The German Navy is to push into retirement the last of its torpedo-armed patrol ships next week, it was reported here Tuesday.

But six of Type 143 class boats will remain in operation with the Tunisian Navy in the Mediterranean for coastal protection duties, German news agency DPA said.

Another four of the mid-1970s ships will serve to be cannibalized for spare parts, the report said.

The last German unit with the fast, missile-equipped vessels is stationed at Warnemuende near Rostock on the Baltic Coast.

The latest major deployment of the vessels was in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean as part of the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001 to check terrorist traffic via the Horn of Africa and Gibraltar.

Source: Xinhua