Maltese patrol boat P31
{{short description|Minesweeper/patrol boat scuttled for use as a recreational dive site}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = Mal P31.jpg | Ship caption = Patrol boat P31 at Hay Wharf, Floriana }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = East Germany | Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|East Germany|naval}} | Ship name = Pasewalk | Ship ordered = | Ship builder = Peenewerft shipyard | Ship laid down = 12 December 1968 | Ship launched = 18 June 1969 | Ship acquired = | Ship commissioned = 18 October 1969 | Ship decommissioned = 1990 | Ship in service = | Ship out of service = | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship honours = | Ship honors = | Ship identification= GS05 | Ship fate = Sold to Malta, 1992. | Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header =title | Ship country = Malta | Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|Malta|naval}} | Ship owner = | Ship name = P31 | Ship namesake = | Ship ordered = | Ship builder = | Ship laid down = | Ship launched = | Ship acquired = 1 July 1992 | Ship commissioned = | Ship decommissioned = 2004 | Ship in service = | Ship out of service = | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship honours = | Ship honors = | Ship fate = Scuttled as artificial dive site, 25 August 2009 | Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship class = Kondor I-class minesweeper | Ship displacement = 361 tons | Ship length = {{convert|51.98|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | Ship beam = {{convert|7.12|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | Ship draft = {{convert|2.3|m|ftin|abbr=on}} | Ship propulsion = MD 40 diesel engines | Ship speed = {{convert|20|kn}} | Ship range = | Ship complement = 20 | Ship sensors = | Ship EW = | Ship armament = 1 × quad 14.5 mm gun | Ship armour = | Ship notes = }} |
Pasewalk (GS05) was a Kondor I-class minesweeper built in East Germany. After the Volksmarine was disbanded just before the reunification of Germany, she was sold to Malta in 1992 and renamed P31 and was used as a patrol boat. After being decommissioned, she was scuttled as a dive site in 2009 off Comino.
History
=East Germany=
The minesweeper was laid down on 12 December 1968 at Peenewerft shipyard in Wolgast. She was launched on 18 June 1969 and commissioned on 18 October of that same year. She was the eighth ship to be built within the Kondor I class, and was named Pasewalk after the town of the same name in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania federated state in northern Germany. She was used to patrol the river banks between East and West Germany, as well as a minesweeper.
After the Volksmarine was disbanded, she and the other Kondor I-class vessels were deemed too obsolete to join the German Navy, so she was decommissioned in 1990. Her armaments were removed.
=Malta=
The unarmed minesweeper was then purchased by Malta on 1 July 1992 along with her sister ship Ueckermünde, and they were given the pennant numbers P30 and P31. P31 became a patrol boat within the Offshore Command of the Maritime Squadron of the Armed Forces of Malta. A third sister ship, Boltenhagen, was purchased in 1997 and was given the pennant number {{ship|Maltese patrol boat|P29||2}}. Since the former minesweepers were purchased unarmed, some light armament was then added by the AFM.
P31 was then used to secure the Maltese coast against smuggling and border control operations. Most notably was the rescue of 251 illegal immigrants from their {{convert|20|m|adj=on}} boat which was sinking {{convert|44|mi}} to the south of Malta in over force 6 winds.{{cite web|title=Tugboat - P31|url=http://www.pdsa.org.mt/index.php/component/content/article/11-diving-locations-content/75-tugboat-p31|website=Professional Diving Schools Association|access-date=9 September 2014|archive-date=10 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310222858/http://pdsa.org.mt/index.php/component/content/article/11-diving-locations-content/75-tugboat-p31|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Malta’s newly scuttled wreck – The ex-Pasewalk P31 Patrol Boat|url=http://www.oxygenediving.com/malta/p13|website=Oxygene Diving|access-date=9 September 2014|archive-date=11 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311091149/http://www.oxygenediving.com/malta/p13|url-status=dead}}
P31 was decommissioned in 2004 and bought by the Malta Tourism Authority. She was cleaned and then was scuttled on 25 August 2009 off the Maltese island of Comino at a depth of {{convert|18|m}} to serve as a diving site and artificial reef. The wreck now lies on bare sand, and it is located close but not on the important sea grass beds.{{cite news|title=Former Patrol Boat P31 scuttled off coast of Comino|url=http://gozonews.com/10364/former-patrol-boat-p31-scuttled-off-coast-of-comino/|access-date=9 September 2014|work=Gozo News|date=25 August 2009}}
See also
- {{ship|Maltese patrol boat|P29}}
- [https://seamagination.com/en/maltese-patrol-boat-p31-malta/ Interactive 3D photogrammetric model of the P31 created in 2018]
References
{{commons category|P31 (ship, 1969)}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Shipwrecks of Malta}}
{{2009 shipwrecks}}
{{Recreational dive sites|wresit}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:P31}}
Category:Ships sunk as dive sites
Category:Ships built in East Germany
Category:Ships of the Volksmarine
Category:Cold War minesweepers of Germany
Category:Maritime incidents in 2009