Derived from the original UT 712 Anchor Handling Tug Supply Vessel dating from the mid1980s, the new design retains the original's excellent sea keeping and ship motion characteristics while delivering enhanced fuel economy from an improved hull form design.

The steel units for Lady Astrid were built by Maritim Ltd in Gdansk, Poland. Weighing up to 300 tonnes each, they were transported by barge to Flekkefjord for assembly in the Simek A/S heated building shed. The superstructure above main deck was built in two units, blasted, painted, assembled on a barge and fitted out before being lifted onto the hull in one unit. The hull is divided into watertight compartments and is double hull in compliance with the class notation SF and damage stability.

On the main deck is a set of shark jaws and towing pins with the hydraulic rams and power unit in the steering gear compartment below. The shark jaws and towing pins, supplied by Karmoy Winch AS, hold back wire and anchor chain when the crew are working with it on the aft deck. On the transom is a 6m long, 3.5m diameter stern roller supplied by Rolls-Royce with a load capacity of 50 tonnes. On each side of the roller are Karmoy Winch supplied pop-up towing pins which slide sideways to avoid towing ropes, etc. At the shipside aft is a capstan each side for mooring the vessel and for operating deck equipment.

An abundance of powerful deck equipment includes a Palfinger knuckle crane on the main deck starboard side for handling shackles and other heavy equipment on the aft deck. This main deck for anchor handling and carrying deck cargo is partly covered with pine to protect the steel.

Forward of the working deck is the waterfall type towing/ anchor handling (AHT) winch made by Rauma Brattvaag and supplied by Rolls-Royce, who also supplied the two tugger winches on each side of the main deck forward and the windlass/ mooring winch on the forecastle deck together with the aft deck capstans. The tugger winches are used for securing deck cargo. The AHT winch has one drum for anchor handling and one for towing, both with capacities for 4,500m of 80mm wire, a pull of 380 tonnes, and brake holding power of 550 tonnes on the first layer. On top of the AHT winch is a secondary winch with 138 tonnes pull and 170 tonnes dynamic brake capacity.

One TTS supplied gooseneck type crane with a capacity of 3 tonnes at 16m reach is installed on B-deck port side and there is a foundation for another to be installed starboard.

Lady Astrid is powered by four Bergen Diesel C25:33L main engines. Forward of the engine room is a forward thrusters room housing one Ulstein Aquamaster type TCNS 73/50-180 retractable thruster and one Kamewa Ulstein side thruster, both rated at 883kW.

Both thrusters are driven by freshwater cooled, frequency controlled electric motors.

The vessel has a bollard pull of 152.5 tonnes (161.5 tonnes including retractable thrusters) and achieved a speed of 17.8 knots during trials.

Lady Astrid is classed by Det Norsk Veritas to class notation DNV +A1, Tug Supply Vessel and was built according to the Norwegian Maritime Directorate for World Wide Trading.

MJ Information No: 18401