''You Americans, you treat the Third World in the way an Iraqi peasant treats his new bride. Three days of honeymoon, and then it's off to the fields.'' (By Saddam Hussein)

Oligarchs' superyachts have garnered widespread attention due to their large size and lavish interiors. Many of these vessels feature helipads, pools, cinemas, dedicated hangars for speedboats and luxury cars and enough luxurious cabins to accommodate your in-laws. In fact, the largest superyachts are so colossal that they rival frigates in terms of size. In comparison, the yacht depicted in the header image might initially appear more akin to a cruise ship or even a Baltic ferry. However, do not be deceived by the vessel's appearance, for this floating palace stood as the most luxurious of its era. Named the Al-Mansur, it boasted a plethora of marble and gold-plated rooms, an impressive atrium, a dining room that could seat 200, a helipad with hangar and a mini-submarine escape pod. It is rumoured that this yacht was even equipped with two 9K31 Strela-1 SAM launchers concealed in the ship's superstructure.

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

 

 

Military enthusiasts are always on the hunt for new captivating war stories. Mark Felton has already done a great job in bringing a great number of elusive war stories to the attention of a worldwide audience, and yet more stories lay hidden in dusty archives or elusive photographs, waiting to one day be uncovered. One such story details the design and construction of Midget U-Boats by a German submariner - working together with Indonesian freedom fighters that had served in the Dutch Navy - on the island of Java in 1947. [1] Though one of the contraptions sank during its first sea trial, their design and construction by a German submariner (rather than an actual designer) in a steel factory with no professional tools means was nonetheless an impressive feat.

 

It is scarcely known that the Polish Navy operated two guided-missile destroyers from 1970 until 2003. Although by no means modern ships even for 1970s and 1980s standards, these vessels nonetheless constituted one of the few classes of naval vessels armed with surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) operating in the Baltic Sea that were not operated by the Soviet Union for a significant part of the Cold War. The decommissioning of the Project 61MP-class destroyer ORP Warszawa in 2003 brought an end to 73-years of consecutive destroyer operations by the Polish Navy.

 

It's not only Turkish drones that have found export success on the international market. Other segments of Turkey's arms industry are also subject to critical acclaim on the world stage. Sometimes this includes systems that for their less glamorous (but nonetheless highly important) roles receive little attention by international analysts, as is the case with the recent purchase of MEMATT mine-clearance vehicles by Burkina Faso and Togo. [1] [2] Other platforms receive more attention, as was recently the case with Nigeria's acquisition of two 76m offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) from Turkey's Dearsan Shipyard.

 

Images of the devastating explosions in Beirut in August 2020 shocked the world as stunning incompetence and negligence in the storage of 2.750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate killed 207 and caused in excess of 15 billion USD in damages. Also struck was the BNS Bijoy, a Bangladesh Navy vessel stationed in Beirut during its deployment to the Mediterranean as part of the Maritime Task Force of the United Nations mission in Lebanon. Largely spared from the most extreme effects of the explosion thanks to the nearby grain elevators that absorbed much of the blast, the crew still suffered 21 wounded and the vessel had to undergo repairs in Turkey before it could safely make the journey back home. [1]

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 

Guinea-Conakry, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a French-speaking country located in West Africa. Although plagued by poor economic prospects, Guinea has a rapidly growing population of some 12.4 million that inhabit an area slightly larger than that of the United Kingdom, yet remains an underdeveloped nation. Guinea is a Muslim-majority country, with Muslims making up roughly 85% or more of the population. In addition to being the world's second largest producer of bauxite, Guinea has the dubious honour of having its whole combat fleet sank not by enemy fire, but by pure negligence. At the center of this astonishing feat have been its relatively advanced Soviet Bogomol class patrol boats, which will be the subject of this article.