Photos of patrol boats in Marseille January 1943

[ptdockyard]

Here are crops of two panoramic photos of Marseille harbor in January 1943. The photos were from the Bundesarchiv site. Sorry for the grainy nature of these- I am working to get better photos.

Can anyone help identify these two? I was wondering if the top one was either of the former fishery protection craft Gardien Cosmao or Le Socoa?


Dave G.
The PT Dockyard

[capu.rossu]

Hello Dave,
The small boat in the first photo was the Pétrel 1, one of the eight tenders for Flying boats built in 1931 at La Ciotat by the Société Provençale de Constructions Navales.
This tender was based at the naval station of Berre near Marseille.
In service in the KM the 12/04/1943, she was send in Greece as the GA 70.
She was sunk in Piraeus harbour the 11/01/1944 by a flybo.
Regards
Alain

A photo of one of this ship

[ptdockyard]

Ah, yes. That's a perfect match :D

Anyone have any ideas about the small yacht looking craft? on another forum someone thought she was a patrol boat for the Customs service (Douanes Françaises).

Dave G.
The PT Dockyard