Type 139 patrol trawler

Class overview
Builders:	G.T. Davie yard
Operators:	German Navy
Built:	1942 (Royal Navy)
In service:	1956 - mid 1970s (Federal German Navy)
Completed:	2
Retired:	2
General characteristics
Type:	Naval trawler
Displacement:	545 tons
Length:	164 feet
Beam:	27 ft. 8 in.
Draught:	11 ft. 1 in. (mean)
Propulsion:	One triple expansion reciprocating engine, 1 shaft, 850 ihp
Speed:	12 knots
Complement:	40
Armament:	Various light guns for training purposes

The Type 139 patrol trawler was a class of vessel used as a training ship by the Federal German Navy. Both vessels in the class were originally built for the Royal Navy in 1942 as Isles-class trawlers.

History

The trawlers HMS Dochet (T286) and HMS Flint (T287) were launched in 1942 at the G.T. Davie & Sons yard in Lauzon, Quebec, and served in the anti-submarine warfare role to the end of World War II. Placed on the postwar disposal list, they were sold for mercantile use. When the Federal German Navy was established in 1956, Dochet and Flint were acquired and classified as Type 139 patrol trawlers. Dochet was named Trave (A51) while Flint became Eider (A50).

Since the days of World War I, Germany had had a tradition of employing patrol trawlers. The type was classified before 1945 as a Vorpostenboot (literally, "outpost boat"). In the Federal German Navy, Eider and Trave were employed as fishery protection vessels and for training with light-caliber guns. Later they were used in radar instruction.

After two decades of service in the navy of West Germany, Eider and Trave were discarded in the mid-1970s. Trave was sold to Turkey in 1977 for further service; her final fate is unknown.