GTB Søbjørnen P512

Next to the submarine SPRINGEREN is the gasturbine-torpedoboat (GTB) SØBJØRNEN. It was built in 1964 as no. 3 of a total of 6 boats of the SØLØVEN-class. No. 1 and 2 were built by the designer, Vosper in Portsmouth, England. No. 3 to 6 was built under license at the Royal Dockyard in Copenhagen. The SØBJØRNEN was decommissioned in 1989 and transferred to the Museum in 1991. The boat is still almost fully equipped.

Motor-torpedo-boats (MTBs and later GTBs) were introduced into the Danish Navy after World War II, when Denmark from the Allied received a number of former German MTBs – of the S- class.
These boats were named after birds – the GLENTEN (Kite) and the VIBEN (Lapwing) classes. They were later supplemented by boats of an improved design, the FALKEN (Falcon) and the FLYVEFISKEN (Flying Fish) classes, built at Danish shipyards among them the Royal Dockyard. Both the German and the Danish built boats were propelled by three Mercedes diesel engines each, giving them a max. speed of approximate 40 knots.

Traditionally the MTB`s belongs to two main types: “displacement-boats” and “slide-boats”.
In principle the first mentioned are built like ordinary ships, whereas the “slide-boats” popular speaking, are built like the speed-boats you can see on the Limfjorden.