Back in 1965 a number of German shipowners, which included VTG AG, DDG Hansa, and eventually Hapag Lloyd entered the offshore business, building and operating what were then conventional  Gulf of Mexico type supply vessels. But they were not without ambition and as well as steadily increasing the size of the company they produced some unique designs, one of which was an anchor-handler designated the 13000 Class. They were provided with two MAK engines developing 9600 bhp. Four were built in 1975 and 1976 at Elsflether Werft on the River Weser They were the Schepelsturm, the Schnoorturm (owned by Hansa) and the Herdentor and the Werdertor(owned by VTG), the names illustrating the divergent ownership of the organisation. They were built at considerable cost for the time and thereafter they steamed over to Scotland and lay for ages at anchor in the River Tay waiting to go to work, while the company held onto their day rate and the operators opted for cheaper stuff, even though everything available was less powerful and generally less effective. An exception might have been the tow out of Ninian Central, at 600,000 tons then the largest man made object ever to move over the surface of the earth, from Loch Kishorn for which Chevron hired three of the four ships. They were particularly distinguished by their matt grey paintwork, which was rumoured to have extraordinary anti-corrosion qualities, and could not be covered with a conventional paint coating for two years. The ships featured a high bow with a long forecastle so that the bridge windows would be protected from the worst of the North Sea waves and the two funnels were routed up either side of the wheelhouse so that from the aft driving position there would be a clear view of the afterdeck. They were provided with what at the time was a substantial winch with a wire capacity of 1200 metres of 62 mm wire on each of its two drums which was completely enclosed to protect it from the weather and, unusually, the tow wire was kept central by a securing point on top of a cylindrical tower which rose to a considerable height out of the deck. They had a bollard pull of 120 tonnes, making them items of value in the second hand market. After the purchase of OSA by OIL in 1988 the ships were operated worldwide mostly still with their distinctive grey hulls, although the Schnoorturm was burnt out in 1990 and emerged some time later as the Sun Wrestler with a new accommodation block. The Schepelsturm was sold by OIL in 1995 after 20 years in service to become the Englishman operated by Specialist Marine Services of Hull  The Werdertor survived without modification until 2013 painted in OIL colours subsequent to the purchase of OSA, and then in Tidewater colours once OIL had been purchased by that company. It was broken up in 2013, just two years short of 40 years in service consistently as an anchor-handling and towing vessel. Up until 2012 the Herdentor could also be seen sporting Tidewater colours, and it seems likely that it is now rafted up with a small fleet of other redundent Tidewater ships in a creek somewhere.

Photographs: Schepelsturm probably on its delivery voyage by P.A.Kroehnert and Werdertor as a Tidewater ship in Brazilian waters by Eric Azevedo.