After the RN started laying mines close to the waterline in WW I, there were only small boats able to clear these. But as the mines were laid in bigger and bigger distances from the shoreline, they had to be brought out there. Of course in good weather conditions only...
These boats are called Minenräumboote. The Minensuchboote were the far bigger ones with much more drought.
So the German Navy acquired some freighters and rebuilt them as tenders (and transporters) for the Minenräumboote. Hence their name Minenräummutterschiffe.
Mother ships for small mine sweepers.
This was done in WW II again and the models made by Trident were Mrs 11, the former fighter OSNABRÜCK and MRS 12, the former Nürnberg, both owned by NDL before acquisition.
There were also 4 old pre Dreadnoughts rebuilt as MRS after WW I, pretty interesting.
In WW II there were plans for MRS build as such, of which Trident also made a model.
MRS were also made by Förde. The models were not too nice but the paint scheme is great. And original.
Best regards,
Thorsten
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