German corvette Hiddensee

Hiddensee in US Navy service
History
East Germany
Name Rudolf Egelhoffer
Namesake Rudolf Egelhofer
Builder Petrovsky Shipyard, Almaz Shipbuilding Company, Leningrad
Laid down 1984
Commissioned 1985
Fate Removed museum status and sent for scrap in October 2023
Germany
Name Hiddensee (P6166)
Namesake Hiddensee
Acquired 1990
Decommissioned April 1991
Fate Transferred to United States, November 1991
United States
Name USNS Hiddensee (185NS9201)
Acquired November 1991
Commissioned 14 February 1992
Decommissioned 18 April 1996
Fate
  • Museum ship from 14 June 1997
  • Scrapped in October 2023
General characteristics
Class and type Tarantul-class corvette
Displacement
  • 480 long tons (488 t) standard
  • 540 long tons (549 t) full load
Length 56 m (183 ft 9 in)
Beam 10.50 m (34 ft 5 in)
Draught 2.50 m (8 ft 2 in)
Propulsion
  • COGOG
  • 2 × DR077 12,000 hp (8,948 kW) gas turbines
  • 2 × DM076 4,000 hp (2,983 kW) gas turbines
Speed 42 knots (78 km/h; 48 mph)
Range 1,650 nmi (3,060 km; 1,900 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Endurance 10 days
Complement 50
Armament
  • 1 × 76 mm AK-176 dual purpose main gun
  • 2 × AK-630 30 mm gatling guns
  • 4 × KT-138E P-15 Termit (SS-N-2 Styx) anti-ship missile launchers
  • 1 × quad FAM-14 Strela 2 (SA-N-5) surface-to-air missile launcher
  • 2 × PK-16 chaff launchers

Hiddensee was a former East German Navy corvette, later part of the Battleship Cove site at Fall River, Massachusetts. Originally a Soviet vessel, the corvette was transferred first to the East German Navy, then to the German Navy, and ended her career in the United States.

Ship history

The Tarantul I-class missile corvette was launched in 1984 at the Petrovsky Shipyard of Almaz Shipbuilding Company in Leningrad, Russia. She was commissioned in 1985 by the East German Volksmarine as Rudolf Egelhofer, but after the reunification of Germany in 1990, she was transferred to the German Navy and renamed Hiddensee.

Hiddensee as a museum ship

After decommissioning in April 1991, she was transferred to the United States Navy. As USNS Hiddensee (185NS9201), the ship was extensively evaluated at the Naval Air Warfare Center at Solomons, Maryland, and used for naval exercises. Following naval budget cuts, the ship was removed from service in April 1996, and joined the Battleship Cove fleet on 14 June 1997.

Battleship Cove could not look after her due to lack of funding. Her hull deteriorated until the decision was made to remove her from the collection. She was quietly towed off to be scrapped in Bridgeport, Connecticut in early October 2023. The decision to scrap the ship came as a result of significant deterioration in the ship's hull, which would have necessitated a costly dry docking to repair. Chris Nardi, the Chief Operating Officer for Battleship Cove, also noted that "The Hiddensee, as designed by the Russian shipyard ... they were designed to be definitely disposable in terms of the way they were constructed", which also militated against trying to repair the vessel. In addition, two other vessels owned by the group, the submarine Lionfish and the destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. are already undergoing repairs at the time the decision was made.