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	Tjeld-class patrol boat HNoMS Gribb (P388)
Class overview
Operators	Royal Norwegian Navy
Built	1959–1966
In commission	1960–1995
Completed	20 (1st group 12, 2nd group 8)
General characteristics
Type	Patrol boat
Displacement	70 long tons (71 t) (standard) 76 long tons (77 t) (full load)
Length	24.5 m (80 ft 5 in)
Beam	7.5 m (24 ft 7 in)
Draught	2.1 m (6 ft 11 in)
Propulsion	2 × Napier Deltic Turbo-charged diesel engines, 6,200 hp (4,623 kW) 2 x shafts
Speed	45 knots (52 mph; 83 km/h)
Range	450 nm at 40 kn, 1600 nm at 25 kn
Complement	22 men
Armament	1 × Bofors 40 mm gun; 1 × 20 mm Rheinmetall gun; 4 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes;

The Tjeld class was a class of twenty fast patrol boats designed and built for the Royal Norwegian Navy in the late 1950s. They were used as torpedo boats in Norway where this type of vessel were called MTBs or motor torpedo boats (motortorpedobåt). They remained in service until the late 1970s, when they were placed in reserve; all were stricken by 1995.

Construction

The Tjeld class was based on a prototype fast patrol boat, the Nasty, developed and introduced as a private venture by Boat Services Ltd. A/S, Oslo, in close cooperation with Royal Norwegian Navy officers with World War II experience in fast patrol boats; the chief designer being naval architect Jan Herman Linge.

The Norwegian Tjeld-class vessels were constructed at Westermoen Båtbyggeri in Mandal. The first group of twelve vessels was ordered in 1957, launched between 1959 and 1960, and commissioned in 1960-1962. A second group of eight vessels was ordered in 1962, launched 1962-63 and commissioned 1963-66.

The design was also marketed abroad, to the then-West German Navy and the U.S. Navy, where they were known as the Nasty class, and to the Hellenic Navy as the Tjeld, or Improved Nasty type.^[1]

The U.S. Navy operated twenty of the United States Nasty-class patrol boats, with pennant numbers PTF-3 through PTF-22, primarily in the conduct of riverine warfare during the Vietnam War. A subsequent improved version, the Osprey class, was larger with aluminum instead of wooden hulls, of which four were operated by the U.S.Navy, PTF-23 through PTF-26.^[2] Many examples were later transferred to and operated by Naval Reserve units in the 1970s and 1980s until phased out of service. A handful survive as museum articles, either restored or currently undergoing restoration.^[2]

Service history

The twenty Tjeld class vessels remained in service until the late 1970s; Skarv was stricken in 1978 and six others in 1979, the remainder being laid up in reserve. All vessels had been disposed of by 1995.^[1] All the vessels of the first group were named after seabirds; those of the second group were named for fish or sea mammals. Some of the boats were later renamed, as the bird names were going to be used for the Hauk-class patrol boat. These boats took over the names of other Tjeld-class vessels which had been sold in 1981.

List of vessels

First group

Name	Pennant number	Delivery date^[3]	Builder	Notes^[1]
Tjeld ("oystercatcher")	P343	25 June 1960	Westermoen	Renamed Sel 1977. Transferred to Naval Reserve and used by Sea Home Guard. Sold for scrapping 1992.^{[citation needed]}
Skarv (cormorant)	P344	15 October 1960	Westermoen	Sold 1981 ^[4]^{[citation needed]}
Teist (black guillemot)	P345	7 February 1961	Westermoen	Sold 1981^{[citation needed]}
Jo (skua)	P346	17 February 1961	Westermoen	Sold 1981 ^{[citation needed]}
Lom (common murre)	P347	28 March 1961	Westermoen	Sold 1981^{[citation needed]}
Stegg (male grouse)	P348	28 April 1961	Westermoen	Renamed Hval 1977. Transferred to Naval Reserve and used by Sea Home Guard. Sold for scrapping 1992^{[citation needed]}
Hauk (hawk)	P349	30 June 1961	Westermoen	Renamed Laks. Transferred to Naval Reserve and used by Sea Home Guard. Sold for scrapping 1992.^[5] ^{[citation needed]}
Falk (falcon)	P350	14 September 1961	Westermoen	Sold 1981^{[citation needed]}
Ravn (raven)	P357	8 December 1961	Westermoen	Renamed Knurr 1977. Transferred to Naval Reserve and used by Sea Home Guard. Sold for scrapping 1992.^{[citation needed]}
Gribb (vulture)	P388	5 March 1962	Westermoen	Renamed Delfin. Transferred to Naval Reserve and used by Sea Home Guard. Was planned to be preserved by Kværner Mandal A/S, but later sold for scrapping.^{[citation needed]}
Geir (great auk)	P389	13 April 1962	Westermoen	Stricken 1981. Sold to Stapletask Ltd, Sittingbourne, Kent, England.^[6]^{[citation needed]}
Erle (wagtail)	P390	6 July 1962	Westermoen	Sold 1981^{[citation needed]}

Second group

Name	Pennant number	Delivery date^[3]	Builder	Notes^[1]
Skrei (cod)	P380	14 January 1966	Westermoen	Transferred to Naval Reserve and used by Sea Home Guard. Transferred to the Royal Norwegian Navy Museum and preserved as a museum ship.^{[citation needed]}
Hai (shark)	P381	July 1964	Westermoen	Transferred to Naval Reserve and used by Sea Home Guard. Plans are currently underway for Hai to be preserved as a museum ship in Fredrikstad.^{[citation needed]}
Sel (seal)	P382		Westermoen	Sold 1981^{[citation needed]}
Hval (whale)	P383	19 March 1964	Westermoen	Sold 1981^{[citation needed]}
Laks (salmon)	P384	15 May 1964	Westermoen	Sold 1981 to Stapletask Ltd, Sittingbourne, Kent - Now moored in Great Wakering, Essex, England and has been restored and converted into a house boat (2017)^{[citation needed]}
Knurr (grey gurnard)	P385	1 November 1964	Westermoen	Sold 1981^{[citation needed]}
Delfin (dolphin)	P386	20 May 1966	Westermoen	1984 Transferred to Naval Reserve and used by Sea Home Guard. Transferred to the Royal Norwegian Navy Museum and preserved as a museum ship.^{[citation needed]}
Lyr (pollock)	P387	1 February 1965	Westermoen	Transferred to Naval Reserve and used by Sea Home Guard. Sold for scrapping 1992.^{[citation needed]}

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Conway p294
^ ^a ^b "PTF-26, Liberty "The Last American PT Boat"". libertymaritime.com. Archived from the original on 7 January 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
^ ^a ^b Davis 1975, p. 260.
^ Skarv and 9 others were reportedly sold to Stapletask Ltd Archived 1 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Sittingbourne, Kent
^ Hauks hull was saved by Martin Mead, the present owner, moored at Mill Head, Gt Wakering, Essex
^ Geir was listed on eBay UK (listing number 321795403777) and sold for 625GBP on 6 July 2015 minus engines.

References

Davis, William H. (1975). "Ask Infoser". Warship International. Vol. 12, no. 3. pp. 260–275. JSTOR 44886606.
Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen, eds. (1995). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. Annapolis, Maryland, US: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-132-7.