Well, I suppose the russian scuttled pretty much every boat owned by the georgian government, but except for the missile boat Tbilisi (that burned) all I've seen look salvagable.
Actually that move was not as senseless as it seems.
I remember a documentary about Abkhazia from before the war, where Abkhaz fishermen complained they were not able to fish for years because the georgians block the coast.
In a conflict where one side has no navy and the other has (had) a small navy, this side is the dominant sea power...
But actually I suppose georgian coast guardsmen will be glad to get a modern replacement for ex-Minden.
Crews in the wooden minesweepers lived like rats, especially the enlisted in the forecastle.
I suppose the crew of a WW2 flower class Corvette had better acomodation!
The georgians must've felt a bit cheated when they turned to western navies to replace their soviet era junk and got western discards of similar age!
I mean german vessels are always well build and well maintaned, but a 40 year old wooden boat is not a good naval unit to give away if you want to impress, even if it is build by Abeking & Rasmussen or Lürssen...
I remember in 1999 we had the Latvians (or Estonians? or both) in Kiel to take over some of these boats. The guys looked like pirates, all bearded, most likely all ex soviet navy.
Men of steel for wooden ships, I suppose....
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