Swarms of them emerged from the morning mist, launched their lightening attack and disappeared as quickly as they had come. They were called the "Greyhound of the Sea". At the beginning of World War II the Friedrich L rssen shipyard, Vegesack carried out successful pioneer work and developed a fast, seaworthy type of speedboat that was capable of top speed even in heavy seas, had brilliant manoeuvrability and was built until the end of the war without major modifications. These speedboats, also called S-Boats, generally proved their worth on escort and security missions, sea reconnaissance, mine warfare and in particular in combat against enemy submarines and surface units. They operated primarily off the Dutch and French coasts, along the English coast and in the Channel as well as in the North Sea and the Baltic and were also used in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. The ultimate variant to be operational in significant numbers was the so-called S-Boat type S-100, which was produced from 1943 onwards and is reputed to be the best fast patrol boat of its time. The S-100 class was also called the "calotte", as it had a rounded armoured bridge made of welded segments (approx 10-12 mm armour plated steel) It was driven by 3 Daimler-Benz MB 511-V engines giving it an overall capacity of approx. 7500 hp and developing an outstanding speed of 43.5 knots (briefly accelerating to 48 knots). The
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