Type 143 Albatros Speedboat

The Schnellboote / Fastcraft "Albatros" class were equipped with four Exocet missiles and two 76 mm guns. The fire control system allowed the speedboats the controlling four goals at the same time. A good survival and assertiveness was assured by radar decoys and infrared decoys. This was increased by electronic warfare equipment.

"Albatros" boats used were able to establish with other warships, the fleet command and the AWACS wireless data link in real time. The German S 61/Albatross-class Type 143 FAC, with its round-bilge hull form and composite construction, was based on the T 57 design evolved by one of the recognised experts in the field, Lurssen.

The German Type 143s were designed to be effective against major surface craft at long range and against small craft at short range, and as a result were armed with what was certainly one of the best surface-to-surface missiles of the day, the French Exocet MM-38, effective to 42km and with a 150kg warhead, and with the OTO-Melara 76mm (3in) automatic dual-purpose gun, capable of a cyclic rate of fire of 85 rounds per minute and effective out to about ten kilometers. They were also fitted with two 533mm (21 in) torpedo tubes and carried Seal wire-guided torpedoes.

The T 57 was to become one of the most successful of its type, being taken up in slightly different forms by Spain and Turkey; a total of 39 were produced in all. Each vessel was named after a bird of prey including the Albatross, Condor and Cormorant. S61—S65 were part of the 2. Schnellbootgeschwader, and S66—S70 belonged to the 7. Schnellbootgeschwader. Both squadrons were based in Warnemünde.

The German Navy decommissioned 9 Type 143 Albatros Class Fast Attack Craft for two squadrons (or Schnellbootgeschwader) based in Warnemunde in 2005, after being in service since 1976.

Six of them were immediately sold to Tunisia in separate months of decommissioning in 2005 for an average cut down price of $5 million per vessel, including supply of equipment, inventory and spares, training of crew and the transportation of the ships to Ghana.

In July 2010, it was reported that Ghana had purchased two vessels from Germany. Parliament approved a loan agreement of $37,867,000.00 (28 million Euros) for the purchase and refurbishment of two former German Navy Fast Attack Craft Type S143 vessels. The loan agreement was between the government of Ghana and Fr Lurssen Werft GmbH & Co. KG of Germany. The two ships were decommissioned by the German Navy in 2005 and were fated for the scrapyard. While Ghana was to pay nearly $38m for two vessels, the Tunisians, who bought theirs when the ships were just out of service, paid $8m less for six of the same vessels.