Page 50 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW SPECIAL ISSUE 6

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 5 0

War ship Sloughi Biad (1948−1958)

Photo provided by Najib Cherfaoui
Moroccan expert Nadjib Cherfaoui tells us:

“Warship, coastal minesweeper (Räumboot or R-boot), built in 1942 for the needs of the
Kriegsmarine in the Burmester shipyard, Swinemünde (Baltic Sea) in Germany. At

launch, it has the code R 198. It is equipped with a 37 mm cannon and 2 20 mm cannons;
7.92 mm machine gun. It has two MAN diesel engines, each developing a power of 900
hp. Length 36.2 m; width 5.55 m; 100 grt; 125 dwt; draft 1.60 m; speed 15 knots.

Following the spring 1945 offensive in Italy (Operation Grapeshot), it was scuttled at

Genoa on April 24, 1945. In 1946, it was refloated, then repaired at the port of Savona
(Italy).

It is undergoing conversion into a fruit cargo ship with cold rooms. It is equipped with
two Paxman-Ricardo engines of 500 hp each. In 1948, upon completion of the
transformation, the ship passed under the Moroccan flag with the name SLOUGHI BIAD,
owned by the shipowner Monsieur Renoir. The ship is assigned to cabotage between
Casablanca, the Corsican ports and Villefranche-sur-Mer.