Gorch Fock yard saga takes another turn.

Lürssen said at the handover of the troubled small Weser shipyard and its 130 workers that it will use the facility for repair. As things stand it will also have to complete the rebuilding of Gorch Fock for the Bundesmarine by autumn 2020.

No price for the yard purchase was revealed but reports put it at about €3.5 million. As the facility changed hands, the 61-year old, three-masted Gorch Fock was towed the short distance upstream to Lürssen Werft from nearby Fassmer Werft , where it has been docked since June.

Prior to that the ship was laid up for much of the time since Elsflether Werft won the job to repair its steel hull in 2015. It has spent most of that time in leased docks at Bremerhaven’s BREDO shipyard.

The initial cost of the renovations was put at nearly €10 million but the discovery of further problems saw costs rocket to €64 million. In 2017 it was decided that the almost complete replacement of hull plating, deck renewal and engine refurbishment was needed at a cost of some €135 million.

Repairs were halted in 2018 for a Government review and consideration of calls the ship be scrapped and replaced. It was decided to go ahead with the repairs against delivery in 2019.

However with the ship reported in a “completely dismantled state” this year claims of government and shipyard mismanagement were aired which led to the resignation of Elsflether Werft officials. At last word, the Gorch Fock was expected back in service in 2021.

Luerssen has nine facilities in Germany including Blohm and Voss in Hamburg where Gorch Fock was built. The group said nothing initially about its immediate plans for the stipulated completion of Gorch Fock. But ship captain Nils Brandt told the media that ventilation system, pipe and electrical work as well as teak-deck and other recalibration and the setting of the steel masts was among the work that now had to be tackled.

Brandt stressed however the most urgent job now was basic hull work so that the ship’s engines could be re-installed. The Gorch Fock has installed power of 1220 kW. It carries a Deutz six-cylinder auxiliary diesel engine, installed in 1991, which develops max 13.7 knots. The second ship of that name, Gorch Fock displaces 1760 tons and draws 5.2m.