The Thetis-class gunboats, was a class of five naval ships of the Hellenic Navy

Hellenic Navy

The Hellenic Navy is the naval force of Greece, part of the Greek Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy has its roots in the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independence...

, originally developed for the German Navy

German Navy

The German Navy is the navy of Germany and is part of the unified Bundeswehr .The German Navy traces its roots back to the Imperial Fleet of the revolutionary era of 1848 – 52 and more directly to the Prussian Navy, which later evolved into the Northern German Federal Navy...

 as Class 420 and first commissioned in 1961. Similar in size to corvettes, all five vessels were built by Rolandwerft, Bremen

Bremen

The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...

. In the German Navy there were designated as submarine hunters .

The main armament of Thetis class ships consisted of 20-mm and 40-mm guns, Mk 46 Mod5 torpedoes and mines and A/S mortars. The ships were also equipped with sonar

Sonar

Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...

. Later the A/S mortars were replaced by a second 40-mm gun and the single torpedo tubes by triple mountings. Upgrades started in 2000 may have included enclosed 40-mm gun mountings and Rheinmetall

Rheinmetall

Rheinmetall AG is a German automotive and defence company with factories in Düsseldorf, Kassel and Unterlüß. The company has a long tradition of making guns and artillery pieces...

20-mm guns to replace the MGs. The last two ships of the class were decommissioned on 22 April 2010.

Ships

• Doxa, P-63 ("Glory", ex-Najade, P 6054): commissioned in the German Navy on 12 May 1962, recommissioned in the Hellenic Navy on 6 September 1991, decommissioned on 22 April 2010.

• Eleftheria, P-64 ("Liberty", ex-Triton, P 6055): commissioned in the German Navy on 10 November 1962, recommissioned in the Hellenic Navy on 7 September 1992, decommissioned on 22 April 2010.

• Niki, P-62 ("Victory", ex-Thetis, P 6052): commissioned in the German Navy on 1 July 1961, recommissioned in the Hellenic Navy on 6 September 1991, decommissioned on 2 April 2009.

• Agon, P-66 ("Struggle", ex-Theseus, P 6056): commissioned in the German Navy in 1962, recommissioned for Hellenic Navy in the 8 November 1993, decommissioned in 2004, used as target and sunk with two Penguin missiles on 21 October 2008.

• Karteria, P-65 ("Perseverance", ex-Hermes, P-6053): Commissioned in the German Navy in 1962, recommissioned in the Hellenic Navy on 7 September 1992, decommissioned in 2004.