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Photographs reveal SBS craft design
12 July 2007
The low-signature design employed by the first of a new class of ultra-fast long-range insertion craft built for the UK Royal Marines’ Special Boat Service (SBS) is revealed in pictures taken off the south coast of England.
The new vessel, being acquired under Project Belle, started trials earlier in 2007 and is believed to have been built by composite boatbuilder VT Halmatic at its Portchester shipyard in Hampshire. VT Halmatic previously supplied the SBS with its 16 m Very Slender Vessel design.
Neither VT Halmatic nor the Ministry of Defence (MoD) will make any comment on Project Belle. However, it is understood that the design was developed to meet a requirement first promulgated by the MoD in 2001.