franco-German design and seeing service in the

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is part of the unified (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Marine'' (German Navy) became the official ...

. The vessels entered service in the 1970s and served into the early 21st century. While they have been mostly retired from German Navy service, many were transferred to other navies and remained in service longer.

Design

The vessels had been designed by

Lürssen Lürssen (or Lürssen Werft) is a German shipyard with headquarters in Bremen-Vegesack and shipbuilding facilities in Lemwerder, Berne and Bremen-Fähr-Lobbendorf. Lürssen designs and constructs yachts, naval ships and special vessels. Tradin ...

of Germany for

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. They were a modification of the Jaguar-class fast attack craft but armed with the French

Exocet The Exocet () is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from Warship, surface vessels, Submarine, submarines, Helicopter, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Etymology The missile's name was given by M. Guil ...

missile. They were built mainly in France by

Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie (CMN) is a French shipyard located at Cherbourg. It employs approximately four hundred employees covering the various specialities required for the construction of luxury yachts and warships. Since its foun ...

Cherbourg Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...

(CMN) for political reasons; twelve were built and completed there, while another eight of the boats were laid down by CMH, but completed by Lürssen. Their export to Israel was also blocked for political reasons, and the boats were commissioned into the German Navy as the ''Tiger'' class. A number of other boats were built by CMN for various navies to the same design, which became known as the La Combattante II type fast attack craft.

Operational history

The boats were commissioned into the ''Bundesmarine'' in the mid-1970s, replacing the ''Jaguar''-class vessels of the 3rd and 5th Squadrons. At first the boats did not receive names, only numbers, but these were introduced later at the insistence of the crews. The ships served for 30 years, and received major updates in 1982–84 and 1990–92. After decommissioning they were scrapped or sold to different countries. No direct replacements were procured as due to the changed operating conditions the ''Deutsche Marine'' has reduced the number of these fast attack boats drastically and procured instead a smaller number of corvettes.

Ship list

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Schnellboote TIGER-Klase
– Marine (Official homepage of the German Navy)

S46 Fuchs

S51 Häher

S58 Pinguin
{{Ship classes of the Deutsche Marine Missile boat classes Missile boats of Germany Missile boats of the German Navy Missile boats of the Chilean Navy Missile boats of the Egyptian Navy France–Germany military relations