Towed historic torpedo boat to Bømlo

By Sveinung W. Jensen, Tellus Communication (text)

- This is fun and exciting for us to be a part of, says John W. Nilsen, general manager of FFS.

KNM Skrei is one of 20 torpedo boats in the Tjeld class, which were used by the Norwegian Navy in the period 1960 to 1976 and by the Norwegian Navy until 1992.

The boat is based on a design by Jan Herman Linge, and was built at Båtservice Verft AS in Mandal. It was handed over in 1965 as the penultimate in the series.

MTB'ENE I the series was built in linseed oil-cooked mahogany on an ash frame. With 6,200 horsepower on two 18-cylinder Napier Deltic turbodiesel engines from England, the vessels made almost 50 knots and were thus one of the world's fastest wooden boats of this size.

After the navy decommissioned the boat type in 1976, five of the vessels were taken over by the Sjøheimevernet.

KNM «SKREI» IS the only one of this type of vessel that is preserved. Significant renovation work was done on the vessel before it was taken ashore for the last time in 2014 and stored in a hangar at Karljohansvern in Horten.

There it stays until the company Unitech and defense friends from Bømlo made a plan to exhibit the torpedo boat in a new building.

In mid-September, KNM Skrei was lifted into place on the barge Tronds Barge 8 in Horten and towed west by FFS Athos.